Busy days, overbooked patients and EMR overloads will certainly derail your day, especially if you don’t have a system to optimize efficiency. However, in your harried efforts you may overlook several simple, smart, if not crucial, tasks while seeing your next patient.
Angie is my last patient before lunch. I've known her since her RA diagnosis at age 17 years. And for the last 7 years, she’s matured into a fabulous young woman who has adeptly grown her professional life, her dating life and developed her independence, despite her severely active rheumatoid arthritis. But today I see she has a troubled and anxious look as I greet her.
It's Monday morning and my first patient is a newly diagnosed rheumatoid. This is his first visit back after starting methotrexate 6 weeks ago. Despite doing great and in remission with only one active joint, he asks, “Are sure this is RA? Or could this be Still’s disease?” Admittedly, this is a weird second-visit question, but I was impressed.
A recent analysis of 3 groups of treatment-naïve, early rheumatoid arthritis (ERA) patients looked at the factors that influenced the choice of therapy.
Nearly half of all available vacation days go unused and over 40% of Americans failed to use any vacation days in 2015. Common sense says that taking more time off (not less) is likely to lead to increased work productivity. Your next vacation is essential to building a better you. Here are some tips to insure you get the most from your time off.
Many restaurants brag about various things, including their Michelin stars, their wine list, and their reviews, but Botin merely tells you it is the oldest restaurant in the world! That’s a pretty great start and no doubt serves to remind you there is a reason that this place, situated in the medieval Austrias area of Madrid and founded by the Frenchman Jean Botín in 1725, is still there.
Just last week, I went to a doctor’s retirement party. It was festive, with honors and ribbing for the lucky one, but there was an asterisk to his milestone. Retirement was not anticipated or planned for. What is your retirement plan?
A 25 year-old female recently diagnosed with seronegative rheumatoid arthritis was started on a TNF inhibitor. She came in for a follow-up visit and noted that her toenails were brittle and discolored when she removed her nail polish recently.
Patients are labeled as having “difficult RA" when: 1) we are frustrated, 2) it's too late, 3) we've run out of options or 4) the relationship is failing. We see them, but don’t quite know what to do with them.
My original agreement with Jack was to review a serious scientific book. However, half way through one, I was bored, so I went to the library. I'm so glad I did, because I came upon two books, written by Ireland-born physician Patrick Taylor, that continued the tale I'd started years ago about Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly.
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