The future of primary care is as bright as we choose to make it

I decided to become a doctor at the tender age of eight when I met my first patient — my grandmother, Grandma Sylvia. After spending two years in the midst of the Liberian civil war, she arrived in the United States with diabetes, hypertension, obesity and nearly blind due to glaucoma. One of my new chores was helping administer her daily insulin injection. I also had the privilege of accompanying Grandma Sylvia to her doctor’s appointments during which she saw a different doctor every visit. Each office visit she had to retell portions of her medical history to the often hurried young physicians (who I know now were probably medical residents). I noticed the stark difference between the lack of rapport Grandma Sylvia had with her primary care doctors compared to the close relationship I had with my pediatrician, whom I’d known my whole life. It was then I decided to become a geriatrician so that I could offer personalized, high-quality patient care to patients like my grandmother. As I matriculated into the George Washington School of Medicine & Health Sciences, my desire to study internal medicine only strengthened as I studied comprehensive adult medical care. Once I entered the internal medicine-primary care residency at George Washington Hospital, I learned that I truly appreciated seeing a wide age range of patients. Plus, with the baby boomer generation aging — I had no shortage of geriatric patients on my patient panel. By the end of residency, I decided t...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Primary Care Source Type: blogs