29 minute read
noteworthy
a variety of questions. …her back was to me during the time she asked these questions. When she began the physical examination, it was interspersed with visits to the terminal. … Not only did I feel the appointment was rushed (a separate issue), but the quality of the visit was diminished by the time my physician had spent at the terminal, turned away from me. After this experience, I wondered about whether providers are receiving the EHR training needed to properly integrate this technology into their practice. …When I left my physician, I was not thinking about the short wait time or how quickly I was able to schedule the appointment. I was feeling I had been neither seen nor heard by my doctor and the feeling was negative.
Tariq Dastagir says: Very important point. In my practice I stand or sit on a stool facing the patient with my computer on my righthand side. I do minimal data entry in the computer during our visit, but use it to review charts, answer the patient’s questions, and share medical information with them on the screen. Sometimes I use it to show them images online which are relevant to their condition.
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John Ludlow writes: Healthcare is more of a service than a commodity but because of increasing overhead and decreasing reimbursements we’ll do whatever we can to push patients through our offices quickly while satisfying all of the “requirements” mandated by CMS and the insurance companies. It’s hard to develop relationships with patients when we’re worried about satisfying the payer and avoiding things like fraud and malpractice. Plus, with the impending change in reimbursement to ACOs (all physicians will be salaried employees) there will be even less urgency to “serve” the patient. Maybe medicine is a commodity.
Do you worry that your EHR pulls your attention away from the patient? Tell us what you think; join the conversation at http://bit. ly/balance-patient-interaction.
Advocate BroMenn Medical Center
www.bromenn.org 309 454 1400
All Children’s Hospital
www.allkids.org 727 898 7451
Bronson Battle Creek
www.bronson battlecreek.com 245 966 8000
Central Maine Medical Center www.cmmc.org 207 795 0111
Christiana Care Health System
www.christianacare.org 302 733 5339
Crozer-Keystone Health System
www.crozer.org 800 CK HEALTH (254 3258)
Desert Regional Medical Center
www.desertmedctr.com 760 323 6511
ETMC Regional Healthcare System
www.etmc.org 800 648 8141
The following institutions sponsor Physicians Practice in their geographic regions. Physicians Practice is mailed to practicing physicians within these geographic regions.
Hoag Hospital
www.hoaghospital.org 949 764 HOAG (4624)
St. Francis Health Center
www.stfrancistopeka.org 785 295 8000
Holy Cross Hospital
www.holy-cross.com 954 351 7844
Indiana University Health Physicians
iuhealth.org/physicians 800 622 4989
Lancaster General Health
www.Lancaster GeneralHealth.org 717 544 5511
Loma Linda University Health System
www.lomalindahealth.org 877 LLUMC 4U (558 6248)
Maimonides Medical Center
www.maimonidesmed.org 718 283 8227
Marshfield Clinic
www.marshfieldclinic.org 877 647 3337
Munson Healthcare
www.munsonhealthcare.org 800 468 6766
St. John’s Hospital
www.st-johns.org 217 544 6464
St. Luke’s Hospital
www.stlukescr.org 319 369 7211
SUNY Upstate Medical University
www.upstate.edu 800 544 1605
Swedish Medical Center
www.swedish.org 800 SWEDISH (793 3474)
UNC Hospitals and the UNC School of Medicine at Chapel Hill
www.unchealthcare.org 800 862 6264
University of Virginia Health System
www.uvaphysiciandirect.com 800 552 3723
Providence Health & Services
www.providence.org/oregon 503 574 7500
Wesley Medical Center
www.wesleymc.com 316 962 2000
Saint Francis Medical Center
www.sfmc.net 573 331 5877
Wolfson Children’s Hospital
www.wolfsonchildrens.org 904 202 8000
Stopping Gossip at Your Medical Practice
By Sue JacqueS
M
edical practices, specialty clinics, hospitals, and hospices are fighting a pesky virus: gossip. Trash talk, potty-mouth, he said/ she said — these are only a few of the terms that are commonly used to describe plain old malevolence. If only there was a vaccine for vitriol. Like a bad flu, the bug of workplace disrespect can strike anyone in a moment of weakness, damaging professional relationships and patient care. No one is immune.
