Here We Go Again

I've been remiss. This blog started as a way to talk about things in my life without having a specific response frame or real need to revisit them. A chance to vomit the contents of my brain onto a page and then walk away. It served that purpose, but I found it less than satisfying.
I'm an extroverted introvert, as comfortable alone as in groups, but I find the blog I was creating a bit one-sided. Not necessarily in a negative way, but in a somewhat self-indulgent one. I walked away from it not because I didn't have time but because I wasn't sure I needed people to read what I chose to write.
Now I find myself back here filling in the boxes and tweaking the layouts and thinking about things I could write. I've started and failed to maintain so many different "diaries" and "journals," all for some purpose other than just writing because I want to.
Hopefully I can make that transition.

The Gun Debate

Several factors in the gun debate border on medical and safety topics for the general public. To that end, I've given a fair amount of thought to the matter. If you'll indulge the borderline political debate, the following explains my take on the issue, from a health perspective.

In the past, I've spoken at length to a few of my European colleagues who deal with the health consequences of blunt force and knife injuries with much higher frequency than gunshot wounds. Most of them attribute this to the gun laws of most European nations which require a full blown proficiency test and background check for owning a firearm.  It's easy to obtain or create a bladed or blunt weapon, so violent crime still exists. Murder happens, but neglecting military and paramilitary activity, fewer large scale massacres occur with regularity. Gun crime also occurs in the small scale, but not as frequently as here in the states. In fact, one German coroner with whom I spoke as a medical student, visited Kentucky on exchange to learn more about gunshot wound pathology, since he saw fewer than 70 gun crimes a year on average. 

This illustrates a pertinent point. Fewer people owning guns can minimize but not completely eradicate gun crime. As the popular saying goes "if owning a gun is a crime, only criminals will own guns." While I understand the sentiment and see the need for defining sides in a debate, a middle ground does exist that would satisfy people on both sides of the debate. 

The European system still allows the average citizen to own a gun, protecting the right to bear arms, but anyone requesting the permit must demonstrate an ability to use the gun properly, safely and with restraint. If, as several of those I've heard and seen arguing state, any limits prevent ownership, I will again point to the driver's licensing system already in place. Do we simply hand keys to a 16 year old and let them have free reign over a 2 ton pile of metallic death? No, we first insure that they are able to appropriately comport themselves as a driver. Tests, both written and practical, to prove proficiency in operation of the vehicle and knowledge of the traffic laws, give some semblance of assurance of safety. The debate still rages over whether this is adequate. Many states require formal driver's instruction and a permit period lasting months or years to protect the citizens on the road. Why should a gun, which carries significantly more responsibility and has similar power to end life quickly, be any different.

The average citizen (or the child thereof) could easily obtain appropriate instruction in the safe use and care of firearms and obtain a permit to do so, satisfying the desire to uphold the second amendment. However, not everyone will pass the test and background check(just like the driver's test, which has a reported 20% failure rate GMAC), especially those with a history of violent crime. It would also be useful to field questions to evaluate the psychiatric fitness of the owner, which also exist to a certain extent on the driver's test. That level of evaluation prevents unskilled users and possibly violent persons from simply walking into a store and walking out with an arsenal. The common defense and well-maintained militia still have access to firearms with which to defend their possessions and the country at large. And those of us who don't like being shot have some sense that, just like the slim margin of safety on the highway, we are safe in our homes. Or in a movie theater. Or at church. Or at a football game. Or at school. 

Long Time, No Type

It's been a fairly long time (over 5 months) since I posted anything to the blog.  A whole host of factors conspired to make it lower on the priority scale. That being said, I've still been following the tech route.  I'm still involved in social media. More than ever before, I know that these things changed business fundamentally with their arrival. I understand that I have to participate to remain relevant.  What I don't want to do is sound like I'm complaining too much.  My first world problems pale in comparison to 90% of the rest of the world, and I feel no compunction to use the internet as a whining room.
I've been blessed with a great business opportunity, a great family and a chance to do something I love in a way that I want to do it. There's been adversity, which often spawns writing, but there hasn't been a great deal to promote the kind of writing I think matters.

