Louisville Medicine Volume 69, Issue 3 | Page 18

AUTHOR Frank Burns , MD
FEATURE

HOW COVID-19 PROFOUNDLY CHANGED MY PRACTICE AND MY LIFE

AUTHOR Frank Burns , MD

As I reflect back on the last 15 months since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic , I have given a lot of thought as to how my life has profoundly changed . To imagine that I spent my entire year as the Chair of the GLMS Board never attending any Board meetings in person is one example of how we could not have imagined any of this . The last face-to-face Board meeting was in March , 2020 , merely a week prior to the shutdown . I shall likely go down in the history of GLMS as the only chairman to run the entire year via Zoom !

However , I must admit it was much easier to keep the meetings on time by running the meetings through Zoom ; not having to drive downtown is reason enough to consider having virtual meetings for the foreseeable future . I am certain many other businesses and organizations have noted the value and efficiency of moving meetings to a virtual platform .
But it was wonderful to see my fellow Executive Committee members and some of the GLMS staff in person last week at the Presidents ' Celebration , held in the Fifth Third Club at Lynn Family Stadium . I wish Dr . Brian Sosnin good luck this year as our incoming President and I also want to congratulate Dr . Monalisa Tailor on the superb job that she did at the helm of GLMS during the pandemic . This was not a year for the faint of heart !
Last year at this time , I was still trying to come to terms with how my practice had changed so drastically in such a short period of time . I had already gone through what many of us had experienced from total shutdown , conversion to telemedicine , seeing only emergencies in person , and for surgeons like myself , ceasing elective surgeries so that precious personal protective equipment ( PPE ) could be saved for the hospitals taking care of the acutely ill patients with COVID-19 . I furloughed most of my office staff as we strategized for reopening the practice . We had a skeleton staff handling most issues by phone , while at the same time trying to obtain PPE . We pored daily over guidance from our local and state Departments of Health along with the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons as to how and when we could restart seeing patients needing urgent and emergent care . We kept our ear to the ground as to when surgical centers and hospitals would resume elective surgeries .
I must commend our leaders , Gov . Andy Beshear , Dr . Steven Stack , Mayor Greg Fischer and Dr . Sarah Moyer , for their stalwart , steady leadership during the darkest days of the pandemic . Dr . Moyer certainly must have gotten very tired of receiving my emails and text messages asking for clarification on CDC guidelines and the mandates coming out of Frankfort . It was with much relief that eventually , with the help of our leaders and our own GLMS providing PPE for many , we slowly began to reopen our offices and started to see non-urgent patients again . About a year ago , we were able to resume elective surgical procedures on a limited basis . The first time that I performed cataract surgery after a two-month layoff , it was a bit unnerving , but OK , like riding a bike .
Given all of these unknowns , you might better understand what profound changes have occurred to surgical eye practices since we reopened . Prior to COVID-19 , I was seeing over 60 patients daily : in retrospect , not allowing my patients the time with me they deserved . I was probably sending myself to an early grave given the attendant stress . When everything came to a screeching halt last year , my office manager and I pondered how many patients we could see while still maintaining safety measures in the office . We abolished crowded waiting rooms and moving patients in and out of the exam lanes after dilating , testing or in-office procedures .
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