Due to the surprises of the Delta Variant surge and to the ongoing safety measures, our lives are nowhere near the “normal” we hoped to reach by this time. All of us have had to dig deeply to find the stamina to sustain our Aequanimitas (to use Sir William Osler's term) in the face of a more stressful workload, social distancing, and the translation of much scientific data into narrative to update the public.

In a JAMA article, Humanism Before Heroism in Medicine, Urmimala Sarkar and Christine Cassel make a case for the heroic efforts of medical professionals as creating a risk for burnout unless the systems and the teams are functioning at a high level. Indeed, health care heroism is not new; a Smithsonian Magazine article announced the unearthing of a statue of the Greek health goddess, Hygieia, from a 5,000-year-old site. It is thought that a fifth century plague caused the spread of her health cult as far as Rome.

It does help to work in San Francisco where the community carefully observes precautions. Our trainees, however, move to places beyond the Bay Area. In a media interview, 2021 UCSF Medical School graduate, Juhi Varshney, who wrote so eloquently about her experiences at ZSFG as a medical student, describes her emergency department residency in a Miami hospital. She describes the pain of seeing sick families and pleads for vaccination “as an act of love.”

On a personal note, I take solace observing the fall migration of different of birds through my backyard, offering a sense of normality and some excitement and wonder.

We are pleased that for the second year ZSFG Providers have been included in the UCSF Provider Experience Survey. This year we saw a 42% increase in responses. Starr Knight is leading the work and will be sharing the results and ongoing work with the community in the coming months.

Recognize a UCSF colleague today!

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