Sensible Medicine

Sensible Medicine

What should we say to trainees who mask with every patient?

A first, second, and third opinion

Adam Cifu, MD's avatar
Vinay Prasad MD MPH's avatar
John Mandrola's avatar
Adam Cifu, MD, Vinay Prasad MD MPH, and John Mandrola
Sep 02, 2026
∙ Paid

Today’s prompt is: What do you say to the resident or student who you see wearing a mask throughout the day in the hospital — in and out of all patient encounters? For the sake of this discussion, let us stipulate the trainee is not receiving chemotherapy, and the mask is a surgical one. As always, three takes.

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