It’s hard to place a concrete value on the benefit of professional civility; yet take one look at someone who’s been spoken to or about with condescension, and you’ll learn all you need to know about its worth.
Healthcare professionals are pre-wired to focus on wellness, not weakness. Strong professional relationships are as vital to patient treatment as medication, because patients can sense when there’s an undercurrent of tension. And that’s the last thing a sick person needs. Put an end to gossip in your medical practice; doing so will improve the emotional health of your practice, your staff, and the patients who rely on them.
Here’s a four-step guide to help your office Stop Talking About Trash — STAT:
S: Step away from the conversation, even if you can only do so in your mind. The second you hear someone speaking disrespectfully about someone else, take a mini-mental or physical break and quickly scrutinize your internal guiding principles to determine if this is the kind of dialogue you will allow yourself
to take part in. More often than not, when you really listen to your heart, the answer will be no.
T: Triage your options. When you find yourself in the grip of gossip there are usually a few ways out. If it occurs in an informal group setting, the simplest thing to do may be to quietly leave the room without a fuss. In circumstances when gossip is one-on-one, it’s best to take a non-confrontational stand early in the conversation by saying something like, “I’d rather discuss this when Josh can be here to share the details from his perspective.” But if out-of-control gossip is contaminating your office or unit, you need to be bold enough to play a central role in creating a solution. That starts with a personal commitment to remain uninvolved in gossip, because being an audience to it is as detrimental as uttering the comments yourself.
A: Ask for support. Can you imagine what would happen if you said, “Is anyone else tired of the way we’re communicating around here?” If you’re uncomfortable with the level of gossip at work, chances are some of your colleagues are as well. It’s common for people to suffer in silence. Don’t do that anymore. Take the lead by speaking up. Doing something like volunteering to lead a committee whose mission is to reverse rudeness at work will empower you to become an ambassador for civility. And if you’re a manager who is hearing about chronic gossip, listen to your staff and work with them to delete disharmony. T: Turn it around. Your patients are your priority, and they need your full attention. Yet it’s hard to focus on listening to them when you’re worried about what others are saying about you. You can refresh your team’s spirit by taking steps to exclude gossip as an acceptable form of banter. Talk with colleagues about posting signs in meeting spaces, coffee rooms, and employee manuals that state, “We are proud of our gossip-free work zone.” Include a courtesy gauge in performance reviews, and inspire one another to focus on kindness rather than cattiness. You’ll be amazed at where that attitude shift will lead you.
We change the world one action at a time. Here’s a simple way to begin: The word gossip begins with the letters GO. We can STOP gossip if we get up and GO when it starts. n
Sue Jacques is The Civility CEO™, a veteran forensic medical investigator turned corporate civility consultant who helps individuals and businesses gain confidence, earn respect, and create courteous corporate cultures. www.TheCivilityCEO.com.
Medicinal Microchip
We’ve all heard of implanting GPS microchips in family pets, but what about implanting medicinal microchips in humans? That could soon be a very real possibility. Encourcould soon be a very real possibility. Encouraging results of a human clinical trial with an aging results of a human clinical trial with an implantable, wirelessly controlled and programimplantable, wirelessly controlled and programmable microchip-based drug delivery device mable microchip-based drug delivery device was recently published in Science Translational Science Translational Medicine. MicroCHIPS, the company that created MicroCHIPS, the company that created the device, hopes it will improve management of the device, hopes it will improve management of chronic diseases like osteoporosis, cardiovascular chronic diseases like osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. It plans diseases, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. It plans to fi le for regulatory approval of the device in to fi le for regulatory approval of the device in 2014, according to PhysBizTech.
