This is the official blog for the Family Medicine Residency which is housed within the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of Utah. If you have questions, please email us at fmvitalsigns@hsc.utah.edu
By: China Cox As residents, we spend a good amount of time talking about our hospital ward experience at the small community hospital that serves as our primary residency home. The place has its quirks including the people, processes, semi paper charting, an urban patient population, etc (+/- ghosts). As much as it drives us … More Big Experiences Through Small Means
He stands, bent, outside the front of the house, the two steps up to the door being too far to lift himself leaning hard on the old stick, cloth padding the top as a cane or maybe a crutch. I step down to greet him, “Jambo,” (how are you) and to wish him “Salama,” (peace). … More What I Learned About American Family Medicine in Rural Tanzania
I love teaching. Preceptors (and teachers in general) might give different reasons for why they teach, but common themes are: Making a difference in a student’s life Deriving joy from watching a student “get it” “Paying it forward,” and emulate a great teacher/ mentor that they had Enjoying life-long learning and staying sharp; it is … More The Joy of Teaching Medical Students
I teach Physician Assistant (PA) students the art of the medical interview and this morning had just finished teaching the lecture entitled, “Delivering Bad News.” I walked the students through the S.P.I.K.E.S model, encouraging them to plan out the Setting, think about the patient Perception, get an Invitation from the patient to present information, impart … More “Bad News:” Any information which adversely and seriously affects an individual’s view of his or her future.
The calm before the storm. That is what I have decided to write about, and I suppose the audience best fit for this piece are the thousands of fourth-year medical students, anxiously awaiting rank and match day, and excited to finally be called “Doctor.” The process of becoming a physician is long, exhausting, and daunting. … More The Calm Before the Storm
Originally published in the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants on December 18, 2017. The news is unrelenting about the serious problem college campuses have with student drinking. At Penn State, a 19-year-old man died while at a fraternity drinking party. A 20-year-old at Florida State died at a fraternity pledge party, and … More Can the college drinking problem be solved?
Family Medicine Vital Signs 