Until now.

Over a year ago when we began planning this endeavor into Direct Medicine (Concierge, Flat Fee), we decided to accept Medicare for the first year, as a service to those patients who were unsure if they wanted to commit to a $75 monthly fee alongside their Medicare. Forms were filled out and submitted.  Phone calls were made. 5 Months Later, we still have no Medicare provider numbers for ourselves or the company.  The government bureaucracy, in its infinite wisdom, provided us with 6 different answers to the same question, none of which appears to be the correct one.

We no longer plan on accepting Medicare.

In an era when physicians can receive jail time for Medicare fraud, we agreed that the need to accept Medicare was far outweighed by our fear of making an ignorant mistake and winding up with fines or imprisoned. If this many errors occurred with only the application, how can we be sure that the same errors or worse won't happen with the claims process.

An interesting phenomenon has arisen from our decision. Our Medicare bearing patients have decided to stick with us and pay the fee. They seem to prefer it. It's simpler, more direct and they know exactly what their primary care costs.

It's a symptom of a system with big problems.  Insurance, meant to help those who couldn't afford the high costs of advanced medical procedures, has become the healthcare equivalent of the lottery.  You pay into it, hoping to never use it, and when you need it, the returns on investment don't cover the first 20% or more. As is true with the lottery, health insurance has become a tax on people bad at math.

Back to the Future

Two posts in one day! Whoda thunkit?

I've been holding it in. You may notice this gets random. The blog, not this post. Though now this post is taking a direction totally off topic.

Anyway, there's a huge group of people in Orlando, called the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). The Scientific Assembly and the recently completed Congress of Delegates, give Family Physicians see and guide the organization that speaks for us at the highest levels of government and provides physicians with resources and networking opportunities. For many years I attended this meeting and actively participated in the Academy. For the last few years, I haven't.

There are several reasons I could cite. I got busy. I had other projects. But let's be honest. I got jaded. You ever hear the story of the puppy who got kicked too many times and eventually just quit coming back? I never got kicked, but I did get quieted. I know I'm loud. And opinionated. And difficult at times. What I'm not is a door mat. I wasn't the only voice pushing to bring the Academy into the 20th century (let alone the 21st), but I was a loud one. The Commissions and Committees on which I served listened to my ideas, but they never seemed to understand. Call it an age gap, call it a group too focused on their own agendas (which is ok, since that's how we all operate), but whatever you call it, it wasn't for me.

All that being said, this weeks CoD and SA meetings have shown that change does happen, albeit at a glacially slow pace. And it gives me hope that the Academy may one day return as my voice. The meeting organizers broadcast over Ustream. Tweeters were (and are) everywhere. And one of my good friends even gave a presentation on social medicine. There may be hope yet.

Location:Mt Zion Rd,Florence,United States

Return

So, I've been idle.  In more ways than one. 

Currently, my father and I are putting together a new practice based on the Direct Medicine model.  For those of you who have heard of the concierge concept or seen the show "Royal Pains," this should be familiar.  For everyone else, this model consists of a retainer fee for unlimited access.  In essence, you pay me (or us, though we'll get to that in a moment) to be available to you at any time of day for consultations.  Similar to the legal profession, this isn't just limited to face-to-face visits, but encompasses things like e-mail, phone and text messaging. There's also going to be an education and preventive medicine component that we're designing almost from the ground up.

While my father and I will be sharing space and staff (which are both streamlined and adapted to a much more personalized experience), we likely won't be seeing patients for each other. The whole point of Direct Medicine, the unlimited access, hinges on the fact that I will be Your doctor. We contract together that I will support and encourage your health, wherever that might be. In the hospital (no extra fee), in the office (no extra fee or "co-pay") or over the wires (STILL no extra fee!), I am your personal physician.  We may cross-cover if we get busy enough (extreme cases, vacations, etc.) but the goal is to re-personalize medicine.  In an age of hospitalists and laborists, we want to be there for our patients when they need us.  Like it used to be. "A new way of practicing old-fashioned medicine." Without the leeches.

