Orthopedics

Brene Brown, a shame researcher of TED Talk fame, operates a blog website, www.ordinarycourage.com. There, she chronicles everyday situations related to issues blocking our growth as individuals — and by extension, in my opinion, as professionals. Her research has shown that there is a direct relationship between vulnerability and innovation, creativity and imagination. The more vulnerable we are the more innovative, creative and imaginative we become. However, she discovered this connection not by researching vulnerability, but by researching shame.

Shame can be expressed as, “look what I did — I’m bad, I’m a failure.” Interestingly, shame is inversely related to the amount of innovation, creativity and imagination expressed in our lives. Shame thus appears to be a stumbling block to vulnerability and by extension our growth and success. Why is this?

Are you a Facebook fan? How about a Twitter fan? If so, I’ll bet you have plenty of thoughts on the current push to use social media for professional marketing agendas.

I am a fan of supporting businesses and organizations that might not otherwise get much national exposure for a good cause or a great product (like the incredible beers of Four Saints Brewing in North Carolina). But how likely are you, personally, to return to the Facebook page of a business or an orthopedic practice you’ve recently “liked” just to stay current on their social posts?

A recent article on prevention caught my eye. It made the bold statement, “All PAs should take ownership of prevention, which is often considered the province of the primary care provider.” Does that include me? Probably. After a few minutes of contemplation, I came up with the following short list of health maintenance/prevention areas that influence orthopedic care: obesity, inappropriate narcotic use, smoking status, psychological health, aging concerns, environmental considerati...

How many of the patients you see are obese or morbidly obese? And how do you measure this? Eyeball them? Body mass index (BMI)? Weight?

Most of us, when asked, “Any regrets about going into the PA medical profession?” Would give a resounding, “No!” But sometimes we don’t realize directly why that is. Sometimes it’s important to take a second look at just exactly why we continue to do what we do. In other words, What gives your work significance? Here are a few of my own responses.

It has happened — accusations are made, everyone is in denial, staff are caught off guard, patients are cancelling, nobody knows how to respond. The media gets involved, the circle widens, someone is arrested. Pause.

It’s not that I’m so old (God forbid) or nerdy (ditto) , but over the last 6 or so years I’ve had occasion to seriously dig in to four to six different electronic health record (EHR) systems — both major and minor alike. With my primary medical group’s current EHR, I am thoroughly convinced that we as a profession embraced technology in medical records long before technology was truly ready for us.

If you’ve ever tossed this question around with your partners, your spouse or your buddies, you are not alone. I am frequently asked this question by CEOs, COOs, HR directors, and Medical Directors — not to mention physicians, surgeons, and even other mid-level providers. I am a PA-C, licensed by my state medical board, certified in general medicine by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, and specializing in orthopedics.

I decided to be a ski instructor this year, and the good snow has, shall we say, appeared on everybody else’s days off. However, the other day at the mountain, I was faced with a day off, over a foot of powder, a couple hours on my hand and a phobia — I hadn’t skied any steep and deep powder of consequence since last year, at the end of the season. Even then, it came at great personal risk (we’re talking fear, here) and, of course, tremendous reward.

A new dynamic in technology has taken root in our whirlwind world of relationships — the social media. Facebook, Twitter, and a myriad of other technovues (my cross for technologic venues) have crept, not only into our communication, but into our relationships. Whether this is positive or negative is a matter of opinion (and experience), but let’s consider another perspective: Are these media developing real connectedness, or do they just create the illusion of connectedness?