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Behind the Mask

Community Support and Solidarity

In times of great hardship and turmoil, communities often come together to support each other and overcome. And COVID-19 has been no exception. Across the world local volunteers have worked to support their community by offering up their own personal skills.

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Behind the Mask

Responsibility and Sacrifice

The Hippocratic oath. When doctors take it, they’re agreeing to care for their fellow human beings no matter what, and sometimes in ways only they know how. But when COVID-19 began to spread rapidly across the globe, it was this oath that was put to its finest test.  As cases rose across the globe so […]

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Behind the Mask

The Great Tech Divide

As the pandemic rolls on, general fears about the virus and many worldwide governments announcing order to stay home unless ill, led the way for technology to influence how healthcare systems continue to work.

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Behind the Mask

The Work-From-Home-Force

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided an opportunity for many to lean heavily into telework and digital medicine, but for one UK based cardiologist, it’s led him to reevaluate his work/life balance in a way he’s never been able to before. “Ends up that going to see patients in person is largely overrated. Certainly in ITU, […]

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Behind the Mask

Frustration In The Face Of COVID

The COVID-19 pandemic left one German pulmonologist with the realization that the healthcare systems he relied upon were much less robust than he had assumed. In particular, he felt that the government, in whom he had placed significant trust, was simply not up to the task. “In the beginning of COVID in Germany, our politicians […]

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Behind the Mask

Supply and Demand – The Global Chain

For a German cardiologist, the onset of the pandemic led to him reevaluate his ability to rely on a supply of necessary equipment when a true global emergency arose. What had appeared robust, was in fact an illusion: “The German health care system was actually quite professional and in…a good situation. But when the COVID […]

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Behind the Mask

Community Fight

For a US Rheumatologist, the COVID-19 pandemic initially presented an opportunity to step up and contribute in a large-scale way, but she quickly felt ill-supported in doing so. “As medical students, we always dreamed of being called to duty and to truly help someone. Now we get to do this. At first, I felt grossly […]

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Behind the Mask

COVID-19 – what’s to worry about?

As part of Behind the Mask, many different stakeholders were asked about their healthcare systems, as well their main concerns relating to COVID-19. In the latest survey of 210 respondents, only three* reported no fears at all. Others described 335 individual concerns, categorised into three similarly sized domains: As shown above, 29% of participants reported […]

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Behind the Mask

We’re all in this together

For a primary care physician in a small town in Germany, the pandemic may have strained the close-knit nature of her practice, but it was the way her patients showed gratitude to the hard-working doctors that became the light to guide them through the initial dark times. “Our lives have changed. Normally, our medical office […]

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Behind the Mask

About time, transforming the delivery system

For a Chief Medical Officer of a large hospital based in the US, the COVID-19 crisis has been a driving force in accelerating some key changes in the medical delivery system; leading to urgent re-examination of those practices. But unexpected consequences have also caused drawbacks in other critical areas. Something he’s seen acknowledged at an […]

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Behind the Mask

How the pandemic is changing medicine

An English GP working on the healthcare front lines from the very beginning reported on pandemic’s impact on her job and how she’s had to embrace technology to rapidly adapt to the changes it’s brought; bringing her practice online and completely digitalizing it. Like everyone, she’s had to learn how to deal with new problems […]