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 [...]

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 [...]

By the time I hit the 7th grade, I was pretty much listening to the small brown radio in my room every night. So when Bob Dylan's song, "The Times They Are A'Changin'' made the top 40, I was all about it. Of course, I had no idea what it all meant, but I knew it was a song I liked and so did lots of others. Bob Dylan wasn't known for his great voice but rather for his folk songs with a message and that song still has a message that is heard whenever we think the times need changing. When it comes to healthcare, it's clearly true that the times are changing and they have needed to change for quite a while. It's hard to find a doctor who's been around a while who isn't frustrated with the way we are treating patients. I can't think of any other professions where we schedule appointments 3 months down the road and then when they show up we make them wait again in the reception area! (It used to be called the waiting room until someone thought it needed a more politically correct name) We see patients but pay more [...]

I don't have many memories of being a 7 year old but one or two really stand out. Lincoln School was my elementary school and Mrs. Hansen was my teacher in the second grade where I used to sit near the back of the class (the place for the R's). I do remember thinking to myself, "how do the other kids see the stuff Mrs. Hansen is writing on the blackboard? Apparently, she picked up on my inability to see that far because not long after that, my mom and I were at the Ophthalmologist's office and I was told I would be getting glasses. Not really knowing what glasses would do for me, I don't remember being excited about it. Until the day came when we returned to the doctor's office for the delivery of the goods. That doc was shrewd, he took me over to the window of his office and asked me to look out there and tell him what I saw. His office was on the top floor of the Wing Building whose 4 stories made it one of the tallest building in our town! (Still is, I'm pretty sure). He stood behind me and then placed [...]

I have 3 friends from my college days and we have all remained close friends since those days more than 40 years ago. I doubt that many people could make that statement. It is the exception and not the rule to have friends like that. The other days I was laughing with one of them about those days at California Polytechnic State University, better known as Cal Poly. None of us has been exactly "usual" in the way we have gone about our lives and that was even present way back then... I applied to Cal Poly in1970 and, unlike most colleges, I had to declare a major before I was accepted. I honestly had no idea what to major in, I was just happy to be going to college! After trying to "declare" 3 majors (they were all full), I was finally accepted as an Ag Business major. If I could have chosen 2 things that I knew absolutely nothing about, it would have been agriculture and business. The rule would have been something I was remotely familiar with (like biology), the exception was ag business. BUT, I was in the door! I started taking general education classes, still trying to figure [...]