I took my mother to the rheumatologist yesterday. Aside from being the driver, I view these visits to her various physician's as field observations of our physician's in practice.
This physician, who is the kindest and most user-friendly doc I have encountered, was eloquent about the dosing of one of my mother's anti-arthritic medications.
My mother asked a question about dosing and kidney toxicity that she had heard about. I'm paraphrasing what he said.
"We do blood work every 3 months to monitor the toxicity issue. It's a complicated situation. It is the drug companies’ job to get us the medications. Often the drug companies will under-dose their labeling to get it through the FDA. It is my job as your doctor to take you to the most effective and safe therapeutic limit. That is why I see you regularly and monitor your blood. "
Clearly, the value of MedEd comes from this slice of life event. A practicing physician realizing that his responsibility is to reach for the maximum effective treatment plan. Our MedEd role is to help him understand his options through the the activities we provide.
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