Jarrod Shapiro, DPM, FACFAS, FACPM, FFPM, RCPS Glasg
Being a physician is a busy endeavor, and taking call adds both busyness and complexity to a physician’s calendar. This is doubly true when the physician is a resident, with all of the extra educational responsibilities on top of clinic, surgery, and call. As a result, being efficient is a necessity when on call. Here’s a little pearl that has helped me during call: use a call bag … read more
Jarrod Shapiro, DPM, FACFAS, FACPM, FFPM, RCPS Glasg
At the risk of scaring all of our readers away, I’d like to talk a bit about charting and documentation today. I know what you’re thinking: “Could there be a more boring topic?” Maybe not, but the importance of documentation is inversely proportional to how boring it is. First, remember that the chart note is your medicolegal shield. The note has to be of excellent quality, and the better the note, the better the shield. If you were a knight of the round table, would you have wanted your shield to be weak so your opponent could skewer you with their sword? Of course not … read more
Jarrod Shapiro, DPM, FACFAS, FACPM
Taking care of patients with lower extremity complaints is quite challenging and already very complex. We need to have a thorough knowledge of many medical, scientific, and psychological topics. Podiatrists additionally perform many different types of technical procedures. All of this is done on our very complicated patients with their myriad issues … However, the one issue that makes the practice of podiatry even more complex is managed care. For some in the United States, the challenges of managed patient insurance might not be too prominent, but in my neck of the medical woods in California, managed care is a major component of private practice … read more
Jarrod Shapiro, DPM, FACFAS, FACPM
“Dr X, my foot really hurts.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” says Dr. X. “On a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the worst possible pain, how would you rate your pain?”
“It’s an 11. Yes, definitely an 11.”
I’m not sure how many times in my practice I’ve experienced something like the above conversation. Pain is the most common reason patients see physicians, yet it is a subjective complaint with many complexities. We call pain the 5th vital sign, and we are instructed to assess the severity of pain, but I often find this method to be challenging due to its subjectivity … read more
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Recently, during an academic discussion, the topic of Charcot Marie Tooth disease came up. It’s a very important disease to a podiatrist, so it makes sense that we were discussing its effect on a patient. During this discussion, my mind started wandering a bit (yes, I’ll admit it), and I thought, “I know who Charcot was, but who were Marie and Tooth?” After growing up in the medical world, I knew the prevalence of eponyms (in fact, it’s one of my favorite topics to read about), so I knew that Marie and Tooth were people. But who were they? It’s easy to forget that there were actual people behind these eponyms, people with lives, loves, adventures, passions and failures. So, let’s take a digression away from things clinical and look into a window on the past … read more