At a time in everyone’s life, we come to find ourselves in a situation where the music stops, and we must go on. The unfortunate truth about life is that the unexpected will happen. Some of us learn from it, some of us change because of it and some of us find our life’s calling because of it. The latter was the case for me. After our dad picked us up from middle school, we spent that afternoon like we had every afternoon that month. We went to the oncology unit at the hospital, where my brother was admitted.
I remember him. I remember the man in the dark blue sarong the same way I remember the lines on back of my own hand. He was hunched over next to a column on a dirty platform at a railway station in Calcutta, India in the middle of the harsh summer sun. His hands were withered, his fingers and toes looked like tiny nubs, and he was completely malnourished and alone. He had opaque blue eyes, as if fog had taken place of his irises and pupils.
I studied insects in college; my favorite insects were the bees (I found them diligent and so helpful to humankind). One of my favorite classes was about medical diseases caused by insects. My professors noticed my interest in the medical side of things and connected me with a professor who did clinical research. Our work focused on a clinical trial for children with intractable epilepsy and exposed me early on to patient care and patients.
Like many medical students, my interest in medicine arose during high school anatomy courses. Unlike many medical students, I did not begin my collegiate studies at a university. I went to high school in a suburban town Northwest of Detroit called Clarkston. It was my junior year between 2008-
It all began with bagels and orange juice. I was seven, and my dad had promised we would go to lunch as soon as he finished making rounds in the hospital. My stomach grumbled, though, so Dad plopped me in the doctors’ lounge, snacks in hand, and promised he would be back in an hour. As I waited, I overheard the other doctors in the next room, answering pages. They spoke in hushed voices laden with what I was sure were remarkable secrets. But then, I could only hear one side of the conversation.
The back of my head lies flat as a pin board. In the orphanages of South Vietnam, darker babies carried the stigma of the war, bearing a physical resemblance to the ruthless soldiers from the north. I was one of those children. Because of my skin tone, the caregivers’ prejudice prevented them from picking me up to play. Left to lie on the wooden mats, my head never rounded, and now serves as a constant reminder to me of the human body’s malleability.
From humble beginnings as a curtained-
Compassion does not know city limits or county lines. Neither state nor international borders can contain such acts of altruism. For the last four years two surgeons and one nephrologist have travelled to Honduras to perform living donor kidney transplantation thereby expanding the art and science of transplant surgery and medicine in Central America.
Early on a cool, crisp autumn morning, Dr. Paul Kearney addresses his fellow surgeons and other volunteer medical professionals just before they embark on a busy day at the Lexington Surgery Center (LSC). Many of them have already been preparing the facility since before sunrise as a part of the monthly ritual known as Surgery on Sunday (SoS). Dr. Kearney chairs the board of directors for this organization, which is the brainchild of Dr. Andy Moore, who has served Lexington as a plastic surgeon….
As Americans most have been secure in our needs for food, housing, safety and health. Health care has become more of a right than a privilege and has become more accessible thru expanded Medicaid, Medicare and the more recent Affordable Care Act. In spite of these, many continue to fall thru the cracks and that number may again increase with proposed changes in public health policy and program coverages. The underprivileged will continue to require care often not covered by government....
Dr. Privett has practiced medicine in Lexington since 1973. After finishing his residency, he spent two years in the United States Army from 1971 to 1973 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He returned to Lexington thereafter to begin his neurology practice. He practiced clinical neurology for 15 years, from 1973 until about 1988. In 1988, he developed the Lexington Diagnostic Center shortly after MRI equipment was introduced into the United States.
As physicians, we are required to master changes on a daily basis. Very shortly, we will have to deal with changes in the Accountable Care Act. At some point, we will be required to deal with changes in our electronic health record system. Medical organizations are struggling with the demands of physicians to make changes in the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) process. Everyone wants some kind of change from us, and adaptation is the watchword.
