Physicians and the Microbiome - Experience of Covid-19 for practicing physicians

COVID-19 Research Area(s): Healthcare Delivery & Policy, Social Impacts

Medical doctors adjust clinical practice over time based on new research and official public health recommendations. Research has advanced our understanding of the importance of microbiomes to human health and medical practice is adapting. However, biomedical conceptions of infection and pathogenesis are founded on an understanding of human homeostasis established prior to modern knowledge of beneficial micro-ecologies such as the gut microbiome. In the era of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) physicians are confronting emerging pathogens using pre-existing conceptions of how humans and microbes interact. This study will explore these assumptions and establish a sample of how physicians conceptualize microbial agents in daily clinical encounters.