All that being said, there have been many hours of waiting.  Waiting for my dad's non-compete clause to expire.  Waiting for a possible third partner.  Waiting for the bank to decide if we have enough possibility on which to take a chance.

I've been attempting to be a good house husband, though I sometimes think I'm not very good at it.... Now, though, as the practice comes together more, I realize that if the worst case scenario predictions occur, it may be years before I can sustain us on only this practice, especially since my student loans are about to come due. Therefore, I'm looking for a supplementary job, and in the meantime, I'm going to be posting on here more than in recent months, and I might even finish the three-part series I started

Either way, here's to your health.

My Review of Fleece 5.0

Originally submitted at SCOTTEVEST, Inc.

What do you get when you combine the warmth of fleece, a cutting-edge Personal Area Network from Technology Enabled Clothing and years of product development experience? The absolute best fleece ever produced by SCOTTEVEST! This dual-fabric, fifth-generation fleece is filled with 24 pockets... just...

Fleece 5.0

Physicians in Cooler Climates Take Note

By Gerry the Doctor from Greenwood, SC on 9/29/2010

 

4out of 5

Sizing: Feels true to size

Sleeve Length: Feels true to length

Pros: Attractive Design, Versatile, Warm, Massive Storage, Comfortable, Lightweight, Stylish, Fits a Stethoscope, IPad Pocket, Great Color

Cons: Zipper Catches

Best Uses: Travel, Daily Use, Work

Describe Yourself: Casual Dresser

I bought this jacket for multiple reasons, but in the first day alone I've found uses I never expected. I'm a family medicine doctor in a moderate climate, so I'm constantly looking for a lightweight/middleweight jacket to wear in the fall and winter that will also house all of my gear (stethoscope, iPhone, iPad, books, etc.) Fleece 5.0 fits the bill, and with the zip-off sleeves, it's even alright in the low summer heat/cooler nights. It also holds everything comfortably, with pockets to spare. I have all of the above items in the pockets and still don't feel weighed down or bulky.
Not a complaint, just an observation: I may lubricate the zippers with a bit of graphite, as they stick on occasion. Not bad, just annoying at times.
Overall, the best jacket I've ever owned!

So many pockets, so few gadgets...

Tags: Using Product, Picture of Product

(legalese)

AAFP NCRS

Reminder: Come visit the South Carolina Booth at the AAFP National Conference of Residents and Students and look for me roaming the floor to join the live Blogtalk Radio Podcast of the Doctor Anonymous Show (http://www.doctoranonymous.com)


- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Wyandotte St,Kansas City,United States

The Transformation

"Everything changes." "We start dying the moment we're born." "The only constant in life is change." "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

All very trite, but mostly all very true. The changes that become more evident to me daily involve the gentle paradigm shift in medicine. An institution that once held the health of its constituents as its utmost goal, now looking more at profitability than personal responsibility.
It started out insidiously. In the early 70's and into the 80's the quiet voices began to whisper to physicians. "You're here to practice medicine, but you're also a business." "You should be fairly compensated for the work you do." As in any industry, there have always been those who practiced medicine "for the money," but it wasn't until the slow rise of the for-profit hospital and the night in shining armor, the HMO, that things took a system-wide turn away from people and toward dollar signs. While campaigning for the managed care paradigm, a gatekeeper model where a primary care physician would coordinate care and refer to the specialists that were also owned by the HMO, hospitals and large multi-specialty groups began to recruit patients, touting a one-stop shop, a strategy clearly effective at turning a profit, ala Walmart. A good idea in theory, but in practice, the overwhelming number of patients in the system caused long wait times, and accusations of monopolizing and self-referral flew like mad.
I'll be honest. I don't have concrete data to back this up, and there's no specific person, place or time that you can pinpoint as the tipping point. There's simply a slow paradigm shift toward money-centric medicine.

