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.
3/22/2012 The cottage season will be coming soon and I will have lots of people on my doorstep looking for advice or treatment, and wanting to avoid the long drive into town and the even longer wait in our northern Ontario emergency department.
