Docs Seeking Strong Connection to Patients Could Find it in Rural Practice
I was sitting in a meeting in Austin, Texas, 90 miles from home, when one of my patients was injured by a piece of metal that blew off a roof. My nurse called and said that this older gentleman's head needed stitches. I asked her to refer him to the nearest emergency room, which is about 20 miles from my office. "He says if you won't do it, he's going home," she said. Such is life for a family physician in a small, rural community. Patients can be incredibly loyal, especially when you have been around for a while. I couldn't let that patient go home with a three-inch laceration on his head, so I drove the 90 miles home, tr...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - February 8, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Feeling Detached: Lessons From Being a Patient (Again)
It's good to be back in Washington advocating for family medicine. And it's good to see the Capitol again, though my view today is a bit cloudy. You see, my last visit here ended in an unexpected manner. Not because of a bad meeting or difficult legislators but because of my own health. As I was leaving the White House on Jan. 3, I noticed a new, large floater in my field of vision. By the time I was driving home that night in Colorado, I was seeing flashes of light. (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - February 6, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Preparing for Match Grueling but Rewarding
Sadly for us mere mortals here in the real world, there is no Harry Potter-style sorting hat to magically place every medical school graduate into the residency program that would be an ideal fit for both the resident and the program. Instead, we have the Match. So last week, I, along with more than 16,000 other fourth-year med students, started ranking my list of potential destinations. (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - January 28, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Corporate Partner Program Helps FPs Support Health Care for All
Membership dues paid to the Academy and individual contributions to the AAFP Foundation play vitally important roles in helping both organizations reach their shared vision of improving the health of all people. But those funds represent just one portion of what is required to provide everything family physicians need from their specialty organization. There are more than 50 companies that also support family medicine each year through partnerships with the AAFP Foundation. This week, leaders and staff from both the AAFP and the Foundation will meet with those partners in Sarasota, Fla., to deliver an update on the Academy...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - January 28, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Asking Tough Questions About Abuse Can Save Lives
It was more than 20 years ago, but some patients you never forget. I was not the primary care physician for this new baby girl, but I was on call when her mother brought her in for a well visit. I had treated the mother, her husband and their other children before during sick visits. They seemed like an average family. During our last visit, the mother and I talked about typical new baby topics -- car seats, breastfeeding and immunizations. What I didn't know at the time was that this young woman was desperately looking for a way out of an abusive relationship. (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - January 22, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Dedicated Medical Students Drawing Peers to Family Medicine
Each year, seven student leaders chosen from our network of Family Medicine Interest Groups (FMIGs) come to the AAFP's offices in Leawood, Kan., for orientation before beginning their new roles. When our five FMIG regional coordinators, national FMIG coordinator and Student National Medical Association liaison to the AAFP met with Academy leaders and staff in January 2012, AAFP EVP Doug Henley, M.D., challenged them to boost student membership to 20,000. They delivered, helping boost our student membership by 3,500. (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - January 17, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
As Flu Reaches Epidemic Proportions, Protect Yourself and Patients
During the past three months, hospitals in my home state of Illinois have admitted 150 patients to intensive care units with influenza-like illness. Six of those patients died. During the same time last year, Illinois had two hospitalizations and no deaths from the flu. Closer to home in Chicago, six area hospitals were recently on bypass, in part because of the spike in influenza illnesses. And, we're not alone. The CDC said Jan. 11 that 47 states are reporting widespread influenza activity, and 24 states were reporting high influenza activity. In Boston, officials have declared a public health emergency after the number ...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - January 15, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Time for a National Conversation About Gun Violence
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest blessed me with a love, and respect, for the outdoors. I am an avid cyclist and experienced skier. I also grew up with guns, and I own sporting guns to this day. At the same time, my hospital -- Children's Hospital Colorado -- has served as a treatment center for wounded kids after two of the most horrific shootings in our nation's history: the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 and the more recent attack at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. Twelve students and one teacher were murdered at Columbine, and 12 people were killed in the theater shooting. Seventy-nine others were wounded i...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - January 8, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Concerted Effort Helps AAFP Make a Difference in Washington
The elections are over, and a last-minute budget deal between Congress and the White House prevented a 26.5 percent reduction in the Medicare physician payment rate. But, there is still much work to be done for family medicine in Washington. Although the fiscal cliff was averted, Congress did not repeal the sustainable growth rate formula. It merely offered yet another temporary patch, this time for one year. The budget deal also offered a two-month delay on the implementation of the Budget Control Act's sequestration provision, which calls for a 2 percent cut in Medicare payments. The sequestration provision also calls fo...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - January 7, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Chapter Meetings Shine Light on Constituent Issues
It's good to be home. In less than three weeks, I have been to Fort Myers, Fla., for a leadership symposium; to San Diego for the Family Medicine Working Party (the biannual meeting of seven family medicine organizations); to Lake Tahoe, Nev., for the Nevada AFP's annual meeting; and back to Florida for the AAFP Foundation's annual meeting with its corporate partners. Although all of these trips were important, the Nevada event stands out for me. It was our first constituent chapter meeting of the new year and just my second as president-elect. Each year, AAFP Board members make it to as many chapter meetings as we can. Th...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - January 4, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Rural Physicians Don't Have to Go it Alone
Rural physicians account for less than 20 percent of the AAFP's active membership, and that percentage is gradually shrinking. The trend in our membership is toward employed positions in urban areas. And although more than 11,000 family physicians are practicing in small towns, farming communities and other out-of-the-way places like Plainville, Kan., it's easy to feel isolated when you are the only physician -- or one of the few -- in town. It also can leave small-town docs feeling like we don't have a voice in what the Academy is doing on behalf of family physicians. (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - January 4, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Technology Brings New Meaning to Being There for Patient
As families gather and celebrate the holidays, I am reminded how things change and yet stay the same. We look forward to folks coming home, but travel is getting harder. Sometimes, we need to reach out through texting, tweeting, Skype, FaceTime, Facebook and other virtual methods. They may not seem as intimate, but they allow distant connections to be maintained and even grow. Family medicine is all about nurturing relationships. How we care for our patients is also being affected by social media technologies. I recently experienced a powerful example of how modern technology let me be there during a difficult time for one...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - December 31, 2012 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
