January 29th, 2013

Dusting Off the Blog: A New Writer Appears!

retreat pic

UC residents on retreat

Hello, Journal Watch enthusiasts! It’s a new year, and we are kick-starting the Chief Resident blog again. I am excited to share some of my ideas and thoughts with you this year. I’m currently serving as one of the chief medical residents at the University of Colorado Denver, with the first half of the year spent at Denver Health Medical Center, and the second half of the year at the Denver VA Medical Center.

I grew up in the medical-focused community of Rochester, MN, where the Mayo Clinic Health System dominates the skyline and conversation. I studied Biomedical Engineering as an undergraduate at Northwestern University, with a focus on biotechnology and biomaterials. I returned to the North Star state for medical school, at the University of Minnesota, and opted to venture west to Denver for my Internal Medicine training.

One of the major benefits of the UC Denver IM residency program is the diversity of hospitals and patients encountered on rotations; our core teaching sites include a VA medical center, a major academic institution, a public safety-net hospital, and a private facility. Each of these sites provided a unique view of medicine and a fantastic base upon which to build my interests in cardiovascular disease. I will begin fellowship this summer, and I am anxiously looking forward to it.

During my time as chief resident, I have been fortunate to play many roles: educator, attending physician, colleague, and conflict mediator, among many others. As a Journal Watch blogger, I look forward to sharing some of the things I have learned this year with regard to each of these roles. My particular interests are technology — both as it relates to medical education and to advancing medical care.

I may preferentially favor cardiovascular disease technologies; however, I hope to highlight some of the new and exciting technologies across all fields of internal medicine. I enjoy looking into the balance of introducing new technology with cost, particularly right now, given the Affordable Care Act and its associated mandates. Medical education is a large part of my position as chief resident, and learning about new teaching tools that incorporate novel technologies excites me.
I look forward to sharing my thoughts on current medical literature, and hearing your ideas and responses. Please post some of the topics you hope will be discussed this year, and I’ll look forward to reading your responses!

2 Responses to “Dusting Off the Blog: A New Writer Appears!”

  1. Dear Dr Schwartz, I am an internal medicine physician in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and I work in an university hospital in Fluminense Federal University. We have 12 residents in our service. As an interested in using novel technology in medical education, last year we developed a podcast (in portuguese). Each podcast is about 10 minutes long, once a week, and discuss common and pratical themes. One problem in Brazil is that our regulatory medical council required a password so only doctors and medical students could listen to the podcast. I have read many american podcasts. Those from Journal Watch and John Hopkings are my preferred ones. I read your blog and discover new ideas in medical education.
    Hope to hear from you soon.
    Ronaldo Altenburg Gismondi, MD, MSc.

  2. JOE BARRY,MD,FACP says:

    I never do this so the fact that I am tells you a lot.
    A Doctor at any phase of his/her career needs to study every day .I mean study like your life depends on it or some one else’s life depends on it.
    Inflict no pain on your patient. It happens a lot and infuriates me.A simple local analgesic or light sedation will prevent the horror cases I enterview
    Read Dr.Jerome Groupmans small book bOOK about second opinions. Read all his books.
    Being busy never ever replaces sensitivity to the patients needs. Today all I ever hear is how busy the Doctor is. A good Doctor never uses that line Make the diagnosis first then go to high teck to confirm your diagnosis.Never do it in reverse. If you do not know the diagnosis after 10-15 minutes get help

    So you need to have some knowledge of how sickness is manifest in EVERY organ in the body
    What a creative challenge .You are in the trenches tyrying to out wit the enemy which hides in every sick patient you see.You have to learn how to get the victem to lay out the blue prints of his illness. Then you strike or get a second opinion if you need it
    What a challenge to learn how to make the correct diagnosis faster and faster as you get smarter every day deciphering the obscure clues from the patient.Wow that is exciting. jOE Barry,MD,FACP,AOA

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