Opinion: I fear Covid-19 is pushing young physicians out of medicine
During more than 30 years as a physician and an officer in the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard, including deployment in Iraq, I have witnessed trauma and battle fatigue up close. I have seen the immense toll that unrelenting physical and emotional stress takes on the minds and bodies of soldiers — people in peak conditioning.
It worried me to see that same fear and exhaustion in young physicians recently as I completed a 100-hour, seven-day teaching rotation in a small community hospital near my home in coastal South Carolina. Fueled by the deadly Delta variant and a low vaccination rate, the fourth wave of the pandemic is punishing my beloved home state, pushing the local health system to its breaking point. Our community hospital has been operating above 100% capacity for the last month, an all-hands-on-deck moment that means long, intense days with clinicians and other health care workers often working extra shifts to cover staffing shortages.
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