The Life of A Physician During the Pandemic with Dr. Sydney Deal - Part 2

Welcome back, healthy people! Glad to have you back for Part 2 of the Interview with Dr. Sydney Deal. This is my second episode in my series on the SARS-CoV-2 a.k.a. Covid-19. For context going into this episode, please check out part 1 of our interview.

Our Guest for this episode is Dr. Sydney Deal. She graduated magna cum laude from Baylor University with a major in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. She earned her Doctor of Medicine from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine and completed her family medicine residency at Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
In October 2019, she came on staff at Comanche County Medical Center and Doctors Medical Center as a board-certified family medicine physician providing care to patients of all ages in the clinic and hospital. Dr. Deal lives in Comanche with her husband and two young children. She is expecting her third child in June 2021.

[00:01 – 05:13] Healthy People Information

• 2 Different categories of Covid Testing
  • Diagnostic Tests
    • Molecular
    • Antigen
  • Antibody Tests
• Covid Testing capacity as of February 2021

[05:14 – 12:10] Part 2 of our Interview with Dr. Sydney Deal

• Quick intro about the valuable information discussed throughout the interview
• Preparing for the upcoming Covid wave in their area
• Educating people to follow health and safety guidelines both in public and private

[12:11 – 33:39] Dealing with Covid-19

• Typical course of Covid Patients from the Inpatient and Outpatient setting
  • Each patient responds to Covid differently
• Dr. Sydney’s experience in treating patients with a new and unknown virus
• Moving away from the idea of evidence-based medicine to deal with the pandemic
• Finding a doctor you can trust
• Experimental treatments based on others’ experience
• Making her educated decision to get vaccinated despite her pregnancy
• What we need to do to make it through this pandemic
  • Vaccination is the key
  • Follow safety guidelines

[33:40 – 39:30] Randy’s Random Questions

• You’re alone. You’re flipping through channels on TV, and you stop on one movie. What movie would that be?
  
• What is the one thing that you’ve learned to love about your husband, James?
  
• One word you would use to describe country/rural living
• One thing you miss about Atlanta
• Which one of your kids do feel will give you the most trouble as a teenager?
  

[39:31 – 44:40] Closing Segment

• Last words from our guest Sydney Deal
• Recap of key information discussed in the episode
• Final Words

Tweetable Quotes:

“Vaccination is the only way we're going to end this pandemic, with the least amount of deaths, and the least amount of other bad things that the pandemic has caused.” - Dr. Sydney Deal

“There’s no point wearing a mask to the grocery store if you’re gonna go to a family barbeque with 50 people on Saturday.” - Dr. Sydney Deal

“Find a doctor that you trust, somebody who is willing to spend time to answer your questions, address your concerns, and weigh all of these things into context about what is the right treatment for you.” - Dr. Sydney Deal

“Death and hospitalization is not the only bad outcome of this pandemic. So many kids have not been in public school, increased rates of substance abuse, increased rates of depression and anxiety, and economic depression.” - Dr. Sydney Deal

“The problem with metropolitan/urban living is the illusion of choice. You have too many choices, and you can spend so much time trying to decide what to choose.” - Dr. Sydney Deal

Resources and Links Mentioned:

Cheng, Dr. Anthony, et al. “Outpatient Management of Covid-19: Rapid Evidence Review.” American Family Physician, vol. 102, no. 8, 15 Oct. 2020, pp. 478–485.

• FDA Covid-19 testing Basics
• Antigen and Molecular Tests for Covid-19
• Comanche County Medical Center
• Seroprevalence
• Facts About Coronavirus
• Cases in the US

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