Overweight Omissions
Physicians who are overweight or obese are far less likely than their thinner counterparts to discuss weight-related issues with obese patients. That’s according to a nationwide survey of 500 physicians conducted by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The survey, published in the journal Obesity, also found that overweight physicians are less confi dent discussing diet and exercise with patients.
Quotable:
–Robert Wah, MD, speaking to NPR about Congress’ decision to implement a temporary Medicare “doc fi x” rather than identifying a permanent solution to the fl awed SGR formula.
Stat:
Luring Docs with Unusual Incentives
Forget higher salaries, fancy homes, and signing bonuses. A tiny hospital in southwest Kansas is trying a different route to attract physicians.
Candidates are offered eight weeks off for missionary work overseas. The tactic has already lured at least one physician to the medical center, Ashland Health Clinic, according to NPR.
The percentage increase in the number of American medical students matching into primary-care residencies between 2009 and 2011.
Source: Association of American Medical Colleges
What’s Your Signature Worth?
In 2011, 88 percent of hospital-recruited physicians were paid an average bonus of more than $20,000 to sign their employment contracts. That’s according to The Medicus Firm, a national physician search fi rm, which compiled physician placement data from 103 U.S. healthcare systems ranging from rural community hospitals to large national healthcare systems.
Interaction Improvements
How can you improve your exam-room interactions with patients? Here are 10 easy tips, courtesy of Practice Notes blogger George Taylor, president of Beyond Feedback, a fi rm that advises practices on patient experiences:
Telemedicine Crosses State Lines
When it comes to practicing medicine remotely via telemedicine, the regular rules may not apply. A Utah senator hopes to promote telemedicine by introducing a bill this spring that would eliminate the requirement that physicians apply for separate medical licenses in each state where they practice, according to Government Health IT.
1. Minimize interruptions. 2. Ask open-ended questions. 3. Stand or sit at the patient’s eye level. 4. Face the patient directly and maintain eye contact. 5. Always speak in the fi rst person. 6. Describe clinical issues in nonclinical language. 7. Use analogies to explain complex issues. 8. Explain each step of the exam. 9. Note when and how patients will hear about test results. 10. Encourage patients to call with questions.
Primary-care Makeover
The Washington Post recently laid out two predictions for how primary care will change as the country addresses the looming doc shortage. In one scenario, the “traditional” primary-care work force would be bolstered by increased reimbursements, more residency openings, and additional scholarships to medical students. The other scenario would establish a “different” type of primary-care work force. Requirements for foreign doctors to practice in the U.S. would ease, and other medical professionals — like nurse practitioners — would take on more responsibilities. Which scenario is most likely to occur? According to The Post, “a looming shortage of 30,000 primary-care physicians by 2015 leaves space to bump up the numbers of traditional and nontraditional providers.”
Not enough hours in the day? Small changes make a big difference.
By AuBrey WestgAte
n 2004, family physician Lynn Ho opened a medical practice in North Kingstown, R.I., and she decided to go it alone — completely alone. Though she outsources her billing, she employs no other staff members — no receptionist, no nurses, no administrator.
During the first few years following the practice’s opening, Ho says she was completely “bombed” with work. “I would sometimes stay until 2 or 3 [a.m.] in the office once a week just trying to get the billing out.”
Yet Ho’s office is thriving today because she has added tools that she says are vital to keeping her workday moving efficiently and productively.
These tools — such as online appointment booking, e-mailing with patients, and having patients enter medical histories online — allow Ho to spend less time completing administrative tasks and more time seeing patients. “It’s extremely important to be efficient,” Ho says of running her practice. “The less efficient I am, the later I go home. The more efficient I am, the less I work.”
From technology additions (like those Ho put in place), to rearranging staff responsibilities, to cross-training employees, to benchmarking and goal setting — small changes at your practice can help you move forward more efficiently and productively.
