I looked at my last blog post. It was from June 28, 2021. I had just met my new primary care physician. Since then we had made slow changes to my health. I tried to eat better and exercise more. It has been a journey of trying to implement what I preach. The progress was slow. Last year, to help my physical activity endeavors (and because I have a huge interest in martial arts), I decided to start training at a local Karate school. The school I attend teaches Enshin Karate a style that traces it’s roots back through Ashihara and Kyokushin. Shortly after that time I noticed my Apple Watch was n ..read more

A few months ago I had a virtual visit with a new primary care physician. My prior primary care physician had left the practice and I had to find a new one. I’ll admit that I was sheepish. You see, although I am a physician I will be the first to admit that there is a lot I am not doing to take care of my own health. One major area for improvement is lifestyle — specifically my diet and exercise. As we spoke she summarized: “you know what to do; how do you we get you there?” And so, the physician became the patient. I speak to many patients about what they should be doing. Speaking/teaching/ed ..read more

Sometimes we need some good news, right? I think that’s the case for me right now — especially regarding COVID-19. Check it out here at NBCNews.com. The post 106-year-old recovers from COVID-19 first appeared on JeffreyMD.com ..read more

Did you hear about this one? Link: Staff No-Shows, Deaths Hit California Nursing Facilities I heard about this yesterday. A nursing facility a few miles south of me was evacuated when the staff failed to show up for work. According to this news report nearly 3 dozen residents have tested positive for COVID-19. After many employees failed to show up for the second day in a row, all 83 patients had to be evacuated and sent to different facilities. These workers were criticized by the county public health officer: “Nationwide all of our health care workers are considered heroes, and they rightly ..read more

There is plenty of anxiety. And many patients have made appointments with a request to be tested. But the answers they have been getting are confusing and often frustrating as well. What should you do if you think you have COVID-19 (the disease caused by the novel coronavirus aka SARS-CoV-2)? The first step is figuring out if you need to go to the emergency department. If you are feeling short of breath and/or having trouble breathing, this is definitely an indication (or a reason) to go to your nearest emergency department for evaluation. Having low oxygen saturation (or hypoxia) may necessit ..read more

I have seen that a few companies are offering paid leave if their workers test positive for COVID19. In theory this is great. In reality, this is bogus.  Policies are worded very specifically. Most of the statements I have seen that list paid leave are for patients that TEST positive for COVID19. The problem is we do not have enough tests! At my practice (a large, tertiary, University-based clinic in Southern California), we are operating under the assumption that most people who contract COVID19 will have a mild form of the disease that will not require a hospital admission. Ho ..read more

This week has started off oddly. I am at home. I am not on vacation. I wish I were. Instead, I am at home in a sort of self-quarantine. Last week, as I was getting ready to go to work I noticed that I was coughing. Initially I thought that I was had a tickle in my throat and that I just needed to clear it. But the cough persisted. At our institution our outpatient faculty clinics had already instituted a strict screening policy. All visitors to the building were funneled to the main entrance. There, two people screen any person entering regardless of whether they are visitor or employee. The q ..read more

Rationing tests? In the U.S.A.? It may sound strange to hear that in the land of plenty we are rationing tests. But here we are, ill prepared for a global pandemic. One of the most difficult things to say to patients who are having symptoms of cough and/or fever during this pandemic is that they need to stay home and act as if they had COVID-19. Testing, for the most part, is being reserved for the patients sick enough to require a hospital admission. I don’t think it helps that many people keep seeing things in the news touting how people can get tested without fully explaining the limitation ..read more

It is painful to watch the amount of distrust or disbelief amongst the public – even among those who are in healthcare. Last week I saw an article about young people still going on about their usual life, not willing to put things on hold. One of the people interviewed was a nurse. I saw another article from this week that beaches remain open in Florida for spring break. Parties were just told that they must keep their groups to 10 or less. However, the article also showed a picture taken on a Florida beach in Clearwater that showed pretty crowded situations (the picture was taken on 3/27/2020 ..read more

I had the chance to attend Obesity Week 2019 in Las Vegas from November 3-7. Obesity is not really a topic or area that I had much exposure to during training. But in the past few years I have wished that I knew more about it. After residency I worked exclusively in the inpatient setting as a hospitalist. For those of you unfamiliar with this term, it means that I only worked in the hospital treating patients who were sick enough to be admitted in the hospital. During this time I would frequently encounter patients with chronic medical conditions, many of which would improve with significant w ..read more