fostering the humanistic practice of medicine publishing personal accounts of illness and healing encouraging health care advocacy

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fostering the humanistic practice of medicine publishing personal accounts of illness and healing encouraging health care advocacy

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October 2024

“Are You a Girl or a Boy?”

Ever since my primary-care pediatric group practice adopted electronic records, we’ve used them to give our patients pre-visit online questionnaires that screen for various things: tuberculosis, lead exposure, developmental issues, autism, drug and alcohol use, postpartum depression, food insecurity and so on.

I started off thinking that the questionnaires were intended to save precious visit time by asking patients about these subjects before the appointment. Then I realized that our practice bills the health-insurance companies for administering these questionnaires (and some pay quite well). More recently, I’ve realized that these surveys offered another benefit as well—perhaps the most valuable of all.

For my young patient Remi’s three-year checkup, his parents completed all the recommended pre-visit online screenings.

“Are You a Girl or a Boy?” Read More »

One of Our Favorites

When I received a message from one of our clinic nurses that Mr. R had passed away, at age 82, I called his house, spoke to his wife and son, and expressed my condolences. I learned that he’d gone quickly, from fast-moving pneumonia. The day was drizzly, the clouds dark, and I was reminded of a Baudelaire poem I’d read in high school: “Quand le ciel bas et lourd pèse comme un couvercle sur l’esprit…” (“When the low, heavy sky weighs like a lid on the spirit…”).

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Be the Change Agent

It seems as if I’m always asking my patients what they’d like to work on. And whether it’s their sleep patterns, their career goals, their symptoms of anxiety or depression, or something else, my role as a behavioral health clinician is to help motivate them and create behavioral activation.

Having had breast cancer and vitreous macular traction myself for the past few years, I am also keenly aware of my own goals for health and mind-body wellness. This fall, I want to encourage others to focus on cancer prevention (mammogram screenings and early detection save lives!), as well as on self-care strategies: health-care providers need to continue to nurture themselves so they can continue saving others.

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A Listless Life

The older I get, the less motivated I become. I imagine the dust gathering on my carpet, and I see it covering my walnut-colored end tables with a light gray film. Yet, I cannot push myself to vacuum or clean. The laundry gets done, but not as often as it did when I was younger than springtime. My listless days consist of reading, watching dismal news on CNN, and taking adult education classes via zoom—while often still dressed in my pajamas.

A Listless Life Read More »

The Real Me

Editor’s Note: This piece was a finalist in the Pulse writing contest, “On Being Different.”

“What are you?”

It’s impossible to count the number of times I’ve been asked this question, directly or indirectly.

When my family moved to Milwaukee from the South, I was twelve.

One day soon after, I was digging in my locker at Audubon Middle School when a girl named Tammy walked up to me.

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October More Voices: Getting Motivated

Dear readers,

A good part of my career as a doctor was spent trying to motivate patients to do what was good for them, like eating more fruits and vegetables, getting exercise or remembering to take their pills.

Most patients wanted to do the right thing–go to the gym, stop smoking and get their diabetes under control. They felt bad about themselves for not doing better.

With that in mind, I didn’t think it was productive to lecture them and make them feel even worse. I thought they’d be more likely to get motivated if they felt hopeful and positive–so I did my best to offer some understanding and encouragement rather than criticism.

October More Voices: Getting Motivated Read More »

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