GETTING STARTED If you think your practice is operating as efficiently as possible, think again, says practice management consultant Owen Dahl. “Regardless of specialty, regardless of size of a practice … everyone needs to recognize that they are not as efficient as they could be.”
There is always room for improvement, and though it may be tempting to continue running your practice as usual — who really has extra time to seek out improvements when you’re already struggling to keep up with your daily workload? — Dahl says taking the time to look for inefficiencies will pay off in the long run.
Finding and eliminating one redundancy in the reception area for example, could reduce each patient visit by one minute. That could add up to an extra 20 minutes per day. “Well, that 20 minutes, that’s something you could do something with,” Dahl says. And small improvements beget bigger changes. “If we clean up the smaller issues — those that are easier to fix, those that bring a good change — that frees us up with more time available to really take a look at what we can do to improve in other areas,” he says.
Practices should start the efficiency improvement process by asking: “What’s important to us?” he says. The answer could be reducing patient wait times, increasing the number of patient visits per week, or reducing the amount of time nurses spend on the phone each day. “Identify just one thing that needs to be fixed that you can fix,” Dahl says. “Don’t tackle the entire practice.”
Not sure how to get started? Assessment tools can help. They provide a quick and easy way to look at your processes differently, and as a result, they shed new light on how things could be better handled.
Benchmarks. When too many people share the same responsibilities, it wastes time and resources. On the other hand, when employees are stretched thin, tasks are not completed on time. Rob Culbert, president of Culbert Healthcare Solutions, a healthcare consulting firm in Woburn, Mass., recommends determining how your staffing compares to practices of similar sizes and specialties. That can help you “understand where [you] fall on the spectrum of being heavy on the staffing side or light on the staffing side or not having the right people in the right places,” he says. Consider using a benchmarking tool, such as the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Cost Survey report, available for purchase at MGMA.com. It provides average staffing ratios for practices of various sizes and specialties.
Flow Charts. Creating a simple diagram of your office and the activities that take place in each area can help identify where, when, and why inefficiencies occur, Dahl says. Look at the flow chart and consider how activities in each area of the office relate to and influence other areas. “When you start to draw some pictures of how things flow, you’ll begin to get a better understanding of ‘Oh, that doesn’t have to be done here,’ or ‘It can be done at a different time,’ or ‘Oh, that can be done by a different employee,’” he says.
Paper trails. Work flow, the way in which patients or work tasks move through your office layout, is often a source of inefficiency issues. One way to identify problems is by following one piece of paper — for example, a patient’s bill — as it moves through the office. Document which employees handle the bill and when. For instance, the front desk, the doctor, the biller, and the coder all might interact with the bill at least once. “One has to ask, ‘Each time I touch that piece of paper, is it necessary?’” Dahl says. If the answer is no, determine how the process could be reduced.
As practices acquire new technology, a paper flow assessment is especially timely, says Jeanne Smith, a CPA based in Fort Worth, Texas, who specializes in healthcare. Many practices have not yet fully adjusted their work flow processes to account for the new technology they have acquired, she says.
When attempting to eliminate inefficiencies, consider how more “fully utilizing” your technology can help. For instance, if your practice has a scanner, place it next to the computer at the front desk. Encourage your staff to scan patient documents, such as driver’s licenses and insurance cards, right there at the desk, rather than getting up and walking to the copy machine to scan items. It keeps check-in moving faster, says Smith, and it also ensures that scanned information is quickly placed in electronic files.
in summary
Small changes can create big efficiency improvements:
•Implement a patient portal or add software applications to your website to reduce administrative responsibilities • Document paper trails, use flow charts, and look at staffing benchmarks to identify inefficiencies • Rethink responsibilities to maximize productivity • Cross-train employees • Organize and implement a plan to stay organized • Huddle to jumpstart each day effectively • Establish a clear line of authority • Hold staff accountable for their actions • Set goals to encourage teamwork and productivity UTILIZE TECH TOOLS Practices should also consider acquiring new technology to boost efficiencies, says MGMA consultant Rosemarie Nelson. For instance, if you are struggling to keep up with administrative responsibilities, as Ho was, implementing a patient portal can help. Portals enable patients to do everything from updating insurance information to checking test results online. That means staff members no longer deal with those responsibilities, and have more time to complete other tasks, says Nelson.
