8/15/2012 We have probably all been there. It's 8 p.m. on the day before their vacation and two parents huddle over their two-year-old who has a cold. You are exhausted after a 14-hour day and just want to get home to a nice chilled glass of white wine and the peace and quiet of your living room, sit and stare off into the middle distance and think of nothing.
7/27/2012 Family doctors in Cambridge, Ont., where I work, had a meeting with local pharmacists and here are some tips for making their job easier—which will help your patients and you.
7/19/2012 “Doctor, I don’t eat anything and I’m gaining weight.” When I was young and foolish I used to get really snarky with patients who said this but now that I'm old and wise I remain non-judgmental. A lot of obese patients really don't eat a lot but are immobilized by their weight.
6/27/2012 I find that by visiting the nursing home three times a week for a few hours, the job is much easier and I nip problems in the bud. The staff, patients and their families love it and I have one of the fewest rates of emergency department transfers in our area of 35 homes.
6/20/2012 Depression is so hard to treat because it often comes disguised as organic disease. Anyone with unexplained pain, fatigue or weight loss who has a normal history and physical, lab (CBC and STSH, electrolytes, blood sugar) and imaging should be suspected. Refer the patient to a specialist if you (or they) are unsure about the diagnosis.
6/11/2012 I work as a medical consultant on emergency wait times for eight hours of my week. A huge factor in emergency flow is backup of patients from the wards into the ER. There is little incentive to send patients home and huge disincentives.
5/24/2012 Here are some things I have learned (some the hard way) over the last 38 years of emergency medicine and general practice.
5/17/2012 I recently read where a pediatrician fired a family for refusing immunizations. Also, a few years ago I read of a patient in Western Canada who was fired for smoking.
4/26/2012 I went to a talk last week and it was the best CME I've done in my 42 years as a medical student and doctor. The week before I had my worst one. What was the difference?
4/19/2012 Stephen King wrote a great book on how to be an author and he makes the very good point that it is a job like any other—you have to devote time and concentration to it.
4/12/2012 How to get past "What if I need this 1924 phone bill?" and other cleanup excuses.
3/28/2012 Evel Knievel was a motorcycle riding daredevil who used to jump a line of parked buses by driving up a ramp and becoming airborne until he hit the down ramp on the other side. That's what I feel like when I try to take a vacation.
