Viewpoints: Health Care Sorely Lacking In Autism Training; Street Medicine Funding Needed For Homeless Patients

Stat: The Medical System Needs To Deeply Reform Its Care Of People With Autism
I walked into the hospital room of a patient I had been assigned that morning. Noah, an adorable boy with dark, coiled hair, had severe autism. His mom was sitting on the hospital bed with Noah sleeping soundly on her lap. He’d been admitted for only a few hours, but a lot had already happened. During the morning handoff, I had learned that my colleague, who admitted Noah, had refused to give him oral sedation before placing an IV, which he needed for antibiotics, despite his mother’s insistence that needles frightened her son and that, because he could not verbally communicate, he would lash out. When the medical team tried to insert the IV, Noah became extremely upset, hitting several staff members. The team finally listened to his mother, gave him the oral sedation she had requested, and quietly and safely placed the IV. (Amanda Joy Calhoun, 5/1)

Newsweek: Homeless Americans Are Costing Us Millions Each Year. Street Medicine Would Help 
Results from the nationwide 2022 Point-in-Time count will soon be released and reveal the state of homelessness in the United States two years into the COVID-19 pandemic. We need our legislators and hospitals to take action regardless of these findings. We cannot keep waiting for homeless numbers to skyrocket before we increase funding for homeless health care—homeless Americans already cost our health care system millions each year. (Anna Thorndike, 4/29)

The New York Times: What American Mothers Really Need 
I’ve been watching anti-abortion bills sweep the red states this season, and it occurs to me that the week of Mother’s Day might be a good time for a red-state mother like me to weigh in. I fervently support a woman’s right to choose, but I still spend a lot of time thinking about how Republican legislators could achieve their real goal without also trying to undo settled legal precedent. (Margaret Renkl, 5/2)

Los Angeles Times: Is That Pain You Feel All In Your Head? 
When I prolapsed a disc in my spine in the middle of a bench press back in medical school, pain became a persistent presence in my life, and I feared that my injury would end my nascent career as a physician. I completely forgot what it was like to be pain-free. I often considered the only way to end my suffering would be by ending my life. Yet because I had no wounds or scars, friends and colleagues questioned whether my pain was all in my head. That phrase felt like an erasure of my person, but I know now that there is more truth in it than any of my questioners could have imagined. (Haider Warraich, 5/2)

Colorado Sun: Colorado’s Cold Shoulder To International Medical Graduates
Recently, tens of thousands of medical school graduates got career-defining, life-altering news. Every March on “Match Day,” medical school graduates learn about their U.S. residency placements, in-depth postgraduate training programs, where they’ll hone clinical skills and focus on a medical specialty. It’s a celebratory time for many, but for others, including me, it’s a heartbreaking reminder that training, skills, monetary investments, and dedication to the medical field don’t always lead to a triumphant Match Day, let alone to careers contributing to our full potential in a workforce that sorely needs us. (Wafa El-ejmi, 5/1)

The Boston Globe: The 2,000-Year-Old Practice That Saved Me 
I became a physician to tend to the broken. Little did I expect to become broken myself. With each wave of the virus, I fell apart. In the relative calm that followed, and before the next surge, I gathered the pieces, rebuilding myself with just enough resolve to get by. There were moments — beyond bearing witness to the pain and suffering of my patients and colleagues — that made the process of rebounding more difficult, like the sudden loss of a close family member and the end of a loving but fraught relationship. I looked for help in those who were kind enough to offer it. But confiding in close friends and family, even speaking to a wonderfully attentive therapist with industrial-strength empathy, did little to excise the sadness that was spreading through my soul. (Arjun V.K. Sharma, 4/30)

The CT Mirror: Connecticut Should Lead On Primary Health Care Cost Reform
In March, the Insurance and Real Estate Committee advanced HB 5042: An Act Concerning Health Care Cost Growth with unanimous and bipartisan support. This bill is an important step to address the growing cost of healthcare delivered in Connecticut while improving healthcare quality. As the legislative session draws to a close, we call for action on this progressive and important measure. One component of this legislation is establishment of benchmark spending for primary care, ensuring necessary funding for efforts to deliver high-value comprehensive, preventive, and coordinated care to patients. The American College of Physicians (ACP) strongly supports this increase for primary care commensurate with its value in achieving better outcomes while limiting growth of exponentially increasing costs. (Drs. Anthony Yoder and Ruth Weissberger, 5/1)