Month: October 2012

The floor is open for discussion, we like to know your opinions. This will be my first post of the kind and hope to follow up with many more. Most of the valuable substance of these type of posts will come from the comments area and social media discussions. The goal: get a convergent conclusion about the topics we discuss. ____________________ The story: Marky Jones is a 27 year-old charming young man who followed the advice from his parents and graduated from high school with honors, entered in a well-recognized college of engineering (a career well-suited for his smarts) and graduated top of his class. He was doing great on the path to work and develop a career in a prestigious company on the thriving healthcare industry. However, while being surrounded by the whole healthcare atmosphere, the “medicine bug” bit him and he felt the calling of becoming a physician… He thought that most of the time and resources spent on engineering education would be wasted. To only consider going back to school and learn not only a completely different kind of knowledge but also very standard and strict attitudes and skills; make this decision the hardest one that he […]

A friend sent me an email 2 weeks ago about his experience in establishing care. A young male in his early 20s, he is healthy and was looking only for a physical. He had a less than stellar experience with the physician who saw him. “Is it just me or does it feel like mechanics gather more data on an initial inspection than doctors do during physicals?” he wrote, “I’m pretty sure that humans are more complex than most internal combustion engines.” He had a point. His concern is a common one: feeling like a physician’s quick glance at vitals and listening through the stethescope were not quite thorough enough. If there was something to be found, would this physician have found it? Our ensuing conversation and his experience was about expectations. We want our doctors to spend a sufficient amount of time on us to gather real data but we’ve come to expect our doctors to be in a hurry. A physician who takes his time is heralded as being above the curve. Those who don’t are never considered to be considerate of our time only sloppy with theirs. In order for healthcare delivery to be effective a physician […]