doctorsaussenberg

[doctorsaussenberg]

DON'T choose specialty based on lifestyle, income-potential, status, or because it's the specialty of your favorite role-model/preceptor! DO choose primary care because it's AWESOME! (My interpretation) "So how should you decide on a field to pursue? Whatever your reasons for choosing a specialty, you need to fundamentally enjoy its subject matter, the disease processes, the type of practice, and the patients for whom you will be caring. Ideally, you also want a career that will have longevity. "...Many people who practice primary care have great lifestyles and can also practice for a long time because the practice is not the most physically or emotionally rigorous. In general, outpatient medical practice and specialties, which some medical students consider “boring” since they lack the “excitement” of others, allow doctors to work for a long time."

[doctorsaussenberg]

"One of the gifts a shaman can bring to the Western world is to help people rediscover ritual, which is so sadly lacking." Are we afraid to admit there might be phenomena we don't yet understand in modern Western culture - phenomena that other cultures may (gasp!) actually understand better? Have we lost our connection to the sacred? Did we ever have it? I wonder these things on my journey to the purported pinnacle of western "healing." How to heal the healers who would write this off as nonsense? How to encourage the healers who would listen to this with curiosity and an open mind?

[doctorsaussenberg]

Shouldn't we be treating root causes of disease instead of just its symptoms? This article talks about "functional medicine" as one possible approach.

[doctorsaussenberg]

Awesome, "canary-in-the-coal-mine"-esque piece. How can we expect to train competent and compassionate primary care physicians when this is the reality? "The future of primary care is here with me, stuck in a 100-year-old process that doesn’t allow us a moment to hone the skills that make a truly competent primary care physician. The skill set we acquire doesn’t lend itself to a primary care career where answers are not black and white or as simple as filling in the right bubble on an exam. But we have to survive, so we develop the skills that are presented to us, and in the 'process,' many of us fall off the path to primary care, feeling uncomfortable in a profession that requires a skill set that we do not get to cultivate in medical school."

[doctorsaussenberg]

Wow, so glad I'm a MS3. Good luck to all you MS2s out there taking Step1 soon!

SUBMISSION: Inspired by the enduring organization of Dr. Carson Schneck.

[doctorsaussenberg]

Hey Girl - Ryan Gosling likes Obamacare

This is Obamacare blowing smoke up its own butt:

(source: http://www.facebook.com/barackobama/photos_stream)

This is what it should be:

You're welcome.

[doctorsaussenberg]

Chickens vs. Omelets

You might think I'm counting my chickens by calling myself "doctorsaussenberg" while still in medschool.

You'd be right.

But join me on some medschool adventures anyway, and maybe we'll at least make an omelet or two.

[doctorsaussenberg]

ROBOTS OR DINOSAURS?

This question is unfair and thus I abstain.

[doctorsaussenberg]

This way of seeing nature and science in a less mechanistic and more holistic manner is SO necessary everywhere, but especially in medicine. We as medical professionals are trained exclusively in pattern recognition and pathophysio-mechanoreductionist interpretations of life and disease, and all too often we underestimate the value and beauty of the individual and what makes a single human being unique and whole.

[doctorsaussenberg]

Awesome satire.

The Human Body Working as a Machine - Animation by H.M. Lederer

[doctorsaussenberg]

What I look like putting my silly short white coat on...

[doctorsaussenberg]

Alphabet soup

I just typed "AMCAS" into my browser bar by mistake instead of "VSAS" and had a mini-panick attack.  And "ERAS" is already quickly approaching.

JIC you don't know:

Amercian Medical Colleges Application Service is for getting IN to medschool

Visiting Student Application Service is for getting to do fourth year electives at schools other than the one you got in to

(I don't even know what ERAS stands for yet - but it has something to do with Residency.)

What, it's not enough that half of medicine is alphabet soup, you have to name the application services with silly acronyms, too?

[doctorsaussenberg]

Because sometimes you need a waterfall in your life.

[doctorsaussenberg]

“By getting people outside in Nature, I find that much more happens than weight reduction, lower heart rate, and a sense of focus and well-being. We start to understand and value trees, clean air, water, fauna and flora in a way we hadn’t before, and we feel committed. We are creating the next generation of environmental stewards, conservationists, and activists,”

[doctorsaussenberg]

"When we are able to experience the immortal part of our being through the stillness of meditation, we begin to see that there is a higher order to the universe and trust that it will guide us wisely." That sounds nice, doesn't it? Couldn't we all use a little more trust in the universe? I know I could.

[doctorsaussenberg]

It's the MD version of July 4th - hooray!!! I agree that doctors' priority should be caring for patients. So doesn't it seem odd that this one seems to be arguing that their priority should be price gouging? HINT: If people won't pay as much as you want so you can cut into them, maybe you're not doing a good enough job of it to justify your prices - just sayin. And I agree that EHRs can suck - so find one that's better, learn how to use it, and quit your whining. Finally - I'd like to point out the difference between not "taking Medicare" and not "taking Medicare patients." One is a form of payment, the other are people. People who you claim to care so much about.

[doctorsaussenberg]

"…the United States is 4.6% of the world’s population, yet we consume 80% of all opioids." -Pamela Wible

"Vitamin L is what we all need." -Kipchoge and the Ginger Ninjas