Mentoring is an art form developed in the United States in the 1970s within large private companies and corporations and is used to support junior staff. Since the 1990s, mentoring programs have emerged in various medical professions, most frequently in the field of nursing though, rather than physician practice. Formal mentoring programs for medical students and doctors did not develop until the late 1990s (Buddeberg-
Despite the availability of other satisfying or more lucrative career opportunities for the bright and altruistic, admissions to medical schools remain desirable and competitive, thanks largely to an influx of talented and qualified female and minority applicants. Premedical and medical education has always been stressfully competitive and a financial burden. "Stress in medical school" even merits its own individual entry on Wikipedia.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to become a doctor. However, I did not realize all the challenges I would have to face in order to make my dreams come true, and I also did not know who I was going to meet along the way to help me become a successful medical student. When I was reapplying to medical school, I was told gaining more clinical experience could strengthen my application. I reached out to as many physicians as I could in order to shadow them.
Who played a significant role in your journey to becoming a physician? My senior year of high school I applied to participate in a University program for rural students. During this process I had the opportunity to converse with an amazing woman, Carol, who is passionate about helping others and dedicated to her students. She has a wonderful heart and a genuine interest in my well being. She truly cared about me as a person.
Being a Physician, you can be asked to treat symptoms effecting your patient you would not expect. Your patients that are elderly believe they have a very special relationship with you, like a beloved and trusted niece or nephew. You are the wise counsel for all that matters, the Doctor knows best. Sometimes they want you to make their family stop fighting.
It was reported in a 2015, in the US, by the Pew Research Centre that 24 percent of teens go online “almost constantly,” facilitated by the widespread availability of smartphones. With all the social media platforms out there, it is estimated there will be 2.67 billion social network users by 2018 reported by article from Katina Michael (PC World). She also noted that “Social networking already accounts for 28 percent of all media time spent online, and users aged between 15 and 19 spend at least….
The American Medical Association published in JAMA (May 15, 2017) a recent article by Dr. Dabora and Dr. Turaga, two Harvard Business School professors (MD, MBA), who are joined by Dr. Shulman (MD) of the Duke University School of Medicine. The following is a summary of this article. The distribution of US pharmaceutical products is fairly simple. The physical drug product, such as a pill or vial of drug, leaves a manufacturer and is then purchased by a distributor.
Most of us have personally experienced the impact of electronic health record (EHR) and required clinical documentation, which have resulted in decreased productivity and decreased job satisfaction. Physicians and nurses have traditionally used clinical documentation to record and convey information as well as treatment plans to other members of the care team. However, clinical documentation has evolved to justify reimbursement and serves many purposes which may not contribute….
In August 2015 in Roanoke, VA, 2 television station employees were gunned down live on the air. The attention of employers and employees nationwide focused once again on violence, and more specifically, workplace related violence. Since the 1980s, violence has been recognized as a leading cause of occupational mortality and morbidity. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, an estimated 1.7 million workers are injured each year during workplace assaults….
When it comes to practice growth new faces of patients is a good thing, but not when those new faces are staff members. The constant revolving door of office and medical staff is killing more practices now than ever before. The success of today’s medical practice is not only measured in the accounts receivables and overhead, but the cost of office conflict. You cannot avoid conflict and disagreements within the office. That is human nature.
It is not often you get the chance to meet a celebrity in the emergency department, especially at 2 a.m., and when that opportunity arises you must seize it. When Iron Man strolls through the door notice is taken. As a child I was fascinated by superheroes. Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Wonder Woman; my appetite was insatiable. I felt a connection to these figures, wishing I was only a radioactive spider bite away from saving the world.
Monday mornings on the unit are always a little chaotic. Even though during pre-
“So if you don’t mind me asking, why did you make the switch?” I get that question quite often. I honestly never grow tired of answering it because that’s always when I launch into what rekindled my spark for being a physician. I still remember running down the hallway, balancing on one foot, ferociously pulling on knee high booties while trying desperately to tie on a shield mask simultaneously. I was both excited and anxious, ecstatic and scared, because I was about to deliver life.
