Got this in the mail today, along with a never ending pile of junk from drug companies, recruiters and subscription services. What can I learn to do this time?
I could fly to San Antonio to learn suturing.
or
How about Sin City to learn laser aesthetics.
or
How about learning sclerotherapy while wandering around Disney
or
Hiking beautiful Colorado while I take in some echocardiography.
or
Maybe head to the Windy City to learn office ultrasound.
or
Advanced colonoscopy on the shores of North Carolina.
With fees starting at just $525, I could take over the world.
A procedure institute. How quaint. As the fancy brochure says
- You do most of the work while others get paid more than you. Stop sending your patients to specialists for many procedures you can do yourself.
National Procedure Institute is a joint venture of the American Academy of Family Physicians, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and the Texas Academy of Family Physicians.
Honestly, is this what cognitive medicine has become? Pimping yourself out at the Mouse House? Yes it is. Blame the Medicare National Bank
This is so true and sad. I have the desire to do primary care IM, but a procedural specialty is luring me away with more financial security.
ReplyDeleteScary. Nothing like doing procedures on actual patients after learning a technique from a weekend training session in Vail.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, a lot of surgery became mainstream in much the same way. Laparoscopy swept the country at a time when there were thousands of established general surgeons who didn't know a laparoscope from a stethoscope. They all learned it in seminars and Ethicon weekend conferences on the fly.....worked out ok...
Sad to say but cognitive medicine pays diddly. It is wrong that the guy that PREVENTS a foot amputation by successfully managing diabetes makes less than the guy that cuts it off!
ReplyDeleteLast year, a primary care / internal medicine doctor who used to regularly refer his infertility patients to me called excitedly to tell me about his new service that he provided - botox and facials and skin peels. He asked permission to put his brochures in my waiting room. This guy has already proven a shrewd marketer for his general medicine ( + weight loss + 'neutraceuticals' ) practice and the materials he wanted to leave were quite slick and impressive-looking. However, given the choice of sending my referrals to a trusted skilled dermatologist who almost never refers me patients or to this weekend-course PCP turned cosmetics specialist, I still choose to refer to the dermatologist. I chose not to display the primary care doctor's brochures and as of yet, I have not referred him a single patient for botox. He used to send me about 3-6 patients per year. Last year, after my refusal, he sent me none. Oh well. No surprise. Not a rant, just an amusing observation. =)
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