I know that this blog was supposed to be Part 3 of the “building an academic portfolio during medical training” series, however, it’s very difficult these days to talk about anything other than COVID-19. This pandemic that has taken the whole world by storm, and reminded us all about how fragile our whole world is! Amidst all the angst and frustration, it is important to focus on positively learning from such an unprecedented experience in our lifetime. The lessons are innumerable, yet I wanted to share with you 5 points that, in my humble opinion, were highlighted by these extraordinary circumstances:
- Telehealth is no longer a luxury. Despite having the technology available for years, the health industry has been lagging behind when it comes to telehealth. It took a pandemic and thousands of lives for us to realize that most of the outpatient services we provide (and arguably some of the inpatient ones even) can safely be delivered virtually. The degree of disruption to one’s life and the time wasted outside the actual doctor’s visit, between taking time off from work, physically making it to the medical facility, parking, checking-in, and so forth, can easily be omitted by a technology that is readily available but we have been reluctant to use (or don’t have insurance approval to do so). There will always be a place for in-person visits, but at least we would have more time for patients that actually need to be seen in-person.
- Many hospitalizations and tests are unnecessary. As the pandemic worsens, physicians started to be judicious with ordering tests that require moving patients around the hospital. They also started thinking twice about who needs to be in the hospital, to begin with. We are now realizing how many tests and hospitalizations can safely be avoided, and I am hoping that we will carry these revelations with us as we move past the current circumstances.
- Incorporating research into clinical practice needs to be seamless. Despite major advances, the way we conduct research has not yet been optimally incorporated into our daily clinical activities. We are in desperate need to develop the necessary infrastructure that instantaneously translates patient-care input into organized data that can be used to improve the way we manage our patients. Ideally quickly enough to potentially help some of the patients who generated these data. This necessary infrastructure also extends to research regulations, which need to strike the appropriate balance between scrutiny and practicality.
- In a world of “evidence-based medicine”, clinical acumen remains paramount. The sudden exposure to this COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us all that often times, as physicians, we are required to operate in evidence-free zones. As much as we need to always look for evidence behind everything we do in medicine, it is essential not to forget that taking care of patients is both a science and an art. And this is why physicians can never be replaced by computers.
- Prevention is ALWAYS better than cure. With the great technological and pharmaceutical advances, we tend to develop great confidence in our ability to improve life expectancy. This is particularly true in procedural fields such as Cardiology. Then comes a sobering pandemic, to remind us that when it comes to public health, prevention always wins! Fortunately, we rarely need drastic measures such as quarantines and social distancing. But addressing smoking, obesity and blood pressure control will always have much more impact on our community than stents and ablations.
We will continue to learn from this world tragedy – lessons in medicine, philosophy and life in general. But, above all, this is a reminder of how noble and unique our healthcare profession is. Stay safe everyone!
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