When my dad went in for heart surgery, I never expected that he wouldn’t wake up. Not to say that I was worry-
I ran from my first fire. As a seasonal worker with the Forest Service, there were very few days between my fire boot fitting and the first time I trampled embers in them. I was trained to be part of a wildland fire hand crew. Hand crews serve a crude, but essential purpose. Forest fires often burn on difficult terrain. Machines cannot operate on the steep inclines or navigate the dense vegetation. Where machines are ineffective, hand crews hike in. With chainsaws and sharpened garden tools they…..
“That could never happen to me!” is a phrase most of us say about near death experiences, especially when you are in your twenties. However, the reality of the matter is that medical emergencies can happen to anyone, including you and me. I learned this lesson the hard way when I went into ventricular tachycardia for several hours on Thanksgiving Day last year. As a medical student, I am learning how to diagnose and treat all kinds of conditions and diseases, but studying medicine….
If you are the physician, recognizing the symptoms of Caregiver Burnout Syndrome is essential. According to A.A.R.P. it is estimated less than 50% of doctors ask caregivers if they are experiencing any burnout symptoms or high stress. Symptoms are characterized by physical and emotional exhaustion, depression, anxiety, bouts of anger, withdrawal, impaired thinking and performance, and most often a feeling of being overwhelmed and guilt.
In the immediate world of what most of us would consider "politics," there are only a select few that we actually see run for a public office. Behind the scenes in Kentucky, there are perhaps only a few thousand volunteers, office workers, and support staff who are also considered 'part of the political process' and often have very important roles in the realm of governance and development of policy. But, this is only a small percentage of our Commonwealth's overall population; and as physicians, we are....
What advice could a retired US General give a doctor, to improve healthcare? I recently read Growing Physician Leaders, by Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, US Army (Ret.). General Hertling, a recent retiree from the US Army, was at one time the commander for US Army Europe and the Seventh Army where he had over 40,000 soldiers under his command. As an Army general charged with the safekeeping of thousands of lives his post-
Tamika rushes into the clinic. She’s late. 32 minutes late, to be precise. As she arrives she meets the eyes of the Medical Receptionist, who glances at her disapprovingly. Darting into the back, she pulls off her gloves and hurriedly hangs her coat in her locker. Her manager, Kate, is suddenly there. “You’re late” she declares. “I know. The bus broke down,” she replies. “Sorry.” Her boss turns and walks out. Tamika quickly stashes her lunch in the lounge refrigerator and clips on the badge that identifies her name and title....
It is not uncommon for me to be asked “Why do you do this and do you enjoy it?” At the onset of my career in medicine, the idea of being President of the American Medical Association or Chair of Council of the World Medical Association was never a consideration. In fact in those early years, I had very little knowledge about these organizations or what they could accomplish. It was not until the AIDS epidemic and the impact it had on patients and my practice did I recognize that part of my responsibility as a....
There has been a flurry of activity in the last decade regarding neuroscience and leadership. From a brain standpoint, much of leadership is based upon the cerebral functions underlying social cognition. Social cognition has evolved to contextualize the matters and outcomes under consideration, the effects of any decisions made on others, and to guide considerations of what others might or might not think. These cognitive functions are expected to lead to sound reasoning and rational judgment.
Rising healthcare costs and demands from the public for increased coverage have led to an ever increasing presence of government in the traditional patient-
This quarterly edition of KentuckyDoc features LMS physicians and their hobbies. Two LMS members, William Wheeler M.D. and David Bensema, M.D., have chosen woodworking as a hobby. As with most physicians who choose hobbies, Bill and David came to their hobbies by different routes. When Bill Wheeler began thinking about retirement, while continuing his practice as an obstetrician/gynecologist, he decided to choose woodworking as a hobby.
What is horseback riding? Are there different types? Horseback riding is exactly what it sounds like – riding a horse. There are a many different types. The two basic horseback riding styles are English and Western, the saddle is the biggest difference between the two. I started out as a hunter jumper. Eventing, like the Kentucky Three Day Event at the Kentucky Horse Park could be termed an "equestrian triathlon." It involves working with a horse both on the flat and over fences.
