About Dr David Redd

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So far Dr David Redd has created 46 blog entries.

August 2019

What You Need to Know About Your Surgical Procedure Part 1

By |2023-11-21T06:52:49-04:00August 7th, 2019|

If you are considering having a surgical procedure in a doctor's office or minor surgery center or are scheduled to have a procedure in the near future, there are a few things to consider before a scalpel ever touches your skin. It makes sense when you consider that NO ONE would consent to any surgical procedure if the surgeon said, "I am going to put in some pain medicine before we get started but it will relieve half the pain." No, local anesthesia must make the area you are operating on COMPLETELY numb so zero pain is felt during the procedure. That's surgical common sense rule #1. But I have had patients tell me that the injection of the lidocaine (the most common local anesthesia) was the worse thing about the whole minor surgical procedure. So here's rule #2: The person who administers the local anesthesia must be experienced with lidocaine infiltration and must have felt the sting of inappropriate administration of lidocaine themselves. Local anesthesia infiltration requires knowledge of a few simple rules about needles, speed of injection, and neutralizing the lidocaine but empathy may be the most important rule to practice. And finally, common sense surgery rule #3: [...]

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Healthcare is Still Tedious and Boring in it’s Ability to Change

By |2023-11-21T06:54:03-04:00August 7th, 2019|

I was thinking the other day that I have worked as a surgeon for over 30 years, I have work in the healthcare industry for over 35 years and I am amazed at the stubbornness of the status quo in the medical world. Have we made much progress with technology? Absolutely. But has that changed much in the world of patient-centeredness? Judging from the comments I hear in my clinic, I would say "definitely not!" What other industries can "claim" that? Who would want to? We have managed to digitalize medical records (although still perfecting that one!) and Xrays. We have one-day labs and robotic operations but we still can't set up appointments and see people in a timely manner. We still can't solve the issue of over-the-top ER bills and charges. We still overemphasize hospital care and underemphasize outpatient care. We gripe and moan about things that should have been solved long ago because they involve the patient's time and money. What does it take to solve these problems? I think it takes clinicians (doctors, PA's, NP's) who start with questions like these: How can we get patients in on time and out on time and still give [...]

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May 2019

Everybody’s Got a Different Stories, But…

By |2023-11-21T06:54:39-04:00May 22nd, 2019|

One thing I can safely say when I talk to my patients about their past experiences with healthcare providers, there's always a story. Typically it's not a happy story of time well spent but usually more like these: * "After I checked in at the ER, I spent 4 hours waiting for them to call me back" * "I had 4 cysts on my head and they made me come back for each one of them" * "My appointment was at 1 pm, the doctor saw me at 3:30 and no explanation was given" * "They sewed up my hand at the hospital, the bill was over $2,500" Virtually every patient has a personal story or a relative's story but most of them are problems, frustrations, issues and not good experiences. How has healthcare gotten away with this stuff? But it's been going on a long time. I can still remember sitting at the dinner table (I was probably about 9 or 10) and hearing my dad telling my mom about his "2-hour wait in the clinic". That was almost 60 years ago! For a while, the problem was partially solved with things like Retail Clinics and Urgent Care [...]

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ER or QuikSurg?

By |2023-11-21T06:55:13-04:00May 22nd, 2019|

Suppose you are using the hedge clippers and you cut your arm.  It's a very good bet that you will need stitches so you contemplate your next move. You could find the nearest hospital ER or you could call QuikSurg. It's also a good bet that your experiences will be as follows: *The ER: You will not be stitched up by a surgeon or a doctor of any kind.                You will not be the first person called to be treated from the waiting room.                You will be uncomfortable in that waiting room chair.                You will have to find a place to remove the stitches.                You will *QuikSurg: You will be assessed and treated, start to finish, by a surgeon with 30+ years of experience.                    You will finish the paperwork in 5 minutes and it is unlikely you will ever even sit in the waiting room.                    You will come back for the surgeon to [...]

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The Emergency Department: A Great Place for Real Emergencies

By |2023-11-21T06:55:57-04:00May 22nd, 2019|

I think just about 100% of patients who come to QuikCare/QuikSurg have an "ER story". As in, "I cut myself and figured I needed stitches" or "I was miserable after a day of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. I couldn't get anything to stay down". In both those situations, you are typically heading for the ER for help but the story that's often told after the visit is one of frustration at the time spent waiting or the bill received for the services received. It's a tale that's told while receiving care (sewing up the cut or receiving a bag of IV fluid with some nausea medication) at our clinic, a clinic that's designed to take care of those very situations without the wasted time or big bills. Just last week we saw a man who cut his finger on a handsaw and was in and out of here in 25 minutes with his bill paid before he left ($250) and the next day we treated a dehydrated man who had spent the day previously "going at both ends" with 1,000 cc of fluid, some vitamins, and a med to relieve the nausea. He was a "new man" heading out [...]

