Bereavement after a coronavirus death may be traumatically distorted by our enforced absence — not “being there” to offer an embrace to a dying loved one. More
The worst of the pandemic may be behind the country, but for front-line health workers the scars might take much longer to heal. More
Health care in the U.S. relies on an “invisible army” of caregivers — mostly women. For many, stunted careers, lost earnings and exhaustion are part of the fallout. More
“Bernard's achievements and example are really hard for any of us to meet, but that example inspires so many people to recognise what is possible,” said Vikas Saini, the President of the Lown Institute, in Boston, MA, USA. “His mantra was always: We need to take collective action. What are you doing with others to change things for the better?” “At the core of the mission was the belief that a holistic approach that incorporated the physician's presence, attention, and deep engagement with the entirety of the patient's lived experience was absolutely essential to heal patients,” Saini said. “Technology always came second. In later years we would adopt a motto reflecting this philosophy: “Do as much as possible for the patient and as little as possible to the patient.” “He showed all of us who are clinicians what it meant to be a healer and a citizen of the world,” Saini said. “He believed that medicine must exist beyond the clinic to be true to its highest calling. That came from his unwavering moral commitment to social justice and the radically better system of health that we must create to achieve it.” More
Health care workers in the Middle East faced the highest rates of depression and anxiety while workers in North America faced the lowest, a new study revealed. More
The truths that lie beneath our loneliest year. More
About 50% of medical professionals were dealing with burnout before COVID-19, writes Dr. Jessi Gold. The pandemic has made it exponentially worse. More
In a profile in The BMJ, journalist Jeanne Lenzer highlights some of the important times Dr. Lown took a stand, and what this stubbornness cost him. More
I have long thought that there are three types of physician. The first is fascinated by the intricacy and complexity of biomedical science. The second finds inspiration in the personal relationship between doctor and patient. The third is committed to the broader context of health, to social justice and to making the world a better place. These three groups have boundaries that are necessarily fuzzy, and many doctors belong to one or two of them. Very few belong unequivocally in all three. Bernard Lown, who died recently at age 99, was one of these. More
Being a nurse was already hard. But in the pandemic, it’s become almost impossible. More
There are lessons for us all in the life and legacy of the renowned cardiologist and peace activist Bernard Lown, notes John Mandrola, MD. More
Lown touched my life through the Right Care Alliance—a sister organization of the Lown Institute. For a slow-adopting, skeptical medical conservative, the annual Lown meeting was nirvana. Lown meetings were the opposite of cardiology meetings. Cardiology conferences celebrate the science, congratulate the scientists, and promote the latest technology. Lown meetings tackled what is wrong with medicine: overdiagnosis, overtreatment, fractured specialty-centric care, biased evidence, and the crisis in end-of-life care. An invite to speak at Lown transformed my life. I couldn't believe this many people thought exactly as I do. I met clinicians, editors-in-chief, and researchers who study the state of medical evidence. My modest foray into academic work traces back to the connections I made. I now realize this was by design. Lown knew that bringing like-minded people together was vital. If somebody takes the initiative, others will see it and follow. A movement grows, then change happens. More
This randomized clinical trial examines whether a layperson-delivered, empathy-focused program of telephone calls could rapidly improve loneliness, depression, and anxiety in at-risk adults. More
The U.S. health system is too overwhelmed to address long Covid. One asset is not being deployed against Covid-19: long-haulers' caregivers. More
Bernard Lown, MD, a renowned cardiologist who played a pivotal role in the development of the first reliable heart defibrillator, died Feb. 16. "Bernard Lown was one of the greatest physicians of the last, or any century, and I was privileged to call him my teacher, colleague and friend," said Vikas Saini, MD, president of the Lown Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that advocates for civic leadership and accountability in healthcare founded by Dr. Lown in 1973. "He showed us what it meant to be a healer and a citizen of the world. His commitment to social justice and a radically better healthcare system illuminated his belief that medicine must exist beyond the clinic to be true to its highest calling." More
A leading Harvard physician who shared in the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize has died at his home in Newton. The prize was for activism against nuclear weapons. But Dr. Bernard Lown had a vast array of accomplishments. Dr. Vikas Saini is a clinical cardiologist and president of the Lown Institute of Brookline. He joined WBUR's All Things Considered to explain why he believes Lown was one of the greatest physicians of all time. More
In 2012, he helped found the Lown Institute. The Brookline organization describes its mission as “to catalyze a grass-roots movement for transforming health care systems and improving the health of communities.” “Dr. Lown embodied a rare combination of technical skill, scientific acumen, and profound humanism,’' said Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, in a statement. “His commanding yet deeply comforting presence allowed him to connect with his patients in a way that was truly dazzling to generations of young doctors in training at Harvard.’'
USA TODAY spoke with half a dozen mental health workers who told us the pandemic has been the most challenging year of their professional lives. More
The same electronic systems used to record when patients get a physical or go to the ER are also used to log data when coronavirus vaccines are given. But the systems don't share information easily. More
When her husband was exposed to Covid-19 in early January, Kerri Hurley and their two children moved immediately into her mother's basement, leaving him alone to quarantine. More