For many physicians, the question is not “if,” but, “when” you will experience burnout. A recent systematic review and meta-
A link between exercise and mental and physical well-
The Pain Treatment Center of the Bluegrass is the largest freestanding facility in Kentucky dedicated to the treatment of pain. It hosts 11 physicians of varying specialties and sub-
Not a day passes without some story in the media about the devastating opioid epidemic in this country. Often the item concerns the latest government statistics that show an ominous worsening of some indicator of the crisis – such as a CDC report that estimates that there were more than 42,000 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2016 alone, a figure that was projected to reach 72,000 deaths in 2017, representing a deadly drug overdose about every six minutes.
I had the opportunity to interview Steven Stack, M.D. regarding opioid issues confronting emergency department physicians. Steve is well known to many of us, as he is a very recent president of the American Medical Association and currently is employed as an ED physician at St. Joseph Hospital East. Steve’s opinion of the opioid crisis currently is that it is sad, tragic, and an enormous problem. From the patient perspective, the patients that Steve sees are very hopeless and….
America’s first epidemic of opioid addiction occurred in the 1840s. Mothers dosed themselves and their children with opium tinctures and opioid containing medicines. Soldiers in the U.S. Civil War treated their injuries and diarrhea with morphine (“the Army disease”).(1) Drinkers treated their hangovers with opioids. However, the main source of the epidemic was iatrogenic morphine, which coincided with the invention of the hypodermic needles in the 1870s.
When a new amputee is tasked with getting back to their life after losing a part of their body, it involves more than simply creating a prosthetic device to surrogate what was lost. The process is a deeply personal and psychological journey that involves a lot of community, love, and support. Hi-
People frequently think that pain is a purely physical sensation. However, pain has biological, psychological and emotional factors. Pain can cause feelings such as anger, disappointment, hopelessness, sadness and fear, to name a few. “While medical treatments, such as surgical interventions, physical therapy/rehabilitation, and medications, can be helpful in treating chronic pain, psychological treatments are also very important,” says Heather Wright,….
One of the major challenges in healthcare is reconciling the tremendous gap in patients’ access to physicians. This is particularly true for our patients who reside in Eastern Kentucky. The Appalachian Regional Commission recently issued a very somber report showing that the Appalachian region has significantly higher mortality rates, increased incidence of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression, and more health risk factors (obesity, smoking, fewer physicians, drug use) than the rest of the country.
Due to the obvious shortages in psychiatric manpower, more and more patients requiring psychiatric care are being seen in primary care as part of a “patient-
Physicians and other medical professionals are often on the front line due to their accessibility to elderly patients. Sometimes being the only individual to see an elder other than their caregiver, the ability to recognize the signs of abuse is vital. According to the Administration on Aging in Washington, D.C., each year hundreds of thousands of older persons are abused, neglected, and exploited. Many victims are people who are older, frail, and vulnerable and cannot help themselves….
The journey a new amputee takes can be long and difficult to navigate. The staff at Hi-
Chiang Mai is Thailand’s second largest city and a peaceful alternative to Bangkok. The capital of Northern Thailand is known for its temples and its markets, and it is one of the main centres for learning traditional Thai massage. Chiang Mai is surrounded by mountains, forests and national parks that are perfect for daytrips and for trekking.
On August 30th, 2009 I was sitting in my college dorm room when I received a call that would change my life forever. I was told my dad had been in a tragic accident and I should find a way to the hospital immediately. I hurriedly packed and my best friend drove me to the hospital three hours away. When I arrived, I found out that my father was in an unfortunate accident that would forever leave him paralyzed from the chest down—a quadriplegic for the rest of his life.
When I reflect on the sacrifices that I’ve made to study medicine, I also note that my mother has altered her life for me to realize my potential. Being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder could have been a life-
I have a small black planner from Japan that has chronicled my life for the past year. It is a compact and sturdy little book I carry back and forth to work. Since the beginning of my residency, I have had several of these, archived in a striped banker’s box once the year is up. If someone were going to be nosey and read one of these books, they would see a rather humdrum list of appointments, tasks, deadlines, and days of call written down in my indecipherable cursive.
