Primary Care Management of Heart Failure
Paul Buehrens Actually, I don’t like the very name! Patients understand failure as fatal, but we doctors mean it as less than adequate pumping, a chronic manageable condition. So my patient brought…
2024
Joe and the winter sun
Joe and winter sun I got to know Joe pretty well. I inherited him from a partner who retired, and my first duty for Joe revolved around him coming in…
The Good Samaritan takes a trip, or two.
You all probably know the Good Samaritan parable from the Bible. If not, look it up. There are laws allowing docs to help as “good Samaritans” without fear of malpractice.…
Applying to Medical School: A Personal Story
Back in college, I was quite the loner, really. Never ask for help or directions. Cultural and personal baggage. As a sophomore, I had to choose a major, and being…
Smart, but not THAT smart
A story that is true from a very long time ago, but still perfectly relevant. When I was in college, my annoying younger brother not only skipped his last year…
Electronic Health Records
EHR, or EMR, as we call it, was 600 companies not so long ago. As of 2019, the count was down to 400 or so. Developing SyncMD, we found our…
Vitamin and mineral supplements for the general population
A couple of decades ago, we docs “learned” that vitamin D deficiency was rampant, and there were many studies correlating that with bone loss, asthma, autoimmune disease, cancer, etc. etc.…
Johnny can’t play!
Another day in the office, another appointment. This one turned out to be unique. Johnny, 8 years old, plays hockey, but he seems to have lost his stamina, can’t finish…
A tale of three codes and AEDs
OK, so apologies to Dickens. All three are the worst of times, if you are the patient, even if they turned out OK. First code I ever went to. I…
A “new” outpatient treatment for alcohol withdrawal
The patient admitted his alcoholism and had been through “treatment” but rejected the 12 step approach, in the days before we had anything but Antabuse to reduce drinking. He would…