Young physicians must take a leadership role. Here’s why.

My young patient was dying as a blood clot under the cover of her brain accumulated and began compressing the fragile tissue within her skull. She needed surgery to remove the clot that would save her life. As the team pushed her from CT scanner to the operating room, it was soon realized labs were missing and were needed before opening her cranium. “There’s no order in the computer!” someone shouted out.  As I pushed the patient into the operating room, what was I supposed to do at that critical moment? Drop what I was doing and find a computer to enter the order or continue in trying to save her life? The world of the electronic health record mandates the former, but my oath and duty as a physician command the latter. This struggle reflects the conflict physicians of today and the future will continue to face as the management and administration of health care continues to monopolize the practice of medicine. Growing up in a family of physicians, I was exposed to hospitals and health care from an early age. I fondly look back at my experiences in various hospitals around Oklahoma, waiting for my father to finish rounding on his patients while comparing the quality of snacks at each local hospital lounge. The few occasions my anesthesiologist mother made me wait in the operating room (OR) break room, while she finished waking a patient, afforded me various interactions with pleasant OR nurses, anesthesiologists, and surgeons. I would rarely hear complaints from my par...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Tags: Physician Hospital Source Type: blogs