In most other human activities, there are two speeds, fast and slow. Usually, one dominates. Think firefighting versus bridge design. Health care spans from one extreme to the other. Think code blue versus diabetes care. Primary care was once a place w…
A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. The administrative burden associated with caring for patients in today’s health care system has emerged as a primary driver of the loss of joy in the practice of medicine a…
As doctors, most of us went into medicine with a true desire to help other people. What was once a noble profession is now being worn down by outside forces trying to control us. Third-party insurance companies are driven by profits, not by optimal car…
Twenty-five years ago, when I entered medical school, clinical notes were written in paper charts that were filed numerically on shelves. We didn’t have the electronic medical record (EMR), and burnout wasn’t on the radar. In the past few years, this h…
We primary care physicians hate data. Taken on their own, numbers are benign, but when we hear the word “data,” physicians are reminded of a litany of related issues that make our lives far more difficult: checkboxes. Regulatory compliance….
The backbone of a great health care system is its primary care task force. From Singapore to France, elite health care systems rely on these cerebral doctors to provide preventive, urgent, and acute care along with chronic disease management. Primary c…
A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Of all medical specialties, perhaps the most difficult to understand is internal medicine. While the name suggests that those who practice internal medicine focus primarily…
Flu vaccination prevents millions of flu-related illnesses and deaths annually, but vaccination rates are low for many reasons. During the 2018-2019 flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that about 45% of U.S. adults recei…
For most of us, going to the doctor is not at the top of our favorite things-to-do list, but it may be one of the most important. Whether the visit is for a scheduled check-up or to deal with a new problem, there are ways you can make the visit less st…
Working in both the inpatient and outpatient setting, I have to frequently recommend my patients follow-up as soon as possible with their primary care doctors. I work in a couple of different locations, urban and rural, and I must say I have noticed a …