Here I am turning into the alley I know so well. I spot the neighborhood holy man and beggar with his alms bowl. The restaurant he sits alongside is bustling. The matron calls out to me from behind her steaming peanut and palm nut soups. Next door to her I pass the charcoal seller. I smile and jump over the open gutter fronting her roadside business. My heart is beating faster now as I approach my destination. At the threshold of the house I reach out to the wrought iron gate with….
Finally—I was so blessedly close to sleep. So far, my eyelids had been closed for the first four hours of our sixteen-
Were the sacrifices you made to become a physician worth it? This is a question that I get asked at least couple of times every month, mostly by well-
With constantly evolving technology and increasing national exposure, the field of prosthetics has finally begun to garner the attention it has long deserved. While many now know more about prosthetics than ever before, the clinical and technical process involved in designing and creating prosthetic limbs for amputees is still relatively a mystery to most. Increasing exposure and social media attention allow viewers to witness amazing outcomes and aesthetically pleasing prosthetic devices.
The water erupted soon after his fly landed near the riffle’s foam line. “She’s got spirit,” my son roars, gathering extra line. “Watch and learn old man.” The Roaring Fork is a freestone mountain river that rages in torrents in the early summer while washing over boulders and fallen trees. Our Western drift boat is made for this challenge. The flat-
The quality of our family life has a major impact upon the quality of our work life. Family discord and conflict often seeps its way into the workplace, which can result in reduced concentration, increased mistakes, and a greater susceptibility to burnout. Strong physician families actually provide a buffer to workplace stress and offer a place for support and renewal.
Our spouses keep long hours. They miss out on a lot of family time and kids’ extracurricular activities. So, when they manage to get vacation time, our spouses generally pack (or get packed for), walk out the door, and enjoy the vacation. They might do a little “Monday morning quarterbacking” on the vacation planning, but that goes with any marriage.
I had the privilege of consulting to the Stewart Home & School (SH&S) 2 decades ago. John D Stewart II MD was practicing general and vascular surgery in Lexington at that time while working part time at the family business in Frankfort. I came to know that John was the 5th generation of Stewarts to manage this institution. I asked him to help me with the history for this article and he graciously complied.
I have known Lexington plastic surgeons Woody, Andy and Mike Moore most of my medical career. Woody and I often hunted quail with other medical colleagues. During our hunting expeditions, Woody would tell me “Moore Stories” (my emphasis). I vowed someday to tell a short story of this family’s medical careers in the heartland of America. Andy has retired from plastic surgery and Woody has retired and moved to North Carolina.
The material for this essay comes from the classic book written by W. Porter Mayo, M.D., Ph.D., a former Lexington Medical Society member who became a history doctorate after he completed his career as a Lexington surgeon. His book, still today is the greatest book written about the Lexington Medical Society, was commissioned by the LMS and published in 1999 to honor the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Lexington Medical Society.
Dr. Daniel Drake was considered the foremost medical educator in America in the 19th century. He gave a presidential address to the Lexington Medical Society on November 14, 1823 when he was inducted to that medical society and accepted the second Presidency in 1824 (Mayo, 1999, pg. 16). When the Lexington Medical Society finally closed in 1834, Dr. Caldwell served as President of the College of Physicians and Surgeons while he was Dean of the Medical Department of….
There is a time honored cliché: you get as much out of it as you put into it. This is true for any endeavor and it certainly pertains to organized medicine. The Lexington Medical Society (LMS) is fortunate to have had members who have been involved in all aspects of the medical profession, exceeding the routine of daily patient care and excelling in other aspects of medical practice.
There is an old saying “behind every successful man, is a strong woman to pick up the slack.” Dr. David Bensema is an internal medicine doctor who was Lexington Medical Society’s president in 2002, and he was Kentucky Medical Association’s President from September 2014-
Each of us can probably remember the first time we experienced that indescribable warm and fuzzy feeling inside after a healing intervention. Remember how elated you felt when a patient or family member sincerely said, “Thank you?” It’s hard for me to imagine a greater reward. It’s an incredible feeling and few other professions can claim such rewards.
