Posts about Primary Care
Imagine this: you’ve just finished seeing a full panel of patients, your inbox is overflowing, and you still have six notes to finish before you can even think about heading home. Sound familiar? Chances are you’ve daydreamed about a world where charting doesn’t steal your evenings or your sanity. Enter: AI note-writing assistants.
It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie: a person gets bitten by a tick and then, months later, develops a mysterious allergy to red meat. Short of Peter Parker’s fateful spider bite and the superpowers it conferred on him, how can an insect bite — which may go completely unnoticed at the time — cause such a change in a person’s health? And how can clinicians diagnose and manage this unusual condition in everyday practice?
If you work in primary care, chances are you’re talking about GLP-1 prescriptions for weight loss multiple times a day. Maybe you're explaining why Wegovy isn’t covered, managing labs and titration schedules, or helping a patient understand why they regained weight after stopping. It's a challenging landscape, and we’re all trying to keep up.
There was a time when prescribing continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) felt like an impossible ask unless your patient had type 1 diabetes or was on multiple daily insulin injections. Between the mountains of prior authorization paperwork and rigid insurance requirements, most of our patients with type 2 diabetes didn’t qualify — even if they were desperate for better data or a clearer picture of their blood sugar trends.
On November 10, 2025, the FDA announced a request to change to the labeling for menopausal hormone therapy (MHT). This was big news, and it has major ramifications for our patients.
On November 10, 2025 the FDA announced a change to the labeling for menopausal hormone therapy (MHT). This was big news, and it has major ramifications for our patients.
We first started talking about the COVID-19 vaccine five years ago. And somehow, here we are—still talking about it. Still answering patient questions, still sorting through the latest data, and still trying to find the right words when the topic comes up in the exam room.
The population is aging fast, and clinicians are feeling the impact. By 2030, 1 in 5 Americans will be over 65, and older adults already represent the highest healthcare utilization of any age group. Yet fewer than 45% of medical schools have a required geriatrics rotation, leaving most of us to piece together our knowledge on the fly.
“It all started a few days after I got back from my trip.”
When public figures make bold statements about medication risks in pregnancy, especially involving autism, it can trigger real alarm among patients. Pregnancy is a unique and vulnerable time in a person’s life, filled with concern about keeping the baby safe. And when it comes to interpreting scientific data, whether about medications or any other exposures, the nuances often get lost in lay media. It can be hard to know what to believe.
GLP-1 receptor agonists like semaglutide and tirzepatide are changing the way we approach obesity. Some have even described them as a “medicinal version of bariatric surgery.” While these medications don’t interfere with nutrient absorption the way surgery does, they do dramatically reduce appetite. That means our patients need to be much more intentional about the foods they choose.
Few chief complaints in pediatrics are as common—or deceptively simple—as fever in children. Especially when that fever shows up in toddlers without a clear source.