There's nothing wrong with appropriate compensation. I do, however, take issue with abusing new technology as a way to make more money. Don't get me wrong, businesses incur great expense purchasing and innovating new technology. Once it's paid for, though, prices should summarily begin an inexorable decrease. Take the PC industry. Please... (sorry, it just sounded funny in my head, so it stays). Manufacturing processes (equating to, say a CT scanner in this analogy) are discovered to create a hard drive. That process is refined and perfected at great cost, which is transmitted to the initial consumer, the early adopters, but over time the process becomes so well refined and frequently used that income far surpasses production costs and even pays for the R&D.
If we assume that a CT scanner represents that manufacturing process, in this analogy, as the process is perfected, costs decrease exponentially, especially with frequent use. While the cost for your average CT has dropped significantly over the years, it still far surpasses the costs incurred by the hospital for staffing and power, especially after it's paid for.

You'll have to trust me on the math, and this is definitely an oversimplification, but if the average CT Scanner costs 3.5 million dollars, that means only 1000 scans at $3500 each would pay for the machine. There were ~7 million scans performed in the US in 2007 alone. Assuming a hospital large enough to have a scanner does at least a thousand a year, that means the machine could theoretically be paid off in one year. But wait, you object. What about the radiologist and the technician and the energy cost? Won't that put the cost much higher? Calculating average costs for reading fees and tech salaries and power costs (and assuming a random but educated yearly number for insurance on the machine) the numbers may be surprising, just not to me. You need only do an extra 25 CT scans a year to cover those extra costs. So after 1 year of $3500 scans, totaling just 1025 scans, the machine is paid for. Ongoing costs amount to a mere 100 scans per year thereafter to pay the radiologist and the incidentals. The rest keeps the hospital administration and the janitor paid. This is all an average, an educated guess, but it points to a fundamental problem with healthcare and hospital systems... like all other businesses, they're run by people, and people run businesses to make money.

This isn't bad, just problematic. I'm not against a free-market economy, as long as the flow of information is free, as well. Publish the cost. Let people make informed decisions and shop around if they so desire. Don't assume that because you *can* do something, you should. The system isn't broken because we charge $1800-3500 for an average CT scan. It's broken because free market value is no longer determined by the market...

To Be Concluded...


-- Post From My iPad

Location:Oak Ridge Dr,Greenwood,United States

Quick Interlude

Sorry it's been so long since the last post.  A lot of moonlighting and reading have occurred since then, all of which has inspired a new series on healthcare as it stands and a glimpse of how I intend to do my part to change it.  Along the way, I'll elucidate how technology is making a lot of what I see as real change possible. All in all, think of the previous post as a quick history lesson, bringing things to their current state.  The next two will focus more on where we are now and more importantly, where we're going.

Here's to your health!

From Managed Care to Miscommunication (Part I)

The current healthcare system, while the subject of much debate, evolved out of several smaller pieces of legislation.  Like the glacier, this movement toward an insurance-based economy moved slowly but inexorably toward prominence, thanks in large part to a number of legislative efforts aimed at giving the consumer of healthcare protection from perceived exorbitant costs.
The real problem arose when we stopped regulating the companies that swooped in to protect the "little guy."
According to Wikipedia (that great bastion of knowledge):

The McCarran–Ferguson Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1011-1015, is a United States federal law that exempts the business of insurance from most federal regulation, including federal anti-trust laws to a limited extent. The McCarran–Ferguson Act was passed by Congress in 1945 after the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. South-Eastern Underwriters Association that the federal government could regulate insurance companies under the authority of the Commerce Clause in the U.S. Constitution.