The 2020 session of the Kentucky General Assembly is scheduled to kick off on Tuesday, January 7th. As with all even-
Physicians are on the front line in addressing the health challenges Kentuckians are facing, but right now, the Commonwealth is struggling with a significant physician shortage, particularly in the rural areas of the state. As an institution dedicated to providing excellence in education, equitable health care, and transformative research, the University of Kentucky College of Medicine leadership felt a strong sense of urgency to help find a solution, and launched and implemented a campus….
From humble beginnings as a curtained-
We had moved to a completely unfamiliar city for residency and to complicate matters, only one day stood between unpacking and driving halfway across the country for my medical school graduation. Our kitchen supplies were in boxes. We did not have time to go to the store. But we had our gift card; we ordered sushi. That meal delivered to our door unburdened us of the thought and planning for dinner and furnished us extra time to spend on other activities we considered more important.
Growing up in a small town in southern Kentucky taught me many valuable life lessons for which I am forever grateful. However, there are also many unique challenges that rural residents face. One such challenge that I have witnessed firsthand is access to healthcare for citizens of rural communities. People from small towns all across America consistently have worse health outcomes across the board when compared to urban dwellers.
Throughout my childhood, I witnessed how my grandfather, who had a brain tumor, experienced a lack of access to cancer treatment. He had to drive many hours away, multiple times each week to receive radiation and chemotherapy treatments which made managing his condition a struggle. Growing up in an underserved, Health Professional Shortage Area, I saw how having little to no access to quality health care affects rural and underserved populations.
On the corner of Wilson Street and Lakeway Drive in Russell County, a small brick church sits on a sunny Sunday morning. The sun pours in through the stained glass window as a preacher concludes his fiery sermon. The preacher proclaims that, “You ain’t got to go on a far-
Uncertainty in any form takes an enormous toll on us; it robs us of control and confidence. We love sports because the rules are definitive and immutable (sort of). In the absence of certainty, we struggle to focus. Many feel that without control we lose trust in people and systems that we otherwise do not question—we are seeing this a lot right now. In its worst case, uncertainty leads to creating a crisis narrative of existential proportions.
Even though I was 5 years old when the attacks on the World Trade Center occurred in New York City on September 11th, 2001, I do not recollect any information from that time. However, everyone that I have talked with who was old enough to remember these events have such clear memories of where they were and what they were doing when they found out about this national tragedy.
Heroes don’t always get the Congressional Medal of Honor, nor do they come bounding off the pages of Marvel or DC Comics. They are not always enshrined in the Hall of Fame. True heroes come from all walks of life. Altruism knows no ethnic or geographic boundaries, and when a life is saved because of a selfless act of kindness, that is heroic. Such a person is Beth Burbridge, UK scholarship athlete, wife, mother of three and a kidney donor to a child on dialysis who needed a lifesaving….
There is a morass of media coverage, corporate product promotion and government information that is often contradictory and incomplete. Since there are few independent clinical evaluations of testing products in peer-
Stanford University pediatrician, Jason Wang, M.D., Ph.D. published an opinion piece in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics that K-
Starting in March many parents were faced with the dilemma of educating their children from home. The last half of the spring semester was an absolute nightmare. No one was prepared for weeks and then months of NTI (non-
The sound of popping shoulder pads greets me with its beautiful symphony as I get even closer to the field. However, I am not truly transported back in time until I look out across the field at the young men of the Bowling Green Warriors football team preparing for their first game of the 2020 season. I remember the excitement and thrill of the season’s arrival as the monotony of summer weightlifting and practices came to an end.
In June 2021 infections by the delta variant of the SARS-
I am defined by the people who made me. I am my Mother’s determination and my Father’s inquisitiveness. I am my Nanny’s empathy and Paw’s selflessness. I am a proud daughter of Eastern Kentucky and its beautiful quilt of mountains, fried chicken, and fiddle music. Throughout my life, I’ve often taken pride in the title of “student” and now, with the transition to “doctor,” I question whether I’m worthy of the title.
