Hooked on Primary Care with Ann Lindsay, MD
I was a philosophy major in college. I really embraced the concept of holism, which is the idea that parts of the whole are intimately interconnected, and they cannot exist independently of the whole or be understood without reference to the whole.
I graduated from college in the early 1970s. I was really compelled to pursue a profession that was relevant to social change, but I did not think that teaching philosophy would suffice. I was drawn to medicine and family practice, which is the holistic practice of medicine where you look at the whole picture contributing to someone’s health and wellbeing. I am now clinically retired, but I practiced medicine in primary care for about 36 years. I spent 28 of these years in one setting. I enjoyed getting to know people really well, learning what was important to them and framing my input into their health based on their values and beliefs. I treated five generations of one family. It really fit with the holism concept.
In family medicine, in particular, you learn a lot of skills and approaches to people. Unlike pediatrics and internal medicine, you have the opportunity to take care of a whole family. Also, you can do more for people in the primary care setting such as minor procedures and reduce their need to visit specialists for everything. I think that comes out of a sense of trust and openness because you really respect what the patients want and need.
Towards the end of my career, I worked at Stanford Coordinated Care, where we fully embraced teamwork. We had medical assistants who coordinated care, scribed the visits and engaged a lot of the follow up, care navigation and coaching as patients set their goals. They were the patients’ first point of contact in the primary care system, and I think that was an ideal setting. I had plenty of time to get to know the patients because the medical assistants were in the room scribing. They were able to step in as care coordinators because they learned about the patients and the care plan that was developed with the patients.
Primary care can be a challenging career, particularly in today’s work environment. I know people who are entering primary care on a direct clinical level now. They don’t find that the path is easy, but I think that if they work for change and in a setting where all members of the team are accountable to the patients and that there is a trust in the team level, that really improves things for everybody.
Ann Lindsay, MD
Clinical professor, Stanford University School of Medicine
President of the Board of Directors, Life Care Humboldt