Category: primary care

Can science tell doctors what to wear?

In 2002, two Stanford dermatologists published a study in which they sent a questionnaire to a week’s worth of patients, asking them their preferences for how medical providers dress. The study covered relatively new ground. Two of the four references …

High-tech holistic medicine is the future of whole-person care [PODCAST]

“When we think about holistic medicine, many assume that it requires human-to-human touch points and, therefore, doesn’t lend itself well to technology and innovations such as artificial intelligence. In fact, holistic medicine and whole-person c…

Medicine’s contribution to my family

When my medical career was in its infancy, providing for my family after divorce meant moonlighting in addition to working full-time hours.  Although it was my decision, I was torn between my children and my work. Time in the hospital meant missing out…

The importance of teaching young children about the existence and acceptance of LGBTQ people

I am a primary care physician for adults and children at a safety net clinic in Los Angeles. I also teach medical students. I am an out lesbian and am planning on becoming a parent. I struggled with my LGBTQ identity as a teenager in the early 2000s. I…

A medical student learns to listen with her hands

In my first quarter of medical school, we learned the pulmonary exam.  We were told to watch the patient’s breathing, feel for any asymmetries, use our hands to gauge resonance and listen to all lung fields with our stethoscopes. It didn’t seem too dif…

What are your health goals for the coming year? [PODCAST]

“Yearly physicals are usually afforded a longer time than regular visits. If I can use most of that time focusing the discussion on what a healthy life means to each of my patients and what they need to achieve it, I feel that I’ve accomplished m…

Make a difference, one life at a time

I was somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, heading to Ukraine “to make a difference,” or so I hoped. I was leading a medical mission to this beautiful yet poor and war-torn country. I was watching the movie First Man about the landing of Apollo 11 on the…

Lessons about love from the too-often overlooked among us

“Last question,” the woman from the insurance company said. Good, I thought; I was eager to get back to seeing patients. “How long have you been taking care of Sarah?” “I’m not sure,” I replied, “How old is she?” “She’s 34.” “Then I have been taking ca…

This physician misses seeing his patients

As I finished the endless clicking, the clinic day came to a close. Clicking to begin and end phone visits. Clicking to get on and off Zoom visits. The endless video game clicking that is life as a physician documenting electronic health records. Too b…

The promise and challenge of integrating primary care into community-based mental health centers

There is ample evidence that patients with severe mental illness are at high risk for significant medical comorbidities. A complex combination of factors contributes to this excess risk and consequential poor outcomes. Socioeconomic factors, side effec…