Celebrating Primary Care RAP’s

If there’s one piece that really changed my life, it’s the conversation In Shock with Dr. Rana Awdish from 2018. She describes the impact we can have simply by supporting our patients and showing we care, even if we can’t “fix” our patients’ problems - especially if we can’t fix them.

July 2022’s conversation between Neda and Dr. Sapna Kuehl and Dr. Arghavan Salles on Fertility in Physicians is a piece that I am extremely proud of in terms of combining medicine, humanity, and the power of storytelling.

The segment that stands out to me is Becoming Doctors: 25 Years Later hosted by Paul Simmons. I had goosebumps on my arms and tears in my eyes. After two years of burnout, this was just the perspective I needed on WHY I continue to practice medicine, even in the toughest days.

Keeping Up with the Literature featuring Paul Simmons and Alan Ehrlich was very instrumental in helping me to create a strategy to filter the thousands of articles that I was confronted with constantly. I always thought I needed to read a journal from start to finish, which in all actuality is not practical. This strategy helped me to truly keep up with the literature.

Wow, that's a hard one. So many to choose from... I think my favorite series that I often refer to is Things I Do But Should I?. When I'm doing some clinical teaching or seeing patients, I definitely pull from that series to check myself. There was one from June 2021 that reviewed 10 things we do but probably shouldn't based on a Hospital Medicine article. Classic!

I’m torn between Mailbag, What’s That Lab, and our addiction segments. I really enjoyed the Harm Reduction conversation we did and the tobacco/alcohol segments. So many good things to choose from!!

My first three practice changers from PC RAP that I vividly remember are: 1) Abscesses with lack of overlying cellulitis don't need antibiotics, just drainage! 2) Uncomplicated diverticulitis often doesn't need antibiotics or CT scan and 3) I constantly reference the target hormone levels for gender affirming care that Steve mentioned from April 2020.

The pieces featuring dermatologist Dr. Jenna Lester (Skin of Color, Hair Loss and Scalp Dermatoses, Acne, Topical Steroids, Hair Nuances in Patients of African Descent) have been so helpful!

The segment that comes to mind again and again is the super practical one on prescribing diabetic supplies: May 2019, Diabetic Supplies: How Do I Order That? Just an amazing, practical, down-to-earth piece that is what front-line clinicians need.

The segment that I reference is from February 2019 about Personality Disorders. To me, personality disorders seem to be the great forgotten psychiatric disorder because clinicians don't have tools in the forms of medicine to address them. Shawn perfectly unpacks personality disorders for the analytical physician and reframes it as a pathology.

One PC RAP piece that is really great comes from April 2020 about Transgender Care. This piece takes some of the fear out of a sometimes-intimidating topic and patient population. For someone new to thinking clinically about transgender care this is an excellent starting point!

I keep re-listening to the January 2020 chapter on Breast Cancer Screening: When to Begin?. With such differing guidance from societies and providers, Dr. Chetlen's extrapolation of the data, technological advance updates, and patient experience clarity empower me to feel comfortable in my screening recommendations.