October 6, 2001
FP's anecdotes take center stage in "Tips and Trips"
BY TONI LAPP
If participants attending the "Clinical Tips and Trips" presentation were expecting a conventional discussion by Walter Larimore, M.D., they quickly learned otherwise when they entered the ballroom on Thursday.
Country doc and down-home folks: Walter Larimore, M.D.; Kinnik Marshall; and Ryan GirardInstead of a lecture, attendees were treated to vignettes from Larimore's career, told in the homespun style that readers of his long-running "Diary From a Week in Practice" column are familiar with.
Atlanta actors Ryan Girard and Kinnik Marshall played supporting roles in the mini-drama about Larimore's career, which spans more than 20 years of private practice. Larimore spent nine years authoring the "Diary" column that ran in American Family Physician until August. He is now vice president of medical affairs at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Some of Larimore's stories were sobering: a scene depicting his handling of a miscarriage, another vignette involving a medical error that contributed to an elderly patient's death. For the latter scene, Larimore discussed his "philosophy of apology."
"Our profession is difficult enough without having to wear the yoke of perfection," he told the audience.
But for the most part, the presentation was lighthearted. Larimore encouraged family physicians with tales from his tenure as a country doctor in North Carolina. No doubt, the presentation shared excerpts from Larimore's book, Bryson City Tales: Life, Faith and Medicine in a Smoky Mountain Town, due to be published in April 2002.
One moment, he re-enacted his first delivery -- a breech, no less -- but of a cow. The next moment, he recounted his medical counseling of a 98-year-old man about to marry a 23-year-old bride.
If attendees were expecting tips for home remedies similar to items found in the "Diary" column, they did not come away empty-handed: one of the tales portrayed Larimore's handling of a patient with anal fissures and included a plug for an alternative use for nitroglycerin. The recipe for the so-called "anal angina" treatment was conveniently projected on a screen behind the performers.
And for what may be an Assembly first, participants were led in a sing-along at the end of the presentation, which even Larimore warned would be "corny."
"America and Americans are blessed by what you do every day," he told the crowd before leading a slightly altered rendition of "Tell Me Why," personalizing the lyrics for family doctors.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2001 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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