April Medical Article Highlights

April 29th, 2014

As health-care professionals, we know the importance of continuing education. In addition to keeping up with my Ophthalmology journals I’m also interested in improving patient care, streamlining efficiency and the latest breakthroughs.

I come across so many informative and interesting posts on social media and in my RSS reader. I share them on Twitter and Facebook and have collected some of the best posts from the last month and given you short summaries of the articles.

5 Ways To Engage Your Patient

“Engagement is a process which will require a change of the culture of health care, morphing the adversarial provider-patient relationship into a shared decision-making one.” Dr. David Lee Scher

Dr. David Lee Scher gives great discernment on this very common buzz word  patient engagement.” He provides a thorough list of ways you can engage patients, even those who are skeptical or apprehensive.  He believes that patient empowerment must precede patient engagement. The use of smartphones and health apps have been very beneficial in his opinion and he utilizes those apps in his practice.

One of  Dr. Scher’s key points include, “Discussing your philosophy as a physician.” He feels this is important to help get rid of any mistrust or wrong perceptions the patient may have of you. He then likes to emphasize the partnership he has with the patient when it comes to decision making and patient participation.

I believe this is probably one of the most important steps when it comes to patient engagement. If you establish a solid base of trust the rest can go a lot more smoothly.

Remember Why You Got Into Medicine In The First Place

Dr. Starla Fitch draws attention to a very important question for us working in the medical profession. Often times there are days that are tougher than others and it helps to remind ourselves why we decided to pursue a career in the medical field in the first place.

Dr. Fitch begins her story with one of her first jobs after graduating with a degree in sociology. She was required to administer hour long assessment surveys to the elderly population in her state. A disturbing trend that she noticed was how many people were on medication, but had no clue as to why! The doctors apparently had no time to explain. She wanted to do something about this and thus entered medical school.

Often times those working in the medical field had a passion or calling to do so. It can be a difficult but rewarding journey and its important to take time to remember why we decided to get into it in the first place.

Physician Leadership Gets Easy

As a physician, I have come to understand the importance of my leadership style and its direct effect on my team’s performance.  Many doctors coming out of residency get caught up in a, “top down, command and control” leadership style, which is actually harmful to a practice. Dr. Dike Drummond examines this notion of physician leadership, and gives us a clear look at the “Do’s” and the “Don’ts” of leading a practice.

The principles of leadership discussed by Dr. Drummond, can apply to almost any leadership position.  In my practice I have had to examine and modify my leadership style so that my team can be motivated and therefore operate more efficiently.  Dr. Durmmond talks about the importance of setting a vision and giving your team an outcome they can attain.

He also mentions the importance of asking questions that start with, “What” or “How”, which prevents a “Yes” or “No” response.  By involving a team in the process, they become engaged and motivated.