In essence, this Act gave insurance companies a free pass, avoiding common regulatory practices enforced on large corporations. No anti-trust laws.  No federal oversight. States have ultimate control, though even this is debatable. Whether you agree with the practice of federal involvement or not, there exists little doubt that, unwatched, most corporations minimize expenditures and maximize profits by whatever means necessary.  This is evidenced by the practices of the insurance industry that most proponents of the curent reform bill reference: closed purchasing within a state, denials for pre-existing conditions, dropping patients who are "really sick." 
These problems are simply symptoms of a broken system and a broken economy, both the result of misguided consumerism and economic profiteering.  Breaking it down simply, in the current system people buy insurance because they fear getting sick and having high medical bills.  Insurance premiums are paid to the company supported by their employer (a sketchy proposition at best, which I'll discuss in a minute) and the patient offsets some of the cost personally (current figures approximate 85% employer/15% employee).  IF the consumer gets sick, THEN the insurance agrees to cover a portion of the medical bills, often only after a certain amount ("the deductible") has been paid by the consumer. In other words, you pay money to avoid paying money, then have to pay more money before the money you already paid is given back to you with a modicum of interest. 
In some cases, specifically conditions requiring long hospital stays or significantly expensive treatments or for patients who require frequent treatment, this process pays off.  For most, however, the entire process is simply a demonstration of how poorly people as a whole calculate risk.  Without going into too many details about pooled risk and actuarial calculations, the average consumer with private insurance rarely meets their deductible, but still pays, on average family plans with no deductible a premium of $12686 each year, while plans with an annual deductible of $10,000 had an average premium of $5380 each year (per the report Individual Health Insurance 2009: A Comprehensive Survey of Premiums,Availability, and Benefits). So in essence, you, as a private insurance consumer, pay at least $5000 a year, then another $10000 if you get sick, to prevent paying for long stay or frequent hospitalization. Unfortunately, few people actually stay longer than 2-3 days in a hospital setting.
Summation:
Current consumer healthcare system based on large companies providing pooled risk insurance charge large sums to both you and your employer, and prior to the health care reform bill, could simply drop you for any significant illness.  They could also refuse to cover any medical condition you had prior to receiving their insurance.  Legally.

Pleasantly Surprised

I type this sitting on the couch in the call room at the hospital. On my new iPad...
For the last few weeks I've been saying that I wouldn't buy the first iteration of the iPad. I'd wait until they worked out all the kinks. There's not even a front-facing camera!
Then I held this amazing piece of technology in my hands, and the quiet realization that this was a new quantum state in computing. There's something familiar about the platform, even with its amazing innovations in small areas. Yes, the iPad looks like nothing more than a giant iPod touch. It's not. Scale matters.
Don't misunderstand. This isn't perfect. There are things I wish were different or better, but all in all, this is a new way to compute.

The design, while a little heavy, puts controls and inputs in easily accessed places. As I sit here, I'm typing with my right thumb, index and ring fingers while holding the iPad in my left (watch an old episode of Star Trek:TNG to get a visual...). It doesn't fatigue my hands, and I can type relatively fast. Taking advantage of the auto-complete feature increases the speed and accuracy.

When it come to apps, I'm not as app happy as I am with the iPhone. There aren't nearly the number of $.99 or $1.00 apps. This serves the dual purpose of limiting the app store to relatively useful apps for which people would be likely to pay more and making me more conscious of my app spending. A nice combination, free of Fart apps.

Several of the apps, like the iWorks trio, are well worth the added cost and I already completed a presentation (which I gave today) entirely on the iPad. Lying in bed typing, dragging photos, shifting slides, editing text styles. I can see where this will become my primary business device, even it's current iteration. While there are obvious changes (which will hopefully be announced on Thursday) that could make things easier and better, I can easily type papers, e-mails, create presentations, browse web references and hopefully textbooks. The device disappears, becoming merely a vector or a platform and allowing the software to really shine.

