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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.
The Changing Landscape of Telehealth Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
Merv is my 94-year-old patient living in Washington, D.C. in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, attempting to continue his treatments for diabetes, hypertension, and leukemia. He’s at significantly increased risk for severe COVID infection, though fortunately, due to Medicare’s
Hospital Visitor Policies in the Context of COVID-19: Ensuring Support & Promoting Health Equity for Laboring Patients
After working the night shift, Mandy, now five months pregnant, travels close to two hours on public transportation to make it to her prenatal appointments. The day before, I send her a text message with a reminder and ask whether she plans to get the gumbo special of the day or a grilled cheese with tomato from the hospital’s surprisingly delicious cafeteria. As a first-year medical student, I am participating in a program that trains me to provide additional support to a pregnant patient who I’m partnered ...
Birth Equity Requires Hard Truths and New Leadership
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States is finally experiencing a cultural shift in consciousness and awareness of racial disparities. And meanwhile, the maternal health community’s reckoning with racism is accelerating. Black women in the United States die from pregnancy-related complications at
A Model for Managing Outpatient COVID-19
On March 18, 2020, Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) opened its COVID-19 outpatient clinic (now referred to as the acute care clinic), with the goal to triage and provide care for patients with respiratory symptoms, ultimately reducing strain on our local emergency departments. CHA is an academic community healthcare system based in the Boston area and serves ...
Primary Care
Health Systems Transformation
COVID-19
Behavioral Health / Mental Health
Value in Health Care
Here’s Why Mental Healthcare Is So Unaffordable & How COVID-19 Might Help Change This
If you ask a patient to describe their experience finding a therapist or psychiatrist in the community, don’t be surprised if ‘expensive,’ ‘difficult,’ and ‘discouraging’ are some of the first words that come to mind. The decades-long separation of mental healthcare from physical health has left patients and clinicians alike with serious challenges navigating options for care. And the cost has been much more than just inconvenience—our poorly integrated system is responsible for
How Our Clinical Public Health Curriculum Equipped Us to Respond to COVID-19
The authors are fourth year medical students at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences who have been active participants in their medical school’s Clinical Public Health (CPH) curriculum. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the students applied their education to help launch and lead community response efforts, including creation of a
