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Wellness for Everybody—in Every Body
In recent years, several qualitative studies have given us field notes of patients describing their experiences having larger bodies and interacting... -
Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists: A Pharmacy Perspective on Insurance Coverage and Medication Access
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, more commonly referred to as GLP-1s, have undoubtedly garnered much fanfare the past five years. This... -
My Journey with GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs: Managing PCOS, Celiac Disease, and Metabolic Health
In my thirties, my body began to “betray” me. After years of running marathons, working out, and eating well, I found myself struggling with...
Archive
Perspectives in Primary Care features writing from practitioners, activists, and community members representing organizations, practices, and institutions across the United States and around the world.
Primary Care
Community Health
Health Equity
Public Health
Sexual and Reproductive Health
Behavioral Health / Mental Health
Advocacy
Healing Across the Divides: Peace Building Through Health, Part 2
Healing Across the Divides is based on the simple idea that all humans desire good health. And it was created because all Americans are engaged in the Middle East conflict, as Israel is the greatest ...
Insights
A “Mouthless” Medical Education: The Gap Between Medicine and Dentistry in Academia and Practice
Medicine and dentistry in the classroom: the context of Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine Since the conception of Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) in 1867, students at the dental school learned alongside medical colleagues at Harvard Medical School (HMS) during their early years of professional development. The idea of dentistry as a ...
Advocacy
Primary Care Innovations in Medical Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from the Philippines
It has been almost two years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This global health crisis continues to expose the vulnerabilities of health systems worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries such as the Philippines. While advanced hospital-based health care is required in treating the life-threatening complications of severe COVID-19, it is a
Knock-Knock: Our Ordinary is the Patient’s Extraordinary
The time reads 8:30 am. Walking down the pediatric wards as a third-year medical student, it is easy to get lost in the routine. Step by step with the rest of the medical team on morning rounds, I report an elevated direct bilirubin outside the patient room of a young newborn whose liver is looking a little “junky” to say the least. “His belly is soft and non-distended,” I report.
Sudden Death in the Realm of Possibility: The Psychosocial Trauma, Uncertainty, and Health Care Needs of Migrants Crossing the Mexico-U.S. Border
Matamoros, Mexico: The living conditions of displaced migrants Poverty, violence, natural disasters, and political instability are all forces that have led to mass migration and displaced populations globally. In the Americas, migrants crossing from Honduras into Mexico face a number of personal safety and health concerns, including a high risk of sex trafficking, ...
The Power of a Personalized Approach: Physicians’ Fight against Misinformation and Vaccine Hesitancy
“There was so much information out there, I didn’t know what to do. I just wish someone had convinced me to get the vaccine,” said a COVID-19 patient we cared for a few days after he had been transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU). Each day, we slowly turned up his oxygen. Each day, he could only manage a few words at a time as the virus, that has come to dominate all of our lives, ravaged his lungs. Every patient we have had in the ICU with COVID-19 in the last few months has been unvaccinated. Our team developed a practice of asking our unvaccinated patients why ...
Medication Abortion – Prioritizing Access in 2021 & Onward
Medication abortion is a common and important part of primary care…and access to safe abortion care will likely soon be made either harder or easier, depending on the state in which you live. The example of SB 8 in Texas is the most extreme currently, where no one can access an abortion in Texas if they are more than ...
Primary Care
Health Equity
COVID-19
Global Health
BIPOC
Behavioral Health / Mental Health
Addiction / Substance Use Disorder
Reflections on Tribal Primary Care in America
California of the pioneers, peopled by progressives of campsites with bear lockers of pines and berries of easy cilantro in markets of walnut milk of ocean vistas and Apple of fires in the woods. Our tribal health community “We want you to trust us with your primary health care,” I tell the 60-year-old patient whose body mass index (BMI) is just past obese. He is a native man who studied the classics in college and has been working on a book for 25 years. He lives with two sons ...
Addressing the Social Needs of Patients at Cambridge Health Alliance
Housing and food insecurity have always existed in Massachusetts, but the pandemic has exacerbated these issues. Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), an academic community health system serving Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston’s metro-north region, has witnessed this firsthand and is addressing the nutritional and housing needs of patients by connecting them to community-based support through the MassHealth Flexible Services Program. The