Dr. Miao was photographed in June of 2020. As a resident physician in emergency medicine, she worked alongside many others on the front line. “The mortality rate was very high. There was little information about the virus and we did not have ways to test for it or treat it,” Dr. Miao said.
Shortly after her residency was completed, she moved to Richmond, VA to work in a tertiary care community hospital where some people would travel from three hours away for medical care. In late 2021-2022, there was another large surge in Covid cases, though rapid tests and Covid-19 vaccines were widely accessible. “When we saw that second big wave of cases, it was really bad. Thankfully the mortality rate was lower than the initial wave of cases in 2020, but we were still intubating people.
Being Chinese, I was getting racist remarks from the people I was trying to help, it was very demoralizing. There was a lot of skepticism. Some thought the Covid shot was the reason people were getting sick. I feel like the ER is like the pit of the hospital—overflowing with patients, understaffed, and we didn’t have enough beds. Sometimes people were in a hallway bed for multiple days. We were having to run codes in the hallway, shocking people in the hallway, pushing meds in the hallway that should not be done outside of the room. The way hospitals staff is for profit. Less physicians equals more profit.”
Dr. Miao expressed her feelings of extreme burnout, sharing that in 2022 she saw a psychologist for the first time in her life. “After a couple months of therapy, I realized that the way I felt was not because of me, it was because of the system. This system is not right. Patients were neglected and I was seeing terrible things every day. Hospital administration would say we needed to have a better bedside manner, but they weren’t addressing the bigger issues at hand. It’s actually taboo to seek mental healthcare as a physician. A lot of physicians will pay out of pocket to seek mental healthcare so it will not be disclosed on their application for licensure.
The pandemic made me realize just how divided we are as a nation. It highlighted to me how much we're letting politics get in the way of important work. I don't believe politicians should be impeding the work of scientists and physicians, nor should they be propagating the spread of misinformation and pseudoscience. Unfortunately, this is a concerning trend that is only getting more prevalent today. It's sad to me that even in the face of a worldwide pandemic where people are dying at alarming rates, when Healthcare workers are risking their lives to help those in need, we still cannot unite together to fight a common enemy. As a nation we need to prioritize listening to experts and those on the front lines doing the hard work. It's not OK to openly undermine scientific evidence and expertise when you're in a position of political influence, especially without credible sources. It only leads to endangering public health.
I think I speak for most physicians when I say we're all worried about the future if we continue to allow those without any scientific or medical background to give medical "recommendations" that are not at all rooted in science. It also leads to massive burnout as it makes our jobs so much harder when trying to treat patients who now question us for actually trying to deliver evidence-based care.”
June, 2020
Emergency Medicine Physician