The New York Times (3/23, Goldberg) reports that many healthcare workers are facing questions about coronavirus that they don’t know how to answer. The article says that “physicians across every field who are trained to care for very specific medical problems are confronting a surge of patient questions and scrambling to keep up with rapid changes in case numbers and advisories from governments and health agencies.” While “specialists in heart medicine, lung care and obstetrics have training that is highly pertinent to treating the effects of the coronavirus…specialists in other fields are hearing queries they may not be used to answering.” The article says that “psychiatrists, especially on campuses, are facing a barrage of questions on an array of topics, like potential virus exposure and the sudden upending of work and academic schedules.” Dr. Gauri Khurana, a psychiatrist who works mainly with college students, said that he has been flooded with questions from young people who are concerned about the risk of being infected and whether they will be able to graduate, “I don’t think a lot of them have primary care doctors and at this point everyone is terrified, wondering what’s going to happen. I have patients that want to drop out of school, move to Canada. They’re grateful for any advice, especially coming from a doctor because there’s so much misinformation.”
Related Links:
— “These Doctors Have Specialties. Fighting Coronavirus Wasn’t One of Them., “Emma Goldberg, The New York Times, March 23, 2020