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Hope and Resilience, My Experience in a COVID-19 ICU

By Dr. Ronny Munoz-Acuna

I was born and raised in Costa Rica, a small country in Central America with close to 5 million inhabitants. I was always passionate about science, and after debating for a long time, I decided to pursue training in medicine. I did my medical school in San José, Costa Rica, at the Universidad de Costa Rica. I also completed a residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Critical Care in my home country.

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Is Self-Care on Your To-Do List?

author headshotBy Dr. Shreya Doshi

“You are a bright, grown-up girl now, almost 15-years old. You must take ownership of yourself and your body and look after your physical, mental, and emotional health. Eating healthy food, making healthier choices, exercising even if just for 30 minutes, and reaching out to the therapist again will go a long, long way.” This is the kind of advice I was giving my teenage patient last week during continuity clinic, and the kind of advice I am sure you give out too, no matter what specialty you are in. However, sometimes it feels hypocritical. As a resident physician, I wonder how many times a week do you give advice to your patients that perhaps also applies to you?

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Medical Residency at a Dedicated COVID-19 Care Center

By Dr. Magdi Zordok

On March 17, 2020, our institution was designated as the nation’s first dedicated care center for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Our patient population would now be only individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 and required hospitalization, either from our emergency department, or from other hospitals within our network. My experience with COVID was, at that point, scarce and limited to discussions with my senior colleagues and the case reports from China and Italy.

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Posted on Categories Cross-cultural Experience, My StoryTags , , , , ,

Engineering Medicine Inside Out

By Dr. Wail Yar

I grew up in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, thousands of miles away in the Middle East. I went to high school with a dream that I would become a petroleum engineer. I never thought that I would be a physician; I was scared from seeing blood, and I was afraid to touch a patient. When I graduated from high school, I applied to the best scholarship program in the country, and I got accepted to study petroleum engineering abroad. At the same time, I applied to King Abdulaziz University College of Medicine in Saudi Arabia, because it is one of the best schools in the country. I applied, not because I was forced to do so by my family, but I did it to prove that I could be a doctor, although at that time I didn’t want to be one.

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Uniting as Doctors in NYC During the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Dr. Jinendra Satiya

December 2019, the month a mysterious viral outbreak was first reported in Wuhan, China, will be forever remembered as an important moment in history. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed our lives, and strained the healthcare system and economy like never before. At the heart of the pandemic in New York City, we faced the worst. Originally from Mumbai, India and a Grant Medical College alumni, I moved to New York City for chief residency after completing my Internal Medicine Residency from JFK Medical Center, University of Miami. In this blog I describe my experience as an Internal Medicine Chief Resident working in New York City, sharing the difficulties encountered and the lessons learned.

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