“Yearly physicals are usually afforded a longer time than regular visits. If I can use most of that time focusing the discussion on what a healthy life means to each of my patients and what they need to achieve it, I feel that I’ve accomplished m…
Category: primary care
Make a difference, one life at a time
I was somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, heading to Ukraine “to make a difference,” or so I hoped. I was leading a medical mission to this beautiful yet poor and war-torn country. I was watching the movie First Man about the landing of Apollo 11 on the…
Lessons about love from the too-often overlooked among us
“Last question,” the woman from the insurance company said. Good, I thought; I was eager to get back to seeing patients. “How long have you been taking care of Sarah?” “I’m not sure,” I replied, “How old is she?” “She’s 34.” “Then I have been taking ca…
This physician misses seeing his patients
As I finished the endless clicking, the clinic day came to a close. Clicking to begin and end phone visits. Clicking to get on and off Zoom visits. The endless video game clicking that is life as a physician documenting electronic health records. Too b…
The promise and challenge of integrating primary care into community-based mental health centers
There is ample evidence that patients with severe mental illness are at high risk for significant medical comorbidities. A complex combination of factors contributes to this excess risk and consequential poor outcomes. Socioeconomic factors, side effec…
Expanding the osteopathic concept for the health of all things [PODCAST]
“We are all interrelated. This is the foundational basis of osteopathic medicine. Whether considering internal relationships of the systems of the body or the external relationships of a person with the world around them, connection is a key prin…
The pain I feel in primary care is real
Today I lost one of my patients. He saw me in the office for the first time about three and a half years ago. It went downhill after a simple infection, with repeated hospital visits back and forth, and ultimately today, he passed away. He gave a good …
What if the hierarchy in medicine was dismantled?
About a year ago, before the pandemic hit, I was at the local fitness center, having just completed a group exercise class, when my former residency program director entered the room. I hadn’t seen him in 20 years. He looked exactly the same, give or t…
4 steps to help you prepare for a successful virtual second opinion
If you’ve been diagnosed with a serious, rare, or complex health condition or your doctor has recommended surgery as a treatment option, your next step should be to get a second opinion on both your diagnosis and treatment options. There are several re…
Recommending yoga to your patients? Consider this first.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated and highlighted many health issues, particularly those suffering from chronic pain. An estimated 50 million people in the U.S. live with chronic pain, of which approximately 19.6 million experience high-impact chro…
