Being a physician is an important role. It’s easy to forget the impact that you have on a patient just by being at their bedside. It’s huge. Have you ever been a patient? It’s an incredibly vulnerable experience. You’re not real…
Category: primary care
Why Les Miserables should resonate with every physician
“I dreamed a dream my life would be … so different from this hell I’m living.” Twenty years ago, I would pull out my Les Miserables piano book and pound out “I Dreamed a Dream” while my fellow medical student/roommat…
How to build trust and therapeutic relationships in 15-minute office visits
It is well known by now that a physician’s demeanor influences the clinical response patients have to any prescribed treatment. We also know that even when nothing is prescribed, a physician’s careful listening, examination, and reassurance about the n…
Prescribing medication from a patient’s and physician’s perspective
At least a few times a year, I am asked to prescribe antibiotics to people who are not my patients. From my point of view, there is only one answer that makes sense here – no. I have the same reaction when patients call me for a refill or advice when I…
Black Man Syndrome: in memory of Bryan Gowdy
He came to the office in search of help as many patients do, but the circumstances that compelled him to seek medical attention were all too similar to me. I’ve seen it time and again. He said that he couldn’t sleep at one visit. At another, his blood …
The primary care solution is obvious, but don’t expect policymakers to jump on board
In a shocking development that could transform the medical profession, the International Journal of Health Services published the findings of a study titled, “Primary care, specialty care, and life chances.” Using multiple regression analysis, the rese…
Are you happy with your decision to go into medicine?
On a rare Sunday morning, I woke and had the time to make breakfast for my kids and their cousin, who’d stayed the night. My nephew said, “Thanks, Aunt Erin, I feel like I never see you.” To which my oldest (10) stated very matter-of-…
Navy SEALs are more than warfare providers
Navy SEALs are America’s elite fighting force. They are America’s most qualified soldiers who elect to undertake the most difficult selection process and training in existence. They are preselected by a number of traits, including intellige…
The impact of panels early in medical school on informing patient-centered care
As first-year medical students, we learn that the hallmark of a holistic medical education is an emphasis on the human, personal side of this profession. One way we develop our patient-centered competency is through attending patient panels as part of …
Physicians are not incentivzed to talk with patients on the phone
Talking to patients on the phone can be very efficient and quite rewarding, like when I called a worried patient today and told her that her chest CT showed an improving pneumonia and almost certainly no cancer, but a repeat scan some months down the r…
