The New Norm

Yes, I am talking about the new reality we live in, post COVID. To say that every segment of Western society has bot been affected or even changed with the onset of COVID is not an exaggeration. Going to a restaurant or picking up groceries is now a whole different experience than just six months before. Healthcare is no different.

I have touched upon the impact of COVID in previous blogs. However, after several months of seeing how my practice has changed, I though it best to give a clearer picture of how treatments are in the TCM world. For one, I am looking more like I should be in some impatient facility with the requirement of me having to wear a mask, as a clinician.

When my patient walks in, the first thing I do is check her temperature. That’s even before I actually ask her about how he is progressing with his illness. This, in itself, is a big change compared to how I used to operate. The reader must appreciate that I have not even stated how the dynamics in the physician-patient relationship has changed.

For one, I have patients that I have seen for many months who are now reluctant to even seek treatment anymore. Their concern is the intimacy of the treatment encounter. One patient, who I have helped out tremendously with various ailments, is so terrified of what she watches and hears on TV/radio that she refuses to see anyone other than her primary care physician. She trusts the Western system more.

Western medicine is shining more favorably due to the fact that public figures like, Dr. Fauci, are a product of it. The average person will trust his system the most. As a TCM practitioner, do I feel that this is an uneducated position to take and follow? Absolutely. However, I know how impressionable our public is to so-called experts in the West. Western healthcare is functioning according to standards of a New Norm.