ACOFP Blog
For Family, By Family—ACOFP Blog
Georgianna Stoukides, OMS-III, MA, highlights the similarities and differences between COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS—not only in the type of virus but also in how they are transmitted and who they most often affect—and the role stigmatization plays in treatment.
Nicole Rakhmanova, OMS-III, highlights the importance of tailoring preventative medicine approaches and interventions to community and cultural beliefs, while providing suggestions for ways to overcome mistrust and misinformation.
COVID-19 has emerged and infected every aspect of our lives and well-being. With changes in billing and HIPPA regulations, utilizing telemedicine has allowed us to adapt in a short period of time, to protect our most vulnerable patients. It also offers protection for our safety on the frontlines as primary care physicians. Of course, as a wife and mother, I was relieved to protect my family. However, I can’t help but wonder, why did it have to take a global pandemic to protect our most vulnerable populations?
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged physicians around the country in so many unique ways. Family medicine physicians have faced the challenges of diagnosis and treating patients with COVID-19, protecting their work teams and now increasing financial strains—all of which threaten the practices.
Patients with EDS could have comorbid conditions that make them especially vulnerable to viral infections during this outbreak. The incorporation of telemedicine limits in-person visits and minimizes exposure to patients, staff and providers.
Wow! What a weird time it’s been. As physicians, as humans, as citizens of our local communities and work families, as parents, as children, as partners, as business owners; we have had to decide how we will show up in the face of uncertainty.
Every morning when I go to the office, to the hospital, to nursing homes, I ask myself now, “am I doing my patients a favor?” Maybe I will make them sick. Or maybe they will make me sick. After very visit to the homeless shelter, I wonder, should I immediately go into a two-week self-isolation period? How do we do what we love professionally in the time of plague?