In the beginning of 2020 the world learned there was a “Novel Corona Virus” in China, which over 8 weeks became pandemic and the media added additional labels. Some of these were: Covid-
The COVID-
After a year of experience with the pandemic, at the financial cost of $10 trillion dollars worldwide per Finance & Economics ( Jan 2021), human lives cost of 139 million infected people and 2.9 million deaths worldwide (600,000 deaths in the US) per Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, we have learned a lot about the multi-
Pandemics have shaken the foundation of society and turned the course of history and the mindset of humanity for centuries. Typhoid fever attacked and devastated Athens in 490 B.C. giving the military society of Sparta upper hand in the Peloponnesian War. The Black Death caused by Yersinia pestis killed a third of the population of Europe and instigated drastic changes in economic relations that ultimately disposed of serfdom and feudalism and laid foundations of Renaissance.
One of those adaptations required learning remotely. Missing the stimulation of being in classrooms and interacting with a “live” person made maintaining a focus a challenge for some. They found it much harder to look at a screen for hours on end than to be able to break up the monotony with live person interaction. Isolation from faculty made it more difficult to ask questions and discuss the material they were learning.
The COVID-
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Rural hospitals struggle with financial issues and decreased demand of inpatient services resulting in hospital closures, with reported widespread reductions in access to obstetric or emergency services, equating to increased patient travel distances for essential services. Technology is bridging the gap in distance by providing services in primary, specialized, and mental health care to remote patients. Promising advances have been made in telemedicine to expand healthcare access for rural populations. Transportation difficulties, along with patient time and cost to drive far distances, make telemedicine an appealing intervention to expand healthcare delivery and access. A study lead by UC Davis investigators found that telemedicine has decreased travel distances by 5 million miles leading to a $3 million dollars saving in travel costs over 9 years. Not only does telemedicine save money and time, these programs provide care to rural residents that may have forgone care, allowing symptoms to persist and progress to a more serious condition. Using telemedicine has also been implemented by specialists at urban centers, which allows them to consult on patient care and promote long-
Shortages in physicians and trained healthcare workers further contribute to rural healthcare access issues. Clinicians are stretched thin, and specialists, including mental health and substance abuse providers, are rare at best, ultimately having negative effects on patients. Many medical schools, like the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, are preparing medical students to serve rural populations through rural rotations, supporting medical students from undeserved communities, and learning from faculty with experience in rural settings. Further supporting predoctoral and early career programs that invest in student doctors can retain student doctors from rural communities and attract physicians to rural, underserved areas. We can support national and state workforce development policies that provide incentives for providers who practice in rural communities and in primary care. Thus, maintaining a sustainable physician workforce committed to improving health outcomes in rural patients.
In the national discussion of healthcare spending and improving healthcare quality, rural populations have been left out of the conversation. We need to incorporate the voices of rural residents, policy makers, providers, and public health professionals. To improve patient access to quality healthcare services in rural America, we need to foster interventions and policies to assure rural communities receive high quality services. We need to support rural providers and address the barriers of rural Americans which keep them from receiving proper health care.
Throughout my childhood, I witnessed how my grandfather, who had a brain tumor, experienced a lack of access to cancer treatment. He had to drive many hours away, multiple times each week to receive radiation and chemotherapy treatments which made managing his condition a struggle. Growing up in an underserved, Health Professional Shortage Area, I saw how having little to no access to quality health care affects rural and underserved populations. It shocks me that many people are suffering and dying from complications of chronic diseases with insufficient action to combat the issue. No one should have to suffer due to preventable lapses in access to healthcare. Whether from lack of knowledge about these conditions, or being in a resource-
One in five Americans, nearly 60 million people, live in rural America. The gap between urban and rural communities is widening with rural areas leading the top five causes of mortality. A combination of barriers influences the high mortality rate in rural communities: higher rates of poverty, more difficulty in traveling to healthcare services, higher proportion of un-
THE TIME TO CHANGE RURAL HEALTHCARE DELIVERY IS NOW
SPRING 2020
BY NICOLE ROBERTSON
Since 2010, 87 rural hospitals have closed their doors, further exacerbating limited to no access to quality healthcare services. Rural Americans deserve innovative care models that address the multifaceted issue of rural healthcare delivery. This could be accomplished by incorporating disease prevention and non-
While we understand that there are urban-
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A first-
