An ID Doctor's Fight Against COVID-19

An ID Doctor’s Fight Against COVID-19

By: Dr. Barbara Taylor, MD

Thinking about my life since March earlier this year, in some ways I look back and it feels like absolutely everything has changed!

It has sort of grounded me in terms of who I am and what I did. Time is something that has been warped a bit since the pandemic started at least here in the United States and I haven’t felt like this about time since my internship year in residency. All the regular yearly/seasonal landmarks are sort of gone. My brain doesn’t have a sense that it’s now October and we’ve been doing this now for seven months. Sometimes I think it’s still spring. The internal clock is not registering because I don’t have the regular events that used to occur at certain times of the year. For example, my kids didn’t have an end of the school year, I didn’t have the typical summer (of breaks and vacation), my kids didn’t have the beginning of the new school year, and all that goes along with that. My 2 girls, 10 and 15 both play soccer so there’s some semblance of normal again. Being able to cheer for them from the sidelines with masks on and social distancing has been nice as it’s one of the regular fall activities in our family.

As a healthcare provider, there have been new challenges that accompanied the pandemic. Being on covid service, we are still seeing people dying, people incredibly impacted by covid. As a physician, I am incredibly privileged, and I think recognizing that is important. but at the same time, I’m working longer hours. There are more nights and weekends away from the family. And that takes a toll. Both on me and my family.

What has stood out for me was the impact that it has on relationships for all of us. I think there’s so much disconnection with simultaneous connection. I talk to a lot of patients with covid who are in isolation. I hear their stories of anxiety and loneliness. It’s almost impossible to overstate how people feel when they are isolated, either in the hospital or at home and they can’t embrace their loved ones.

As a result of my profession, I feel deeply honored to be in a position to be able to serve in this context, where I feel like I have a role. When the outbreak started, my colleagues and I pretty much threw ourselves into work and, despite the distancing, I forged relationships with people with whom I’m deeply honored to work with. It’s been amazing to work, to help the city and even on a national level to some degree.

As an infectious doctor, I advocate for my patients especially those living with HIV to help reduce the stigma around the disease. It’s quite interesting to now have the script flipped. Now I am that person where if I walk into HEB in my scrubs, people start backing up when they see my job title. And that’s fair. In some ways, I am a risk. Not just to strangers in the store but to my family too. But then again as an ID doctor who specializes in viruses, if there was ever a time for people in my field to step forward, it’s now.

At this time of distancing, I also feel this deep connection to my fellow infectious diseases doctors and public health professionals. In some ways, we are all trying very hard to look out for one another because it can be wearing, and we do burn out. It does get exhausting not just for me but for my family too.

But despite the struggle, there has also been an opportunity to learn. This summer, I read a book, The Great Influenza, by John Barry. It’s one that I’ve been meaning to read for quite a while. The influenza pandemic in 1918 lasted well into 1920 and had terrible mortality. George Santana once said “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” and I just keep thinking about that in the context of this pandemic and previous one. Reading the book highlighted some parallels and differences between what happened then and now. As a physician, I can appreciate the strides that we’ve made over the last century, how far medicine has come since then. In fact, at the start of the 1918 pandemic, many scientists believed that Pfeiffer’ bacillus (Haemophilus influenza) caused the pandemic, compared to how quickly we were able to identify and sequence SARS-CoV-2.

But at the same time, there are also similarities between communities who were most impacted by the pandemics. The impact of the influenza pandemic on health care provider front-line workers, and marginalized populations was quite devastating and I think it is imperative for us as a society to try to prevent that from happening again. Not just with PPE but with policies and messaging (especially with masks and social distancing). It does help to reduce the spread and protect the people we love.

Dr. Taylor is an Infectious Diseases physician. She is the Assistant Dean for the MD/MPH Program at the Long School of Medicine. She has been instrumental in coordinating the ongoing vaccination efforts against COVID-19 throughout UT Health San Antonio medical center.

Check out more stories like this on www.sapeopleproject.org.

Have an exciting medical story to tell or some advice to give? A unique background or path into medicine? Want to share your own post or experience with our followers?

#LifeofaMedStudent welcomes posts from our readers! Have your VOICE heard to all those in medical training! Contribute to #LifeofaMedStudent!

To save money on study products, check out our “Medical Student Discounts” page. 20% or more off your favorite education resources!

Featured Sponsor:

BoardVitals:

BoardVitals helps medical students, residents, and other aspiring health professionals prepare for medical board exams, in-service exams, and more by offering high-yield content in their online question banks for over 30 medical board exams. Study on-the-go from their convenient mobile app. 100% Pass Guaranteed! BoardVitals – USMLE, COMLEX, Shelf Exams, NAPLEX, INBDE, NCLEX, and over 30 other medical board exams!

Learn more at BoardVitals.com!