I Work for VA

I've received a lot of weird looks when I've uttered that sentence the past month or so. Colleagues look at me as if I've lost my mind. I've had a few ask me,"Is that a good thing?" Several people outright asked me if I was nuts when I informed them that I was transitioning to VA a few months ago.

I was inundated with horror stories about being treated poorly and delivering substandard care. I was told that no doctor works for VA unless you can't get a job anywhere else. In short, I was told that I was committing career suicide.

Let's be clear. There surely have been some unfortunate things that have happened at VA. No one is trying to hide from the hard work that must be done to give Veterans the care they deserve. That wasn't a mystery when I decided to work for VA, and it isn't a mystery now.

Now, allow me to be equally clear when I say that I have never been more proud to walk into work every day than I am now. Every day, my team and I get the opportunity to care for heroes. We hear stories from the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of Afghanistan. We give back to those that have given so much.

I say my team and I for a reason. Delivering health care at VA is unlike anywhere else. While many health systems are still exploring the concept of team based care, the VA has already embraced it. As the physician, I am the leader of the team, not the entire team.

Instead of asking for my patient to get a colonoscopy and praying that it actually happens, my nurse follows that consult all the through to the end, making sure the procedure gets done. When my patient's blood pressure  is out of control, a telehealth nurse will call that patient regularly and track their blood pressure from home. Abnormalities are communicated back to me, and we can make adjustments, while the patient never has to set foot in the clinic.

So, I want to set the record straight. There is good work being done at VA. There is constant improvement happening. Our leader, Secretary McDonald, has brought with him a culture of service, and as one of the many new faces around VA during the past year, we are daily going about the task of bring world class health care to our Veterans. If you are a veteran, I invite you to stop by your local VA clinic to learn about how we can help you. If you are a health care provider, then join us. We don't just care for patients, we care for heroes

Reach Out and Touch Someone

My wife and I differ in our communication styles. Pretty common for a married couple, but I’ve been struck by a thought recently that perhaps my personal communication flaws may be more a generational problem. At the risk of further admitting that my wife is right about a lot of things (love you honey!), I’m willing to put one of my flaws out there. My communication style is lazy. 

What do I mean by this? Well, I grew up with instant messaging, text messaging, and email. It’s a really easy way to communicate and can be very convenient. It’s also very easy for someone to hide behind it. Want to break some bad news or say something that might make people uncomfortable? Send them a text. Don’t have to watch or hear their reaction and the message has been delivered. Want to say you “followed up” on something without really caring whether it happens or not? Send a busy person a two line email that will get buried in their inbox. Mission accomplished! I’ve checked a box off my to-do list without really accomplishing anything.

The more years that go by and the longer I work a real job, I’m much more inclined to “reach out and touch somebody” if there’s something I need to communicate. No, I don’t mean physically lay hands on people, but I do mean either talk in person or call. I’ve found that I can not only confirm that my message has been delivered much better, but whatever task needs to be done actually happens at a much higher frequency when there is a real voice on the other end of the line.

Case in point, I needed my student loan servicer to fill out a form for me. They have a lovely chat function on their website where you can get “instant help.” I hopped on and chatted with customer service rep, who assured me this could be done without an issue. I faxed in my form and waited…and waited. Nothing happened. I got on again. They said they never received the form and to fax it again. I did…with no response.

This happened one more time before I finally called in. After explaining that I was not a happy camper, I was transferred to a “resolution specialist” who physically sat by the fax machine, received my form, signed it, and sent it back. The whole process took twenty minutes. I had been waiting for two weeks.

I know my wife is smiling at this point while reading this. She has been saying for years that this culture of sending email for everything and actually talking to no one slowed everyone down. Well honey, here are those words that you love to hear…you were right. As a culture, we tend to rely too much on technology assisted multi-tasking. We check boxes but don’t really accomplish anything. You want to get something substantive accomplished. Talk to someone. You might even enjoy it.

The Potty, Part 1

We are starting to introduce the concept of the potty in our household. We're in no rush fortunately. By virtue of little man's birth date, he will be nearly 4 when he enters 3K, giving us a lot of extra time. We've decided to take it slow because he's just beginning to show interest.

I should clarify what I mean when I say "show interest." Currently, "showing interest" entails having all of your stuffed animal friends sit on the toddler potty, flushing, and all dancing together to the music. This experienced is capped off with an exclamation of "Yay! You went to the potty!" 

We'll take what we can get. Little man notoriously starts slow with new activities and then quickly become a daredevil once he gets the hang of it. I did catch him trying to take his diaper off the other day, so maybe that's a good sign. Then again, he's also picked up watercolor painting recently and had his eye on a section of wall in the bathroom...