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Time for July Psychiatry Consults
It’s getting close to the busiest time of the academic year in a teaching hospital–July. The residents have a steep learning curve during that month. Some hospitals have a sort of boot camp to get the upcoming first year internal medicine residents prepared for July. I’m looking at my retirement countdown timer and it’s showing…
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Transplantation Psychiatry
Transplantation psychiatry is a special setting for consultation-liaison psychiatrists. Mainly, they work in organ transplant centers. The democratization of health care over many years, along with the relative scarcity of transplantation psychiatrists, has led to many other professionals conducting the psychosocial assessments for evaluating organ transplant candidates. It’s a complicated field with many stakeholders. The…
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The Medical-Psychiatry Unit
I guess I’m incorrigible; there are now 4 eggs in the robins’ nest. Progress there reminded me of another kind of progress–in integrated health care. On that note, this is just a brief update on the Medical-Psychiatry Unit (MPU). I thought it would be a good time to do this since a hard-working Pennsylvania psychiatrist…
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Brief News Item
I received exciting news from Dr. Kolin Good, M.D., a colleague in Reading, Pennsylvania. There is a thriving Medical-Psychiatry Unit (MPU) at Reading Hospital. Dr. Good consulted with The University of Iowa several years ago on how to get it started, since we have a 15 bed MPU. They call it the Medical Complexity Unit…
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Organ Transplant Overview
Occasionally, despite my being in phased retirement, I get a reminder that my colleagues may need some advice about an issue for which I might be a useful source of institutional memory. One of them is the psychiatric consultation for assessment of candidates for organ transplant. I have a slide set and a YouTube video…
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Opinions on Cannabis for Neuropathic Pain
I just saw the Clinical Psychiatry News article “Evidence poor on medical marijuana for neuropathic pain,” by Andrew D. Bowen. It was published May 2019, Vol. 47, No. 5 and I couldn’t find it on line yet. I should also hasten to add that there are a couple of other important articles on management of…
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My Perspective on FOMO
I just saw a great post on Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) on Bob Lowry’s blog, Satisfying Retirement. The link is on my home page and it’s a great read, along with many of his other posts. FOMO for me is different because I’m not actually retired yet. Bob has been retired for a long…
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Excellence in Clinical Coaching Award: Humble Thanks
Today I want to thank everyone in my department for nominating me for the Excellence in Clinical Coaching Award . I accepted it during the Graduate Medical Education Leadership Symposium this afternoon. For some reason, I almost wrote “Excellence in Clinical Clowning Award ” above. I guess maybe one of the reasons is that I…
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Let’s Promote Living Well to 100
I get a big kick of this video every time I see it. It’s a YouTube about people who are 100 years old who are funny, wise, and talented. It’s included on the SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital YouTube channel. St. Mary’s Hospital is in Madison, Wisconsin. I worked as a psychiatrist there very briefly…
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Cardinal Hatchlings So Soon?
Big day on the psychiatry consult service. So, this is a short post today because I’m pooped. I logged 2.8 miles and 35 floors on the step counter and here’s a picture to prove it. The other bit of news is that the cardinal hatchlings are here—at least two of them anyway. One egg is…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 