If you are a physician unhappy with your current EHR system (surveys suggest 2 out of 3 are), and you do have the ability to switch, this article is for you. Our COVID-19 pandemic may place you in a bad financial time for this, but it’s also plac…
Category: primary care
The superpower of being present
I turned to my 2-year old daughter with a simple ask: “Can you worry about tomorrow for me?” Blank stare. “All I am asking is that you worry about tomorrow. Just follow the lead of us adults who make it look easy. Now, can you do that for daddy? (Don’t…
What can patients do to lower the risk of errors in their electronic medical records?
In a perfect world, an electronic medical record would aggregate a patient’s medical information from all health care providers into a single, comprehensive record that could be easily accessed by any provider with the patient’s permission. This inform…
During COVID-19, not everyone can get with the digital program
During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, hospital edicts issued to protect patients would expose institutional frailties. The drastic implementation of nationwide telehealth measures would detrimentally affect patients who lacked access to health…
When chlamydia became TMI
“Would an STI cause abdominal pain?” someone in a class discussion asked. “Well, when I had chlamydia, I didn’t have abdominal pain,” I responded truthfully. Instantly, the group went silent. “OK, Jay. That’s … TMI,” someone else in the group quickly r…
When learning medicine is not enough
“Hey, doc,” our new patient grinned at me without teeth. He wears his teeth to eat peanuts, he explained, but today was hankering for a ham sandwich, so left the teeth at home. Here in the clinic straight from the logging job that he had worked for the…
What do you want from health care after COVID?
In the last six weeks or so, the practice of medicine has been turned topsy-turvy by the COVID pandemic. Those weeks seem like an eternity. We have been so consumed with testing and treatment coronavirus, flattening the curve, and figuring out how to …
After COVID-19, there’s no turning back from a digital clinical workforce
Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has challenged our health care industry in profound and irreversible ways, creating massive pressure that has exposed system-wide inefficiencies and inequalities. It has also fundamentally shifted the way first responders, …
When doctors weren’t needed anymore: a short story
Annie’s brows drew together at the unfamiliar word in her third-grade history lesson. She swiveled from her screen to face her mother. “What are doctors?” “They were people specially trained to care for sick people.” Annie was still perplexed. “What’s …
A story of a family physician looking for work during the pandemic
I never expected to find myself in this position. Ironically, I, a family medicine physician, in a world grappling with a pandemic, became underemployed for the first time since high school. A unique set of circumstances led me to this situation, but …
