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What do trauma surgery and tech startups have in common?
These are my slides from Surgical Grand Rounds at UT Austin Dell School of Medicine, delivered on April 13, 2023. Objectives for the surgeons and trainees in the audience are to 1) Get you interested in technology product development, 2) Review the basics of how startups work in the software industry, and 3) Share skills…
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How I bootstrapped The Physician Company from idea to launch
I am equal parts excited and nervous to introduce my new company to the world. It’s been 6+ months from idea to launch, and now the time has come! It’s like sending your kid to school for the first time. Are they ready? Have I done enough to prepare them? Will other people actually like…
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What I’ve learned in 5 years working on medical speech technology
I remember, as a resident, going slightly hoarse one day while dictating clinic notes. I would dial a transcription service, key in a dictation code, work type, and medical record number. Dictate a recording. A person would type it up and send it back 48 hours later. I had such a long list of notes…
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How to liberate doctors from EMRs
We talk a lot in critical care medicine about liberating patients from ventilators. Vents are getting a lot of deserved attention for saving lives in the COVID-19 era. But the machine has downsides that get worse the longer the patient needs it. Because we’re obsessed with taking great care of our patients, we in ICU…
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Physicians sacrifice a lot. Technology shouldn’t ask for more.
I had a great case the other night. Around midnight on a Friday, the hospitalist physician called me to evaluate an incarcerated femoral hernia. I thought this elderly and medically ill patient would likely die no matter what I did. I spent a grim half-hour at bedside explaining the dilemma to the patient and her…
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A lesson for young doctors
I am 5 years out of fellowship (where does the time go!) and while caring for patients, I have been beat up and surprised enough times that I feel entitled to offer some unsolicited advice to my younger colleagues. Please consider it, and adopt it if it works for you. Sometimes, to help your patients…
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The culture clash for doctors in tech
The technologies that have transformed our work and personal lives in the past 20 years have not yet transformed healthcare. Doctors and the culture of medicine play a part in this. Because our culture is so different from the corporate culture of the technology world, it’s hard to figure out how to work together to…
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Why I practice medicine
It’s Mother’s Day and I’m in the ICU as I write this. I want to share some thoughts on why I choose to be here. I have plenty to do outside the hospital, with a full time job at Suki and 3 great kids. So why do I continue to take evening and weekend calls?…
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Inside the hospital in 2020
I spent about two dozen nights in the hospital this year — fewer than usual, because I took some time off to recover after spending three of those nights admitted as a patient. It wasn’t Covid, thankfully. In March I underwent an emergency operation for ovarian torsion (night 1), and in October I gave birth to a…
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How I approach hard things
There are 2 kinds of people in the world: those who tackle super hard things because they seem like the only things worth doing, and those who don’t find this interesting, or exciting, or worthwhile. I don’t know which is the right life choice. As someone who splits time between technology product management, practicing emergency…