The Missed Appointment: A Resident\u27s Journal through Activity to Introspection

There was one experience during my medical school psychiatry rotation that I could not forget. In a classroom on the cardiology ward, I listened, transfixed like a child at a magic show, as a psychiatrist interviewed a man who was recovering from a heart attack. Initially the man denied any stresses in his life that might have affected his health, but as he went on, a different story unfolded. He spoke of his recent retirement, his wife\u27s dissatisfactions and hostility, his disappointment with his children, his growing sense of failure and futility, and the recurring tightness in his chest that he had tried to ignore. His doctors colluded in his denial, for they were too busy with his EKGs and cardiac enzymes to wonder about his emotional well-being. I could see the despair, but also the hope in his face as he talked with the psychiatrist. At the end of the interview the patient was in tears, and though I hid them from my colleagues, so was I. Powerful and mysterious stuff, this business of feelings, much more complicated than anything I had yet encountered in my medical training, but also much more threatening. It seemed that talking to patients about their feelings would bring into question my own feelings, a Pandora\u27s box I wasn\u27t ready to open. A seed had been planted, but it was not to be tended to for some time to come

Delayed colorectal cancer care during covid-19 pandemic (decor-19). Global perspective from an international survey

Background The widespread nature of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been unprecedented. We sought to analyze its global impact with a survey on colorectal cancer (CRC) care during the pandemic. Methods The impact of COVID-19 on preoperative assessment, elective surgery, and postoperative management of CRC patients was explored by a 35-item survey, which was distributed worldwide to members of surgical societies with an interest in CRC care. Respondents were divided into two comparator groups: 1) ‘delay’ group: CRC care affected by the pandemic; 2) ‘no delay’ group: unaltered CRC practice. Results A total of 1,051 respondents from 84 countries completed the survey. No substantial differences in demographics were found between the ‘delay’ (745, 70.9%) and ‘no delay’ (306, 29.1%) groups. Suspension of multidisciplinary team meetings, staff members quarantined or relocated to COVID-19 units, units fully dedicated to COVID-19 care, personal protective equipment not readily available were factors significantly associated to delays in endoscopy, radiology, surgery, histopathology and prolonged chemoradiation therapy-to-surgery intervals. In the ‘delay’ group, 48.9% of respondents reported a change in the initial surgical plan and 26.3% reported a shift from elective to urgent operations. Recovery of CRC care was associated with the status of the outbreak. Practicing in COVID-free units, no change in operative slots and staff members not relocated to COVID-19 units were statistically associated with unaltered CRC care in the ‘no delay’ group, while the geographical distribution was not. Conclusions Global changes in diagnostic and therapeutic CRC practices were evident. Changes were associated with differences in health-care delivery systems, hospital’s preparedness, resources availability, and local COVID-19 prevalence rather than geographical factors. Strategic planning is required to optimize CRC care