{"id":10704,"date":"2023-06-08T09:00:26","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/?p=10704"},"modified":"2023-06-08T09:26:44","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T13:26:44","slug":"fifteen-years-later-why-im-still-writing-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/fifteen-years-later-why-im-still-writing-this\/2023\/06\/08\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifteen Years Later, Why I&#8217;m Still Writing This"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_10708\" style=\"width: 267px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10708\" class=\" wp-image-10708\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/06\/time-flies-g3d3cb9cb8_1280.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"257\" height=\"205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/06\/time-flies-g3d3cb9cb8_1280.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/06\/time-flies-g3d3cb9cb8_1280-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/06\/time-flies-g3d3cb9cb8_1280-1024x818.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/06\/time-flies-g3d3cb9cb8_1280-768x614.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 257px) 100vw, 257px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-10708\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image by <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/users\/angeleses-4701261\/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=2470848\">Angeles Balaguer<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/\/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=2470848\">Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Seems like just yesterday that my wonderful editors at <em>NEJM Journal Watch<\/em> helped me write a piece marking this site&#8217;s 10-year anniversary.<\/p>\n<p>But no &#8212; that was <em>5 years ago.<\/em> Yikes.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s see, what happened since the spring of 2018 that is relevant to this place:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>216 posts.<\/strong> According to our crack research team, that&#8217;s one every 8.449074 days.<\/li>\n<li><strong>2,138 comments.<\/strong> Most of them nice, helpful, interesting. Wonderful community here.<\/li>\n<li><strong>13 polls.<\/strong> The one with the most votes in the past 5 years <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/diagnostic-tests-for-syphilis-continue-to-perplex-even-the-experts-an-unanswerable-question-in-infectious-diseases\/2020\/01\/13\/\">involved syphilis testing<\/a> <\/strong>&#8212; a quintessential ID poll, isn&#8217;t it? <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/should-doctors-still-be-allowed-to-wear-white-coats-you-decide\/2015\/11\/01\/\">Should doctors still be allowed to wear white coats?<\/a> <\/strong>is still the all-time winner, from 2015.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jwatch.org\/fw117715\/2021\/04\/19\/physicians-first-watch-coming-close\">No more Physician&#8217;s First Watch.<\/a><\/strong> I can&#8217;t begin to describe how much I miss this reliable and insightful summary of medical news, delivered daily &#8212; what a great service. Not only that, they were also kind enough to link to my posts on a regular basis, greatly increasing and diversifying the readership. I wish it were back!<\/li>\n<li><strong>There was a global pandemic.<\/strong> Oh yeah, that. Note the date on that syphilis poll, January 2020 &#8230; &lt;&lt;involuntary shudder&gt;&gt;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It&#8217;s this last item which makes the current look back so different from <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/looking-back-decade-blogging-hiv-infectious-diseases\/2018\/05\/06\/\">the first one<\/a>. Something momentous and literally world-changing happened during the past 5 years &#8212; and, like it or not, we ID specialists were front and center in the response, right from the start. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/news\/item\/05-05-2022-14.9-million-excess-deaths-were-associated-with-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-2020-and-2021\">15 million deaths<\/a> later, that&#8217;s got to hurt.<\/p>\n<p>I thought of this recently when Medscape <a href=\"https:\/\/www.medscape.com\/slideshow\/2023-lifestyle-infectious-disease-6016081?ecd=WNL_physrep_230524_lifestyle2023_rm_etid5460059&amp;uac=18368HV&amp;impID=5460059#1\">published one of its physician polls<\/a>, this one on Lifestyle, Happiness and Burnout.<\/p>\n<p>The results? While all physicians experienced a decline in happiness compared to pre-pandemic times, ID physicians have dropped a ton, falling to the bottom of list.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Medscape?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Medscape<\/a> survey, ID physicians experienced a large drop in self-reported happiness comparing pre-pandemic to now, and we find ourselves at the bottom of the list.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4VzU7O7XRH\">https:\/\/t.co\/4VzU7O7XRH<\/a><br \/>1\/3 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sJqDTLmjCy\">pic.twitter.com\/sJqDTLmjCy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Paul Sax (@PaulSaxMD) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PaulSaxMD\/status\/1665284493400473600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 4, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>We can quibble with the methodology. Only 90 ID doctors surveyed! How representative of the specialty can this be? And the differences between many of the specialties are marginal. But I still believe the results mean something &#8212; namely that we&#8217;ve taken a big hit.<\/p>\n<p>Which brings me back to one of most common questions I still get about writing this blog, which is <em>Why do you do it?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Some of the answers are the same as what I posted 5 years ago &#8212; namely, that it&#8217;s fun, it&#8217;s a chance to write in my own voice rather than the voice of academic medical journals, and my editors let me be alternatively serious and silly without batting an eye over the dog, baseball, or comedy videos.<\/p>\n<p>But also now, after we&#8217;ve passed the worst of the pandemic (crossing fingers), it&#8217;s a chance to highlight the continued joy and excitement of the specialty of Infectious Diseases &#8212; a field which, for all its problems, remains endlessly fascinating and rewarding. Again, I&#8217;ll <a href=\"https:\/\/njmonthly.com\/articles\/top-doctors\/medicines-master-sleuths\/\">cite this magazine feature<\/a> on the practice of ID featuring Dr. Jerome Levine. His words:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Never once in all my years of practice have I ever been bored.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;m pretty sure this comment resonates with ID doctors everywhere. How many clinicians are lucky enough to feel this way about their specialty? Describing this dynamic world of ID is the primary reason I continue to write here, whether it&#8217;s a Link-o-Rama, a Really Rapid Review&#x2122;, talking through a clinical dilemma or controversial study, ranting about a commonly held annoyance, or just getting a chance to post some ideas floating around in my head.<\/p>\n<p>So as long as you keep reading it, I&#8217;ll be writing it. Hope I&#8217;ve conveyed &#8212; and continue to convey &#8212; some of that joy.<\/p>\n<p>And speaking of videos, how about this catch? It just might be the most remarkable one in the history of professional baseball.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ballplayer&#039;s Amazing Wall-Climbing Catch - Masato Akamatsu Makes One of the Greatest Catches Ever\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YaxpAkOWNM0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Got to love his face after the catch. <em>Had it all the time.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seems like just yesterday that my wonderful editors at NEJM Journal Watch helped me write a piece marking this site&#8217;s 10-year anniversary. But no &#8212; that was 5 years ago. Yikes. Let&#8217;s see, what happened since the spring of 2018 that is relevant to this place: 216 posts. According to our crack research team, that&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-care"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10704\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}