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Go Ahead, Try This at Home!

By |2023-11-21T06:57:39-04:00May 22nd, 2019|

I have been doing minor surgical procedures all my 31 years of being a surgeon but the last 4 years that's ALL I've done here at QuikSurg. As you could imagine, I have heard some amazing stories of things like, "I decided to just wash that cut off and slap some super glue on it... and it worked" or " that little thing was bothering me so I grabbed it and just jerked it off my arm". The technical name for doing things like that is DYI and sometimes they work, you are successful, the thing you plucked off or the cut you closed with super glue didn't have a problem. I decided it would be best if you are bound and determined to "try this at home" that I, at least, could give a few pointers along the way. I am not a fan of superglue for cuts for 3 main reasons. You would not want to glue a wound closed that had bacteria in it so any wound requires a thorough cleaning/rinsing before repair. Superglue is not a medical glue and can cause a reactive dermatitis in some patients. And lastly, glue is not the best thing [...]

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January 2019

The Human Factor

By |2023-11-21T06:58:19-04:00January 31st, 2019|

As a surgeon who has recently moved from the operating room to the procedure room, I have tried to read as much as possible on the future of medicine. I am happy to report that the future has some bright spots. While we were waiting for the politicians to make decisions, medical-type people have stepped up and made patients the number one consideration! This headline says it best, "Improving patient satisfaction will be key for 2019". In other words, putting the patient first and foremost has emerged as important... again. But in the midst of all the technology and artificial intelligence (AI) which is incredible, we will need to constantly remind ourselves of the human factor. You might recall the scene in "Sully" where Tom Hanks (Captain Sullenberger) and his co-pilot are taken before the review board after the emergency water landing on the Hudson River. They were shown computer simulations of the pilot's going through the same scenario of being hit by birds and losing both engines and making it back safely to either La Guardia or Teterboro Airports. In other words, the landing on the Hudson was unnecessary. Sully tells them "In these simulations, you've taken all the humanity [...]

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July 2018

The Feeling of Freedom

By |2023-11-21T06:59:55-04:00July 7th, 2018|

Note: I normally write these blogs to point you the way to QuikSurg, my unique minor surgery clinic in Chattanooga, Tennessee but today I write this one for the sheer joy of a great story. Sure, there is a connection, but it seems obvious so I will just leave you with the story... With the pardon of Alice Johnson by President Trump last week, I have been reminded once again of the incredible feelings that Ms. Johnson must have felt (and is still feeling) when she stepped out of the prison gate in Alabama and breathed "free" air. Her words: "When I saw my family and I got outside that prison van, I felt like I was flying and not running!" She was incarcerated for first-time drug charges and money laundering and received a life sentence. Having served 21 years of her sentence, a celebrity (Kim Kardashian West) heard of her story and made a visit to the White House to meet with President Trump. After their conversation, Trump felt that she had paid her debt and granted Alice Johnson clemency. 21 years is a long time to remain hopeful, I think I would have trouble after 21 days. Surely you remember [...]

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Beating The System

By |2023-11-21T07:00:37-04:00July 7th, 2018|

I can still remember how I felt when I learned about the system that my college used to register for classes. It was entirely fair and equitable to all students. I didn't disagree with it but it was never going to work for me. Allow me to explain... This was the era of paper and pencils, many years before your phone was a computer. So "online registration" wasn't even close to being possible and that meant standing in long, hot lines in alphabetical arrangement ( A's through D's at 10 AM, E's through H's at 10:45 AM, etc for Fall Quarter, then another order for Winter Quarter...) to get into the main gym where a 100+ desks were set up with computer cards for each class that quarter. (computers were around, it's just that they were all as big as a refrigerator) You got into the class by pulling a card for the desired class. Because of the "fair and equitable" alphabetical system, you were going to get the classes you wanted for that one quarter and for the next quarter you might get half the classes you wanted and for one quarter you might as well sit it out. By the time [...]

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Don’t Wait

By |2024-03-04T17:37:05-04:00July 7th, 2018|

This is an infected sebaceous cyst. There is infection present and that means (at least in this case) that the infected cyst now has an abscess associated with it. Which means a pus pocket will form around the cyst. Bottom line...  this cyst will need much more attention than an uninfected cyst! So the best thing you can do is have the cyst removed before it becomes an abscess + cyst. Here are a few tips that may prevent problems if you have a cyst: * Cysts are common on the back where it's easy to ignore them, especially if they are not causing immediate problems. You are better off not ignoring them! * Although it's tempting, it's not the best practice to try and "squeeze out the stuff" from a cyst. Cysts have a thin wall around all that goo and just getting out the goo does not solve the problem and in fact, can lead to causing the pus pocket. * It's also tempting to go to a "doc-in-the-box" and have it treated but remember, it's not OK to just remove the cyst's contents and leave the wall and it's also not OK to just be put on antibiotics without a plan to [...]

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