A Day in the Life: Pat Liu

Pat Liu is an Internal Medicine Physician and avid runner with a passion for hiking, camping, snowboarding, and her cat Pekoe. In this edition of “A Day in the Life”, Pat shares a look behind the scenes with her administrative duties in preparing for the anticipated surge in patients and sick providers, as well as how her personal life and running have been affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

How has the last month been for you?

It’s been fine! I’ve been working from home for almost exactly a month and looking back at that time seems like both an eternity and like it could have been just yesterday.

What’s changed for you at your place of work?

So much! Being one of the chief residents, I have a lot of administrative duties and that’s what I’ve mainly been doing for the past few weeks. With the physical distancing, we’ve moved all of our residency didactics to virtual platforms (phew, steep learning curve for many of us!) and with the anticipated surge in patients and increase in number of sick providers, we’ve been busy creating plans for more back up sick call providers as well as how we’ll mobilize providers in the event of a “surge”.

What’s something others might not realize about the work you’re doing right now?

I think just how much thoughtful planning is going on behind the scenes for the anticipated “surge”. How will we decide who and what order to call providers in, how will we decide which providers to leave out of this pool. I also love seeing the number of providers who have volunteered to be the first to be called if someone is needed. It’s a reminder that we are surrounded by amazing and brave people. I’m feeling very fortunate that Portland’s case numbers have not been high thus far, relatively, to other parts of the country. I am cautiously optimistic that our “stay at home” measures are the reason for this but it’ll be crucial for us to continue remaining vigilant with these measures in the coming weeks.

What differences have you noticed in the ways that your communities are operating? (Whether that’s your place of work, neighborhood, clubs, inner friend circle...)

I’ve found that my husband and I have had virtual hang outs with people we may have not otherwise seen or hung out with if this hadn’t happened. For example, I’ve had more virtual hang outs with my friends in different states! This physical distancing seems to also be breaking down barriers of distance, ironically.

Have you had to make any adjustments to your schedule or routine for yourself or other members of your family?

I will start working on inpatient wards next week- I’m excited to get back at it! I’ll be wearing scrubs and a mask at work and will likely have to find a way to change out of them before I get back home etc.

How has running/fitness fit into your life with everything that’s going on?

It hasn’t changed very much other than I no longer go to the track because it’s been so busy and I miss my running friends sooo much I wish I could say I’ve been running more but everything’s been keeping me quite busy!