This is where my greatest expectations lie. Software could make this device awesome, instead of just amazing. The app store is a mere fraction of that for the iPhone, but already some amazing apps have surfaced. With the hardware now available for testing and tweaking, they should only continue to get better. Things like the Netflix app and the app Jump, which allows for remote desktop control, do a great job already. I'm already salivating while waiting for the ePocrates drug app and their recently announced EMR app.

All in all, this is an amazing device with a few bugs and a whole lot of potential.

//sidebar ramble
I ended up visiting the local Best Buy on Saturday to play with a demo iPad. I figured that there wouldn't be any stock left, and I could handle a demo model and leave. They had four demos, and after handling one for 10 minutes, I was not only impressed but sold that the potential for this device was huge. Then the guy next to me asked if there were any left. Apparently, this store got 15 or so of each model, and while the 15 GB was sold out, most of the 32 and 64 were left.
The rest, as they say, is history.
///end ramble


-- Post From My iPad

Location:Spring St,Greenwood,United States

Geeking Out Over the iPad Revolution!

So, I didn't pre-order an iPad. I won't be standing in line in Augusta to get one. I do, however, agree with the camp that see this new offering from Apple as a whole new way of looking at HIS in medicine and more specifically, Primary Care.

As a family doc, there's nothing more precious than time (see my post on First-Order Retrievability below). With the advent of the Cellular Age and the movement of our business society first to Palm's original Pilot device, then to the "Crackberry" and now the Android and iPhone platforms, the speed at which we conduct business, and everyday life as an extension, became astronomically high. Gone are the days of the answering service/machine and the "While you were out..." pink memo pads. If we desire, we can be connected to anyone and everyone, nearly 24/7.

There's also something to be said for "always on" social media, like text messages, blogs, Facebook and Twitter. These services, though not secure, can be used to transmit small packets of information to and from multiple sources very efficiently.

That trend hasn't caught on widely in medicine, though there are a growing number of physicians that are recognizing the power of continuous access and "multimedia medicine" and applying it to the "Cellular Generation." Por ejemplo, there exist a burgeoning number of physicians who are now offering e-mail as an alternative in addition to phone triage. A simple, rapid way to present the signs and symptoms of illness obvious to the patient and allow the physician to assess the need for an E.R. visit versus a clinic visit at your leisure. Beyond being two-way asynchronous communication, it's also readily available thanks to our smartphones and PDAs.

Some physicians even go so far as to "see" patients, and more commonly consults from other physicians, by video chat! A novel idea, but with the increase in broadband service, an idea whose time has finally come. Video allows physicians to visualize the patient (potentially in 3-D) and speak in real-time. Still images can also be used for rapid triage, if the clarity and pixel densities are high enough. Audio of a child's cough could even be used to triage "croup" vs a run-of-the-mill viral upper respiratory infection. Microsoft even markets a still camera that records everything you do, all day long...

Add to that the decreasing price for storage, and what emerges is something that some may dream of and others fear. A medical record that contains all of the above (video, audio, stills), as well as audiovisual representations of the entire office visit. Why not? We spend hours a day (especially in primary care) "charting" as we call it. Writing out descriptions that often inadequately represent the symptoms and physical signs they represent. Don't get me started on eponyms. Instead, this new record could be a more complete, more accurate representation of a patient's medical history. Something that would be infinitely more useful for future generations of physicians than a handful of old paper that may or may not have accurate descriptors, often colored by perception.

All that to say, the iPad makes this more convenient. While this generation of the device has no camera, you can bet your Aunt Fanny the next one will. It does have a mic and the ability to view video. You can pull up streaming video from any webcam using multiple services and you can utilize any of the above social networking tools as well. I've even toyed with the idea of a text message server that could take messages from linked cell phones and deposit them directly into an EMR record for that patient. Near real-time monitoring of a patient's data like blood pressure or glucose. This would be easily accessed on the iPad.

Moreover, as a 6-year owner/user of tablet computers, this form factor isn't as bad as many of the technorati make it out to be. We are tactile creatures by nature and the user interface of the iPhone is popular for a reason. To be able to use nothing more than a finger to make selections is very familiar to even a one year old.

