Category: primary care

Must-have medical apps for primary care

Earlier this year, we put together a list of what we thought were the best medical apps for health care providers. Now at the end of 2018, we’re augmenting that list to give you a full picture of what we think are must-haves medical apps for those in p…

Getting old ain’t for sissies

These days we are talking more about advanced directives and living wills in health care. This is progress, but as a member of the sandwich generation, I am focused on the aging process. I don’t have kids, but I have parents and have the honor of watch…

A rare condition that often happens to people with very poor eyesight

I have known him for over thirty years. He has been legally blind for the past five. He tends to be a practical, no-nonsense man. The other day, he seemed restless and very concerned as he lowered his voice and said: “I don’t want you to come to the co…

Why doesn’t the allied health field play a larger role in the care of patients?

The Association of Schools of Allied Health Professionals defines the allied health sector as “professionals that are involved with the delivery of health or related services pertaining to the identification, evaluation, and prevention of diseases and …

The old days of medicine are gone

In the last decade, specifically in the last five to six years, we have seen the gradual disempowerment of America’s physicians as well as their unfortunate patients. Starting with health management organizations, managed care, all the way to the insur…

A call for the end of routine opioid use after wisdom tooth removal

We are writing as a parent and a dentist to spread a message to parents and dental health care providers across Canada: there are alternatives to prescribing opioids after wisdom tooth removal. Removing wisdom teeth is considered by many as a rite of p…

The elderly couple who bought vitamins at the grocery store

I recently stopped by our local grocery store after work to pick up a handful of items to bring home. With only four items in hand, I luckily found a short checkout line behind this lovely elderly couple who were almost done and ready to pay. As they s…

A physician’s New Year’s resolutions

2019 is here. I started my year by doing an urgent care shift on New Year’s day.  It was not quite as busy as I expected; most of the shifts I’ve done around the holidays were high-volume, with lots of flu, other respiratory infections, and…

How carefully do most patients or doctors read medical forms?

Does any living, breathing human believe that there is not enough paperwork in our lives? While we are all burdened, I believe that the medical profession is uniquely deluged with an absurd volume of documentation requirements, most of which should be …

Patient care suffers when you squeeze patients into a tight schedule

86 minutes. That’s what I found when I added up how late patients were through a single practice session earlier in the week. Some patients arrived on time, and some a few minutes early, but the average was about 8 minutes late, ranging up to one…