Office Visits

I have office hours Tuesday and Thursday mornings. That means I typically see between 15 to 25 people between 8 am and noon. Today's office was a lot slower, probably because there was some ice on the road here in Dallas, and people in Texas are justifiably paranoid about driving on ice. On a busy office day, it is non-stop patient after patient until I am practically brain dead, and then I try and dictate the charts in between patients or immediately after office. We all hear about the incentives to switch to electronic medical records (EMR) but it is not as easy as it seems. We use Macpractice for our office and there are no off the shelf programs adequate for a vascular surgery practice for Apple computers. Fortunately Apple was kind enough to work with one of my partners to develop a program for us at no charge. Anyway we will be transitioning over the next few months. Right now I dictate all my notes. I am not sure it will save time to transition to EMR, but that seems to be the trend.
I really enjoy office, it is fun seeing my older patients, but it does get tiring after a while. It really hurts to lose patients. I lost one of my favorite patients 2 months ago, and it still stings to think about him. If i ever get used to losing patients, then I need to retire or find some other line of work I guess.

Being On Call

Being on call sucks, pure and simple. I guess its a necessary evil because someone has to take care of patients but after 4 years of medical school, seven years of general surgery training, 1 year of vascular fellowship, and approaching 15 years of practice, I am frankly tired of taking call. It used to be so exciting and fun to get up early and round in the hospital and see patients on the weekend, but now its tiring. You cant enjoy all the things that your non-medical friends do. Case in point, the past New Years weekend, I was on call. All my friends were celebrating (read drinking alcohol) and having fun, and I had to sit there and watch them. I really should not complain, I have been blessed with a wonderful practice of vascular surgery and it has been a great experience helping people. I genuinely care very much for people, and my older patients I hold dear to my heart. But after all this time, I am tired. Maybe I just lost my mojo and need to rejuvenate.

VASCULAR MEDICINE

This is a topic that is close to my heart. I am a vascular surgeon by training. I have a lot to say aobut this topic. I guess I should start with artery disease, then go over to vein disease, and then other circuation issues.