I've been a family medicine residency faculty member for nearly 5 years, and I've come to observe the yearly cycle of a residency over that time. Reminding myself of that cycle helps me weather and celebrate the peculiarities of each time of year.
July-September: Adjustment
Every resident's role changes on July 1. For the first-years, it's their first day of being called "doctor." Second- and third-year ...
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This question was what drove me to graduate school for an MPH degree a few years ago. I was finishing up my family medicine residency at, arguably, one of the top residency programs in the nation. I had been well trained in both medical science and doctor-patient relationship skills. Yet my patients still consistently did not adhere to my advice.
I was not disappointed in my MPH studies. It turns out ...
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Let's explore one of the most well-studied health behavior theories - the health belief model (HBM).
The HBM states that our health choices are a direct consequence of our perceived susceptibility to a disease, our perceived severity of a disease, and the perceived barriers that keep us from adopting better habits.
Perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and perceived barriers are three of the main constructs from the HBM. The word "perceived" is very ...
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I inherited motion sickness from my father's side of the family. I can't sit in the back seat of a car for more than 10 minutes without becoming sick. I take meclizine before every plane flight.
I inherited asthma from my mother's side of the family. Exposure to perfume, 90+ degree temps with 90+% humidity, or even a good laugh will all prompt me to cough.
These two maladies of mine have ...
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Wrinkles are bad.
So are small breasts.
Also crow's feet and age spots.
Jiggly arms and muffin tops.
Don't forget untrimmed pubic hair.
This tirade isn't limited to women.
Guys, are your muscles ripped?
Chest gleamingly hair-free?
Male member sufficiently enhanced?
On a regular basis, I see 9 to 11 year-old girls who tell me that they're cutting back on what they eat because they're "fat." While I'm examining them, ...
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Along with about 8.4% of the US population, I have asthma. To promote good doctor-patient communication, I can't sit too far away from you. To perform a high-quality physical examination, I must enter into your personal space. Several minutes of inhaling that strong scent, however, can cause me to have trouble breathing.
I've never been brave enough to bring this up before, ...
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Narcotic pain medication prescribing is an issue heavily laden with emotion these days. I have observed that most doctors tend to fall on one side of a spectrum bordered by these two extremes:
"Undertreated pain is worse than addiction."
On one end is the doctor who is deeply, morally troubled by patients in pain. This doctor is not unaware of the risk of addiction but is willing to risk being taken advantage ...
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I have a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal).
I want people to hear "family medicine" and know that it refers to a medical specialty dedicated to providing relationship-based, patient-centered health care.
I want people to know that family docs take care of a lot of complicated, challenging diseases - and not usually in isolation. Our patients have high blood pressure, complications from type 2 diabetes, congestive heart failure, depression, chronic kidney disease, ...
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"I'm sorry."
I said that phrase a lot last night during evening patient hours.
With an overfilled schedule, I mostly said it to patients who waited twenty, thirty, even forty-five minutes for me to see them. "I'm sorry for your wait. I appreciate your patience." I say these sentences far more often than I should. Why is it so difficult to stay on time?
I could blame my inadequate supply of nursing staff; ...
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I was sitting next to a resident in the preceptor room yesterday. He was calling a patient to discuss lab results, and introduced himself on the phone by his first name and last name ... but not with "Doctor." (e.g., "Hi, this is John Smith from the Family Health Center.")
I occasionally see the residents' patients for urgent visits. When I ask them who their regular PCP is at the office, ...
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"A comprehensive and extremely useful roadmap for doctors."
-Eric Topol, MD, author of The Creative Destruction of Medicine
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Past 6 Months
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Kevin Pho, MD | Kevin's Take