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Wonca 2004
Family physicians, said Joseph Scherger, M.D., M.P.H., are reinventing the practice of family medicine. They're moving from the acute care model of the 20th century into a new, patient-centered model that will rely heavily on technology and teamwork while reinvigorating the high-touch, caring family medicine that has always been the number one core value of family physicians.
Scherger, clinical professor of family medicine at the University of California, San Diego, spoke as part of a plenary panel, "Young Physicians and Future Practice." He described the Future of Family Medicine project cosponsored by North American groups including AAFP.
As representatives of the future of family medicine in the United States, three newly minted family physicians joined Scherger on the panel.
"I'm truly a solo doc," said Saria Carter Saccocio, M.D., of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "My mother is my receptionist and office manager, and I'm the nurse and the doctor. I answer all calls myself, and my mother and I take turns cleaning the office toilet."
But all is not low-tech in Saccocio's office, which has an electronic health record system. Saccocio said the future of medical practice is the EHR that will allow physicians to access complete medical records via secure Internet connections.
Erika Bliss, M.D. -- like Saccocio and the third young physician on the panel, Michael Coffey, M.D. -- completed residency training less than two years ago. Bliss works at a community clinic in Seattle. "Many of our patients are uninsured or underinsured, and our community clinic plays an important role in providing health care to this population," she said. "As a family physician, I am committing to the culture of inquiry. I believe that we can all be researchers in our own right." She said she works with a network of community clinics to develop databases and clinical research.
Coffey told the Wonca 2004 audience that he joined the Boston practice of an elderly "GP surgeon who is so well-known and well-regarded that he has a square in town named after him." Brandishing a PDA, Coffey said that his goal is to practice "high-touch, high-tech, high-teach" family medicine. Hitting a nostalgic note, he said, "Back in the 1970s, there was a television show about the ideal family doctor: Marcus Welby, M.D. Well, my goal is to be Marcus Welby with a Palm Pilot."
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Copyright © 2004 by American Academy of Family Physicians.