For instance, when patients input registration information online, data entry takes up less time in the office. And when patients book appointments online or send requests to the practice through a secure messaging system, staff members spend less time placing calls, taking calls, and playing phone tag with patients each day. “If we can reduce incoming calls, people will be more efficient,” Nelson says.
Though implementing a portal can be a daunting task, especially if you’ve had a “tough go of it” with an EHR, keep in mind that portals are “fairly simple” to set up because a good vendor will help tailor it to your needs, says Nelson. And once the technology is in place, it’s easy to manage. Staff just needs to check it frequently for updates or inquiries (the same way they would check phone messages).
If a portal isn’t the right fit for you, consider adding software tools that connect to your website and provide similar services. For instance, Ho uses an online appointment-booking database her patients can access through a link provided on her website. “It’s a lot cheaper for me to do it [that way], plus I can switch pieces out if I find things that work better,” says Ho.
Some online tech tools you might consider adding are:
• Appointment bookings • Lab or test result postings and/or notifications
• Prescription renewal requests • Billing, insurance, and registration information updates • Medical history information forms • Secure messaging
New technology can be expensive, but if it will increase your efficiency, it’s likely to increase your revenue in the long run, says Smith. “Always think about how many more patients you are going to be able to see [by increasing efficiency]. Or sometimes it’s the reverse: How many [fewer] patients a day will I have to see to be able to make the same money.”
MAXIMIZE STAFF PRODUCTIVITY As Culbert mentioned, assessing whether you have the right number of staff members in each area of your office is a great way to start identifying staffing inefficiencies. But you can also greatly improve efficiency by more fully utilizing staff members. Here’s how:
Time checks. Consider whether tasks are conducted at the right time, says Nelson. For instance, if a nurse waits until the end of the day to separate the normal Pap smears from those that require the physician’s attention, the physician has to stay late to review those tests. If instead the nurse sets a few minutes aside throughout each day to sort the tests, the physician would be able to leave work earlier. “There’s always going to be some work on the table,” Nelson says. But you must consider “who does it, when they do it, what they are doing, and is it the right person.”
Rethink responsibilities. Make sure that employee responsibilities match their skill levels, says Nelson. For instance, if a nurse is stocking rooms rather than completing her clinical tasks, that’s inefficient. Instead, assign that role to a lowerpaid staff member who can do it just as well. “Look at the level of license,” she urges.
Cross-train. Have staff members spend time “shadowing” other employees as they complete their dayto-day responsibilities. That way, when an employee is absent, another can fill in quickly and easily, Smith says. “It doesn’t take much to break the link in a physician’s office by one person being gone, so if they’re cross-trained, someone else can fill in and keep things going for the day, or the couple of days, or the week.”
Eliminate redundancies. Use shadowing to identify inefficiencies and repetition in responsibilities. For instance, when one employee is observing another complete a task, she might recognize a more efficient way of doing it. In addition, she might realize she is tasked with a redundant responsibility.
Add when necessary. More staff members might be just what your practice needs to improve efficiency and therefore revenue, says Nelson. A physician who is drowning in paperwork has less time to see patients. Additional administrative support could help reduce his administrative burden and allow him to spend more time in clinic, which should generate more revenue for the practice than the administrator would cost.
Simplify layout. Make sure all exam rooms are organized the same way. “The prescription pads should be in the same drawer, the tongue depressors, the alcohol wipes, whatever it is, should all be located in the same place in each exam room,” Dahl says. That way, staff members always know where supplies are and they don’t waste time searching for them. He suggests designating an employee to check that all rooms are organized and stocked appropriately each morning.
