Aristus
Aristus's JournalI received an odd, and rather moving, compliment from my Medical Assistant yesterday.
We were doing an after-action review at the end of a very long, difficult day. We were commiserating over the habits of a certain kind of patient who tells the MA what they're here for (a single, simple problem), but, once the provider is in the exam room, pulls out a list of fifteen items, all of which they want evaluated in a single clinic visit.
My MA told me how "the patient will tell me one thing, and then you get into the room, and they see that soft, beautiful, caring face, and they add all kinds of things onto the visit!"
I pulled a bit of a face and muttered "...soft?...beautiful?..." and the rest of the team laughed. But I wasn't laughing inside. It was a very sweet thing to say. Just the kind of thing to lighten up what had been a very hard day.
Friday Night Whiskey Buzz. Ask me anything.
Tonight, a Derby. Blended whiskey, sweet vermouth, Cointreau, and lime juice. Yummy! Nice and citrusy.
Looking forward to a relaxing weekend.
I love you all…
I called the Mexican Embassy in Washington D.C. to pass my thanks on to President Scheinbaum and the Mexican people
for her and their kindness, thoughtfulness, and compassion in sending rescue workers into Texas. In the very face of Texan racism, bigotry, and hard-heartedness. The people of Mexico have my admiration.
Request from a medical provider to any prospective patients out there scheduling a clinic appointment:
If you are going to the clinic for something you're embarrassed to tell the scheduler about (STD exposure, erectile dysfunction, etc), it's okay to offer a false reason for the appointment. Just please be sure you tell the provider when he or she walks into the exam room.
There have actually been several times in my career when, if a patient's reason for visit said 'Cough', or something on the schedule, the patient would let me get all the way through the history of present illness, examination, diagnosis, and treatment plan before saying "Actually, what I'm really here for is....."
At that point, the visit is over and I have to move on to the next patient. The thing you came in for will have to wait for another appointment. Why did you let me get all the way through the clinic visit before telling me what you were really here for? Did you forget that you gave a fake reason?
Seriously; time management in clinical medicine is already a minefield. Please just be straightforward with me.
And if I was late getting in to see you, and you end the visit with "Oh, just one more thing!...", please be aware that I was late for your appointment because every patient ahead of you had "just one more thing."
Mid-Terms: We need a 50-state strategy that warns of Medicaid cuts in the name of each state's program.
I’ve reading that the hicks and the hillbillies, the rubes and the rednecks didn’t understand that the BBB’s Medicaid cuts would affect them because the various states have program names that don’t include the name, Medicaid.
Washington State’s Medicaid program is called Apple Health, but I thought everyone knew that it is the Medicaid program.
The DCCC needs to shout it from the rooftops throughout the 2026 Campaign season that the cuts are coming, and that it will be the Republicans’ fault. Use the names of each individual state program. Make the message stick.
Something a little different tonight: Lillet and soda.
Lillet (a sweet wine/aperitif/mixer) and club soda. Yummy!
Hope everyone is having a great weekend.
There's a nice guy in my neighborhood who waves and says 'hi' to me when he sees me, and I think he's a Trumpster.
He's a broad-shouldered, middle-aged white guy with a graying beard. So am I.
I think he's the groundkeeper at the Christian high school two blocks away from my house. During the summers and on weekends, I walk the track out behind the school to get a measured walk in (three and a half miles is my usual). I've been walking the track there for nearly twenty years. Over the last year, I've run in to the guy a couple of times. He'll be working, and I'll be doing my laps. Sometimes, when I come around to where he's working, he'll say 'hi' and ask me how many laps I've got left. He always smiles and is very pleasant.
He was just leaving the school in his huge black pickup truck today when he spotted me on my way to the track. He stuck his arm out of his window, waved at me, and asked "At it again?" "Yep", I replied, waved, and walked on.
He sure looks like a stereotypical Trumpster (so do I, for that matter), and as an employee of a Christian evangelical private school, if he's not a Trumpster, I will be very much surprised.
I wonder how friendly he would be with me if he knew how much I despised Trump, the evangelical church, and hell, big black pickup trucks.
Friday Night Vodka Buzz. Ask me anything.
I think I just invented a new cocktail! Vodka, tonic water, limoncello, and a splash of Apero. Yummy! I call it a Cascade Sunset. Give it a try.
I love you all…
"Ah ain't gots me no edumacashun, but Ah gots me common sense!"
The people who voted for Donald Trump, who campaigned on cutting Medicaid, and who are complaining because he’s actually doing it.
Enjoying a Jade tonight.
Rum, créme de menthe, Cointreau, and simple syrup. Yummy! The green tint makes it look like a bottle of Hi-Karate aftershave. Anyone remember that?
Hope everyone is having a good weekend.
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Puyallup, Washington
Member since: 2001
Number of posts: 70,398