Aug. 4, 2020

It is not OK for physicians' anxieties to harm their patients

"It is OK to be scared, but it is not OK to let our own anxieties harm our patients. As we tackle the numerous crises created by the COVID-19 pandemic, let’s acknowledge our fear and draw on the logic and clinical reasoning that we have spent years...

"It is OK to be scared, but it is not OK to let our own anxieties harm our patients. As we tackle the numerous crises created by the COVID-19 pandemic, let’s acknowledge our fear and draw on the logic and clinical reasoning that we have spent years cultivating. We can be scared and scientific, anxious, but courageous. Let’s not create two causalities from one disease, the patient who dies from coronavirus and the patient who dies waiting for surgery because they could have had coronavirus."

Sami El-Dalati is an infectious disease physician.

He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "It is OK to be scared, but it is not OK to let our own anxieties harm our patients." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/04/it-is-ok-to-be-scared-but-it-is-not-ok-to-let-our-own-anxieties-harm-our-patients.html)