ANTICIPATE CHANGE The most efficient practices anticipate change and adapt to it quickly. One way to better enable your employees to work productively despite unexpected day-to-day issues is by “huddling,” says Dahl. Have small groups of staff members meet briefly at the beginning of each day to discuss the schedule and identify what each can do to keep things running smoothly. “A huddle can be very simple, with the provider talking to the medical assistant and looking at the schedule and saying, ‘Oh, here comes this patient with this problem,’ or looking at this patient and saying, ‘Oh, here comes this patient and every time they come in they always have four, five, six, or 10 complaints, so that one’s going to take me longer,’” he says. Receptionists should also participate in huddles so they can better prepare for patients in advance of appointments, Dahl says.
Huddling can also help you continually identify efficiency improvements. During huddles, discuss what problems occurred the day before and identify what might resolve them more quickly in the future, he says.
FOSTER GROWTH When employees leave early, take breaks when they shouldn’t, and/ or skimp on responsibilities, efficiency suffers. If you’re facing such problems at your practice, hold a meeting with physicians and supervisors to make sure everyone is on the same page regarding the line of authority, says Nelson. “If a staff member makes a request and the manager says no, the physicians need to back up the manager,” she says. There needs to be a “well-defined process” in place. Then relay that process to employees and hold them accountable for their actions.
If staff members continually fail to meet your expectations, staffing changes, rearranging supervisor roles, and/or linking raises to performance expectations could help turn things around, says Nelson.
And, if your staff is simply failing to work well as a team and/or individual employees lack initiative, set practice-wide goals, says Smith. Goals could include anything from decreasing patient wait times to increasing yearly revenue. If the goal is monetary, Smith says, start with the end in mind. Determine how many more patients per day, per week, per year, you need to see to reach that revenue target. Then, relay the goal to the entire staff and provide frequent progress reports. “That way,” Smith says, “everyone in the office is working toward the same goal.” n
Aubrey Westgate is an associate editor at Physicians Practice. She can be reached at aubrey. westgate@ubm.com.
How I justify my life to the angels who’ve helped me live it
By GeorGe Ferenczi, MD, MBA
I am most fortunate. I grew up with angels in my life.
A doctor who took me into his overcrowded clinic when I was paralyzed for months with polio, and worked with me until I was able to walk without braces. A soldier who captured my father and me as we were fleeing in the night across the Iron Curtain,
and instead of turning us into the authorities carried me on his back across a half-frozen river to freedom. A dentist who treated my teeth — much neglected by a system that didn’t have the resources for such niceties — free of charge. A parish priest who paid for a new immigrant’s education of out of his own pocket. A bespectacled YMCA staffer who gave me the skills and encouragement to survive as a stranger in a strange land. Angels all.
Most importantly, though: my parents.
I remember them with immense respect for who they managed to be, given the severe exigencies of their war-torn lives, and with love — their greatest gift to me. Their love enveloped me in a cloak that is with me to this day. She set me free, literally — sending me into the arms of a free world, knowing that she may never see me again, so that I could escape the tyranny that bound us all at the time. He worked tirelessly to make a new,
better life for us. She gave me humor and grace, the ability to love that which is beautiful, to sorrow over another’s pain. She taught me the importance of friendship and the need to help another whenever I could. He gave me determination and perseverance, showed me the satisfaction to be found in a job well done, and taught me that only my best effort was acceptable. Neither one was perfect, and as I grew up, I slowly learned to forgive them for that. And as I matured, and developed the ability to see people and the world from several perspectives, I came to realize that they were, indeed, extraordinary people.
When I was considerably younger, I had a circle of friends with whom I would get together monthly. We were all survivors of some calamity or tragedy, be it war, physical trauma, or a major illness. Each meeting would start off with a question: “How do you justify your life?” We would then go around the table, giving our answers, and receiving comments and questions in return. This exercise proved to be life-altering for many of us. It gave us a chance to acknowledge our good fortune and remind ourselves that our survival was not necessarily due to our own skills and preparation, but rather to random chance, fate, or God’s will. What we all shared was a sense of obligation to ourselves, and to the rest of the world, to give something back for our good fortune, to give meaning to being survivors.
