Register for 7/21

Shakeel Chowdhry, MD, neurosurgeon from NorthShore University will present on the challenges of caring for stroke patients during COVID-19.  Noorain Akhtar, MD, IAFP officer, will be the moderator.

In recent weeks, it has been reported that patients are delaying visits to the emergency department, out of fear of safety concerns related to COVID-19. Many are avoiding or delaying visits to the ED when experiencing obvious emergencies, such as stroke, only to worsen their outcomes. Family physicians may be the first point of contact for patients who want to avoid the ER, despite experiencing initial symptoms of stroke.

Shakeel Chowdhry, MD, neurosurgeon, NorthShore Neurological Institute, is urging family physicians to communicate these concerns with their patients, and reinforce the need to go to the ER rather than wait. However, if family physicians are seeing patients who have waited to contact them – even a few days after initial symptoms presented – not all hope is lost. There have been some recent advances in the treatment of stroke, which might interest your members as they are determining immediate next steps for stroke patients.

Dr. Chowdhry is with the NorthShore Neurological Institute.  He graduated from Georgetown Medical School and completed his residency at Case Western Reserve. His fellowship was at Barrow Neurological Institute.  Noorain Akhtar, MD, graduated from St. James Medical School, and competed her family medicine residency at Swedish Covenant, Chicago.  Her fellowship in biochemistry and molecular genetics was at University of Illinois at Chicago.