Check out this infographic over at GOOD. A recent poll found that 24% of Americans reported smoking a cigarette in the past week, compared to the worldwide smoking rate of 22%. See what countries stack up way past us in the States.
Shadowing Experience: Oral Surgery
The week of Thanksgiving break gave me a great opportunity to spend some of my down time at home in the realm of medicine and dentistry. I shadowed an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon and had an absolute blast doing so. This really gave me an insight into an unfamiliar setting:
- The large group practice - The practice has two permanent general dentists, and 1 specialist, each in his or her own wing including: orthodontics, endodontics, pedodontics, and oral and maxillofacial surgery. A lot of stuff going on, to say the least.
- Oral Surgery/Specialization - The act of specializing is so far down the road for me, but as I talked with the oral surgeon, it really isn’t. The best advice I received was to act as if you are going to specialize the first day you enter dental school. If you decide in your 4th year that you’ve found your niche in say *blank specialty, but you were just getting by the past three years grade wise, it is going to take a lot more work and time to get there. The experiences my surgeon described to me from his residency training were unbelievable.
- City Setting - I loved being in the city setting, in a hybrid between the suburbs and the downtown environment. My surgeon’s interactions with his patients were amazing and the fact that during surgery we were looking through huge glass windows towards the busy city five stories below, was very unique.
The procedures I was able to watch were very, very cool. I saw many extractions (a lot of wisdom teeth) and some exposed bonds (exposing a tooth that never surfaced and attaching a bracket/chain so an orthodontist can pull the tooth up), while attending many surgical consults. About half the procedures just used local anesthetics (no anesthesia) and the other half the patient elected to go completely asleep (IV/anesthesia cocktails). I was also able to spend some time over in endodontics and see some root canals. I was very fortunate to be at such a great practice with such friendly and giving assistants and great dentists and specialists. Their chair-side manner is something that I will be working towards from now until my 5000th patient and beyond.
Jay Parkinson + MD + MPH = a doctor in NYC: Introducing my new company, Sherpaa.
So for the past month I’ve been laying all the groundwork for my next company. It’s called Sherpaa. The branding and the site are coming together nicely and the legal side of things is too. Here’s what Sherpaa will do:
A few weeks ago, I received an email from a friend of a friend who was complaining of a few hours worth of worsening belly pain. I was worried it might be appendicitis. I forwarded the email to my personal friend Dr. X who is a well-trained and super likeable general surgeon with a beautiful office overlooking Union Square. I reiterated that this might be appendicitis. I texted him that I sent him the details. He texted back, “Send him right over.” I texted the friend of a friend and told him to go immediately to Dr. X. He did. Dr. X examined him and was also worried. Dr. X has recently been operating at a new outpatient surgical center on Park Ave. It has a CT scanner. Dr. X sent the patient to the center, told them to get a CT, and, if it’s positive, to set up an operating room for him. He could be there in a half hour. The CT was positive and a room was set up. Dr. X performed the laparascopic appendectomy without complications and the patient was sent home on oral antibiotics three hours later. Dr. X billed the insurance company $47,000. The insurance company called him the next day to ask why his bill was so small. Dr. X’s previous laparascopic appendectomies while operating at the high overhead, massive traditional institution, Y Hospital, was around $110,000, for which, Dr. X is paid $1500. The rest of that money goes toward Y Hospital’s overhead. Because of the low-overhead and business arrangement at the new Park Avenue Surgical Center, Dr. X kept 52% of $47,000.
Just to reiterate, a person with acute appendicitis had his appendix removed by an amazing surgeon in a beautiful spa-like experience and never stepped foot in an ER or a hospital, and the bill was $63,000 less than going the traditional ER/Hospital route.
Everybody won in the situation:
- The patient had an unbelievable experience.
- Dr. X made much more than the traditional route.
- The insurance company/self-insured employer saved $63,000.
- Me. I helped a friend get better.
The only entity that lost was the ridiculously high overhead, traditional hospital that can’t/won’t get their head out of their asses to offer up patients a great experience.
The above example is an extreme situation. But say, for example, you cut your finger slicing a bagel a few minutes ago. You send us an email with a photo you just took with your iPhone. We look at it and then text it to our network of plastic surgeons in the area to see who has the bandwidth to sew you up in the next hour or so.
Our goal is to give you a great experience, and as a side-effect, also decrease your costs. Because it’s quite idiotic that triage has been allocated to the ridiculously expensive ERs and ridiculously inaccessible primary care doctors.
So Sherpaa is changing that. Call it Triage 2.0 maybe. It’s like having a doctor friend who has mapped out the best experiences in NYC and created a network of hand-picked health professionals chosen for their quality, their communication skills, their personality, and their mission. You can call or email us anytime when you’re in a bind and we’ll work with you to figure out:
- What should I do?
- When should I do it?
- Where should I go?
- Who should I see?
- How much should I pay?
Our customers are small businesses/startups who may or may not be self-insured in NYC who want to offer this as a perk for their employees. It’s pretty exciting and I think it’s my best idea yet. And it’ll be brought to you by my company, The Future Well. If you’re a doctor in NYC and think you want to be a part of this, please do contact me.
That’s What It’s About
A post from a blog I follow, Dental Practice Management. It’s all about the passion of your staff that’s creates the atmosphere!
That’s What It’s About
When it all comes right down to it, dental practices are basically comprised of phone answerers and money handlers, spit suckers, tooth scrapers, and hole drillers. Don’t go crazy, I said basically. If you don’t go beyond the basics, that’s pretty much true. It’s what you do beyond the basic description that makes you what you really are.