Without having an iPad on hand, I can't vouch for the completeness of these claims, but if the reviews hitting last night and today are any indication, we may just be entering that "brave new world."

Location:Heritage Trail,Greenwood,United States

Warrior Dash

Last night on Dr. A, we talked a little about the Warrior Dash.  I thought today I'd give a little background on how I found it and why I'm so excited about blazing this new trail.

About four months ago, a friend of mine became a fan of the page for "Warrior Dash" on Facebook.  I had never heard of such a thing, but when you're a near-30-year-old who grew up on He-Man and American Gladiators, your interest gets piqued by such adrenaline-charged monikers.
I ventured to the Facebook page, only to find a brief description of an obstacle race and the offer of free beer. The visuals were interesting and somewhat reminiscent of The Flintstones, so I proceeded to the homepage.(flash heavy)
To my surprise, I was greeted with images of men and women running through FIRE!!! Immediately I sent a text to a good friend of mine encouraging his complicity in what I knew would be my newest endeavor.

In the month prior to finding what I considered the penultimate 'geek' race, I had been slowly but surely evolving a new attitude about exercise in general, but more specifically about running. A post on Nature's website led me down the rabbit hole of what is commonly referred to as barefoot running.  While not limited to truly bare feet, the sport revolves around the basic premise that humans as a species were designed to run and tennis shoes/running shoes may be the root of a lot of the joint stress and injuries sustained by modern runners.
I was always a firm believer in Fight-or-Flight as a dichotomous option. I joked that some people were born fighters and others were born "flighters," the only other option being "food." With that in mind, and a 6'3" frame lugging around 265 pounds (which has slimmed from 290# a little over a year ago), I worked to make myself an efficient, capable fighter.  Not MMA cage-style, but able to defend myself if the need arose. What I failed to realize, and what my research led me to conclude was something radical: I could be both, and would benefit from being both.
I read the nature article and several of the source articles, followed closely by the book "Born to Run," by Christopher McDougall. I invested in a pair of Vibram FiveFingers. I started running and enjoying it! Finding the Warrior Dash occurred during this mental revolution and led me to begin thinking about exercise in a totally new way.  Here was exercise (both the barefoot running and the Dash) that for all appearances could be fun. A celebration of activity, rather than the drudgery of going to the gym. Exercise, not because I have to, but because I want to.

What the Warrior Dash represents is a totally new way of thinking for me. While it incorporates aspects of existing exercise programs (the Gauntlet from American gladiators, the Crucible from the Marines) there are also aspects that remind me of a video game (running through FIRE!). While the Wii made entertainment into exercise, this turns exercise into entertainment. It becomes FUN. Yes, it still hurts on occasion.  Yes, there is an element of conditioning required. But in the final analysis, this race did something neither a marathon nor an IronMan could ever do. It made me excited about exercising.

Worth the Read

Just came across this article. Pretty good stuff.

30 Habits that Will Change your Life
Health habits

1. Exercise 30 minutes every day. Especially if you don’t do much movement while working, it’s essential that you get some daily exercise. 30 minutes every day are the minimum recommended for optimal health.
2. Eat breakfast every day. Breakfast is the more important meal of the day, yet so many people skip it. Personally, I like to eat a couple of toasts in the morning along with a fruit beverage.
3. Sleep 8 hours. Sleep deprivation is never a good idea. You may think that you are gaining time by sleeping less, when in reality you are only gaining stress and tiredness. 8 hours are a good number of hours for most people, along with an optional 20 minutes nap after lunch.

If the above resonates with you, check out the rest of the list @freestylemind.com
30 Habits that will change your life

First Order Retrieval

As a society, we are surrounded by technology.  Some more than others. Currently, I have in my direct possession an iPhone, and iPod touch, this laptop, a calculator watch and a USB drive.  That's just on my person. Devices designed to connect me to others, to simplify my life, to make information more accessible.

