“All too often, physicians and other health care providers have tried to do the right things for our patients to ultimately have had our hand slapped. So pause for a second, get the questions answered, know what future implications are for today’…
Category: primary care
Sharing the real art of medicine through shared tears
Have you ever found yourself with a patient not knowing what to say or do? Maybe you just told them they had cancer or that the last treatment option had failed or a loved one had died. I have, many times, and I always felt helpless, inept, and alone w…
Every patient makes me a better doctor
I knew it was the end of the world. I was about ten years old and returning home just as it was becoming dark. The sky began to be shot full of incredible colors coming from one direction. They became larger and brighter. Having been raised in a strict…
Will telemedicine make us better diagnosticians? [PODCAST]
“Sitting in front of my laptop with both of us on the screen, I can maintain decent eye contact even if I look something up or type something into the medical record. The patient sees me as paying more attention than when I couldn’t effectively b…
A physician learns from the lessons of running
Slow. Sluggish. Feet dragging. Legs heavy. The run was not the effortless morning wake-up I had envisioned when I sat on front steps tying the shoes. The gazelle I had envisioned, gently bouncing over the trails, had turned into more of a hippo waddlin…
10 telemedicine billing questions and answers that are relevant right now
This article is sponsored by Medici. Telemedicine has increased exponentially since the rise of COVID-19. It reduces COVID-19 exposure risk for both patients and providers. In many ways, telehealth has become an essential service for physicians and oth…
There’s a code for pain, but what’s the code for suffering?
Opiates relieve pain and can transport people to their apparent happy place. So does marijuana. Lyrica, the seizure-turned-pain medication, caused enough of a buzz in early study participants that it became a controlled substance. The anesthetic ketam…
An unintended consequence of COVID universal masking
Spring 2020 has brought a disproportionate amount of grief for many of us. The losses include mortal ones, such as the death of a loved one, a colleague, or a patient. We’ve lost productivity, opportunities, and income. We’ve also lost freedoms, from t…
A physician and her COVID-free island
I am a physician that was placed in a unique position. I was hired as a private contractor to work for three months in a remote medical setting on Wake Island. Wake Island is a remote island approximately 2000 miles west of Hawaii, with a population o…
The economics of primary care in a COVID-19 world
Much has been written about the response of the governmental agencies in the foreseeability of COVID-19 spread and management in the United States. Travel restriction from mainland China seemed to be a very timely intervention. However, instead of cons…