We were looking for a narrative to make sense of the randomness of life. Why are we here, when many others who were in similar situations are not? What we all shared was a sense that we had been given a gift, and we had the need to give back.
I have been practicing medicine, as well as teaching medical students and house staff, for more than three decades. People bring me their health problems, some of which are curable, many of which are treatable, all of which need to be made endurable. There certainly is satisfaction in diagnosing a rare disorder, especially one with a potential cure, but
SURVIVORS’ CLUB what my friends and i all shared was a sense of obligation to ourselves, and to the rest of the world, to give something back for our good fortune, to give meaning to being survivors.
most medical practice deals with more pedestrian illnesses, such as arthritis, diabetes, psoriasis, and irritable bowel syndrome — conditions that are not likely to be cured, but can only be ameliorated.
Every week I see someone in my office whose life plans are suddenly and drastically changed by a diagnosis of cancer or similar malady. It is with the chronic and the incurable that we physicians face our greatest challenge. It is then that we must help our patients develop a new narrative about life and its meaning. It is here that we can inform of that which is possible and that which is not in a manner that doesn’t destroy hope but also does not give false assurances. We can teach how to refocus on the things that are still possible rather than on what has been irretrievably lost. We can and should offer reassurance that we will never abandon a patient as “hopeless,” but will be at his side always doing the things that make medicine a noble profession — if not curing, then relieving pain, easing suffering, offering compassion. I think I’m successful when I am achieving these goals at least in some measure, when I can sense that someone’s fear has been diminished or abolished, when a patient or family member says, “thanks for not making us feel alone.”
In order to meet these goals, we need to have a better understanding of the human condition; of how individuals and cultures look differently upon health and disease in order to develop a dialogue that’s both meaningful and therapeutic. Sadly, our profession is being driven more and more by forces that do not value this goal, even interfering sometimes with the free flowing conversation required to achieve it. An EHR may capture a lot of a patient’s symptoms and demographics, but nothing of what makes him a unique person shaped by their upbringing and experience.
I endeavor to teach my students the precepts by which I conduct my practice, and to give them an insight into the personal, medical, and societal forces that are likely to affect their lives. I try to teach them of the importance of balance and of friendships they will need in order to survive in our demanding profession. My wife and I invite each student and their spouse or significant other for a dinner in our home, during which we discuss the personal challenges that medical marriages face. I love when I hear of their later accomplishments or receive notes from them attesting to the value of our endeavors.
No matter how you envision your angel, in the end, I feel most successful when reaching out a hand to another, as, in the words of Luciano de Crescenzo, “We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another.” n
George Ferenczi,
MD, MBA, is clinical professor of medicine at USC Keck School of Medicine while practicing gastroenterology in Glendora, Calif. In addition to teaching and private practice, he conducts seminars for physicians in financial management.
BE PART OF OUR PHySiCian wRiteR SeaRCH FOR YOUR CHANCE TO SEE YOUR ARTICLE PUBLISHED NATIONALLY — AND BE PAID $250!
do
yoUwRite
Each month, we’ll give you a theme and a deadline, and you give us 1,000 to 1,250 words. If we select your submission, we’ll publish your column in a future issue, to be seen by more than 150,000 of your colleagues, and you’ll get a check for $250. Only MDs and DOs are eligible. Ready to get wRiting? Welcome to our Physician Writer Search project! We’ll give you a topic, and you’ll tell us how your life and practice have been affected by it, or how you have affected it, or what it means to you, or, well, whatever you want to say about it that would be relevant to Physicians Practice readers.
THis MonTH’s ToPiC: How my EHR and I learned to get along.
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