All of the technology out there and what do we do with it? Instead of simplifying, we clutter. Disregarding the iPod touch (it's a leftover from my transition to the iPhone) I still have three devices on my person that have essentially overlapping functions.  My USB drive and watch (see photo) have functions easily reproduced by my iPhone, which is itself a more portable and compact version of the laptop on which I am composing this entry.

While organizationally, this is not intuitive, there is some method to my madness.  A few months ago I saw a video of Mythbuster Adam Savage (to whom I have occasionally been compared) iterating his belief on "first order retrievability."  In essence, any object (in Adam's case, his tools) that is of use should only be one level removed from the user. For example, if I want to know the time, I simply have to glance at my watch. That's first order retrievability. For the iPhone/iPod, I have to tap the power or home button. Technically, that's second order, but this is arguable. For my laptop, I'd have to turn it on, log in, and wait for the OS to load. More wasted time, less effect. In most workplaces, and especially medicine, this inefficiency reigns.

The sane person is thinking right now, "If you take this to its extreme endpoint, you'd have a million gadgets just to get through the day." And they'd be right. To an extent. The beauty of tech, and specifically most of our newest tech, is the ability for most devices to take on the characteristics of another device with first order retrieval. For instance, I tap an icon and my iPhone becomes a GPS. Another button and it's a web browser. Yet another and it's a camera. While none of these functions compare to their standalone counterparts, they're "good enough for government work."

As a physician, this is immeasurably useful. I have finite time, finite pocket space and a limited number of slots on my "bat belt." With a smartphone, and a multitool (Gerber FliK) I can have an relatively infinite number of tools at my disposal. My iPhone acts as a PDA, phone, camera and GPS at its bare minimum. With the right collection of Apps, I have a complete medical library, tools for measurement and recording, even an entire Electronic Medical Record, all in a single device. 

For a doctor, first order retrievability allows you to spend more time with patients and less time looking for things. Even if finding a chart only takes 15 seconds, multiply that by the 30 patients a day most doctors see and you're talking minutes. A quick and dirty estimate (I timed myself walking 15 feet, searched through an alphabetized list and selected an item, then walked back) reveals that it's more like 2 minutes. That's an hour a day. In busy offices, that's 4-5 more patients.  Or even better, 2 extra minutes with each patient.  Even if you pay someone else to do the job, that's still "person hours" being used for information retrieval that could be done in milliseconds by a "gadget."Add in all of the other third and fourth order retrieval tasks we encounter throughout the day, and the benefits of a first-order retrieval system are obvious.

It's not an easy proposition, but it's well worth it in the long run.

Dr. Anonymous Tomorrow Night!

Just a quick pitch!
I'll be on the Dr. Anonymous (http://www.doctoranonymous.com) show tomorrow night at 9pm EST

Check it out, if you get the chance, otherwise, it's on iTunes!

P.S. He called me out in the promo for not having a blog, so this should hopefully get him off my back :)

First time for many things...

So, this is the first (hopefully of many) official blog posts from me, Dr. Geek.

I've been a tech head for 25 years, a doctor for 2 and a blogger for about 3 1/2 minutes. There's nothing that stopped me from blogging before, I simply never took it up. I prefer human interaction with faces and all... Like my aversion to long phone calls (except for maybe voicemail), my "problem" with blogging has always been the one-sided nature of the conversation. Even with comments and social media linking, there's always been something impersonal about the blog. I can't see your expression to know if what I'm saying is making an impact. I can't judge your personal feelings by the look on your face.

I also have trouble justifying spending time writing something that few people will read. Is there anyway anyone would be interested in what I have to say? If so, will it lead to "followers" (lurkers) or "friends," people to share actual discourse.

All that to say, this is the first of many posts. I'm currently revamping my style pages and taking some pictures for the header. In the coming days/weeks, I'll be posting a lot. Stuff about healthcare reform, medicine, medical training, technology, but more importantly how all those things affect me, and to some extent, the "common man."

Here's to your health!