Let’s start with the phone answerers and money handlers. They have so much impact on how peoplefeel about your practice. You have to build on just picking up the phone and saying, “Dr. Jones office.” Believe me, I’ve heard phones answered this way at other offices when I call. I usually sit there like a goof, waiting for more and then realize, “Oh, that’s all she’s going to give me.” And “give me” is what I mean. Anything beyond the basics is what is given, what is chosen, what is offered from one person who understands that there is another person on the other end of the line, not just a patient. A blunt office identification just never does cut it. It’s cold and barren and that’s how the caller is left calling. It also strips away any desire to call that office again. On the other hand, I often have the pleasure of talking to an absolutely wonderful, upbeat, loving person in another office that I call frequently. I love having a reason to call and I’m never disappointed. She cares and she makes you feel it. She is a treasure to her employer and to anyone who comes into contact with her. She is not just a phone answerer, she’s a blessing to all.
Moving on, let’s think about those spit suckers and tooth scrapers. If they don’t build on the basics, they can make you feel like a piece of meat. Luckily, I don’t run across too many of them, unless they are in the wrong profession. Clincal dental professionals are a unique group of people. We go to work every day, and we just can’t wait to get our fingers wet. Now, I’m not saying anyone enjoys scaling a kernel of corn out of anyone’s molar, that’s just gross, but we like seeing someone leave a little better off than they were when they arrived. We like seeing improvement in plaque scores, or knowing that we’ve been able to relieve someone’s pain. We know that no one really wants to be here, we get that, but we learn not to take it personally. What if an assistant or hygienist is burned out, or is just not really into what they are doing? You can feel it in the air just as clearly as you can feel it when she’s caring. A good assistant or hygienist has to have the ability to find the uniqueness of the person in the patient, and that’s who she addresses herself to.
The dentist creates the culture and makes it all come together. Even if there is a manager in the office, the dentist decides what the culture will be, even if it’s just by virtue of allowing the manager to work with the staff to develop a caring, loving atmosphere. It’s best when the dentist and manager present a united front and lead by example. In my experience, you can fake it for a while and it will be ok, but the real thing is unforgettable. And is that what you want to be to your patients? Unforgettable. You have to work for it. That’s what it’s all about.
—Ever get the feeling that medicine has a circular history?
2000 B.C. - Here, eat this root.
1000 A.D. - That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.
1850 A.D. – That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.
1940 A.D. – That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.
1985 A.D. – That pill is ineffective. Here, take this antibiotic.
2000 A.D. - That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root.
(via grantrharrison)
Grant is my business partner in our firm, The Future Well. I encouraged him to start a blog using tumblr. It’s awesome, mostly for all that British humour.
(via jayparkinsonmd)
(Source: google.co.uk, via jayparkinsonmd)
The Thrill of the Cycle, Be Healthy and Be Happy, Part 1
Adding to Jay Parkinson’s post that I just reblogged. Here’s one of my new healthy adventures.
I have a class on Monday, Wednesday and, Friday in north campus, followed by a class 15 minutes later on the complete other end of campus which is impossible to get to on time, via walking. Therefore, my Dad has allowed me to bring up is Diamondback, 21 speed mountain bike for my riding necessity! I could use the busses, but I don’t want to depend on them, just in case they are crowded and hard to maneuver.. there also isn’t a solid route that would connect my two locations well.
I cycled on the road for the first time today in my life… and it was so exhilarating! I was comparing it to skydiving. Although I’ve never jumped out of a plane, I really felt multiple rushes of adrenaline during my mile or so ride from my apartment, onto one of the busiest roads on campus, over to East Campus. Cars, trucks, and HUGE Georgia busses flying past me, the wind rushing in my face as I fly downhill, pedaling away. It was so fun. I can’t express how excited I am to bike to not from North Campus to my next class as needed, but to all my classes tomorrow.
Reasons why I love this new addition:
- It is a so peaceful yet on the edge of extreme feeling flying down hills and pedaling through roads (UGA has bike lanes on all of the campus roads). Really makes you high on life.
- You move much faster on wheels than you do on foot.
- You multitask: transporting yourself while getting in a great workout. My legs (quads specifically) are killing me as I lay in bed writing this.
- This sort of daily habit can actually build fitness! (If you actually bike throughout the day or week, and somewhat challenge yourself up hills. That burning is a great feeling! Your muscles actually thank you for it).
- Exercising increases brain function and endorphins (that high on life feeling I encountered today during and after cycling) while lowering stress levels. These are mere perfect things for me as a student, cycling from class to class, science lecture to science lecture. I need all the help I can get absorbing academic material, while keeping a healthy and happy state of mind and body!
My response to this to follow.
The Hazards of the Couch (NY Times):
Many of us sit in front of a computer for eight hours a day, and then go home and head for the couch to surf the Web or watch television, exchanging one seat and screen for another. Even if we try to squeeze in an hour at the gym, is it enough to counteract all that motionless sitting?
A mounting body of evidence suggests not.
Increasingly, research is focusing not on how much exercise people get, but how much of their time is spent in sedentary activity, and the harm that does.
The latest findings, published this week in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, indicate that the amount of leisure time spent sitting in front of a screen can have such an overwhelming, seemingly irreparable impact on one’s health that physical activity doesn’t produce much benefit.
Photo of my friend Noah Brier from Gabriela Herman’s portraits of bloggers.
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