General Medicine and Primary Care

Female sexual dysfunction (FSD) occurs in about 20 - 60% of patients. FSD is common problem but how comfortable are clinicians in disussing this with their patients? Host Dr. Prathima Setty welcomes Dr. Draion "Dr. Drai" Burch, obstetrician-gynecologist and teaching faculty member at Magee-Womens Hospital of The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Drai reviews the symptoms and causes of FSD and how he counsels patients on FSD. Dr. Drai is also Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

What does transgender mean? What are common health issues found in transgender patients? Host Dr. Prathima Setty welcomes Dr. Draion M. Burch, also known as "Dr Drai". Dr. Drai will address these questions, as well as, information on screening, hormone therapy, and resources available for clinicians, specifically on how to make their offices transgender-friendly. Dr. Burch is a practicing physician and teaching faculty member at Magee-Womens Hospital of The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Drai is the Founder and Chief Medical Advisor of DrDrai.com, where he discusses actionable ideas and real-world strategies to help women take control of their health.

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. Deane Marchbein, President of the American Board of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). Dr. Marchbein joined MSF in 2006 to work as an anesthesiologist in MSF's surgical program in Ivory Coast. She has worked with MSF in Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Libya, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Syria, and as a medical doctor in Libya and Lebanon.

It is known from prior studies that healthcare professionals who wait for the subjects of sex and intimacy to be brought forth by their patients will typically not cover these important health topics at all. Nowhere is this more prominent than in elderly patient populations, particularly in women, where even the mere idea of continuing sexuality is so often ignored. Dr. Michael Krychman, Executive Director of the Southern California Center for Sexual Health and Survivorship in Newport Beach, CA, joins host Dr. Matt Birnholz to discuss counseling strategies on sexual health that physicians must incorporate into their practices for optimal care of elder women.

Continuous professional development in medicine is a lifelong endeavor that extends well beyond medical school. As our knowledge of system improvement increases, we begin to see corresponding changes in the learning environment. This creates new reasons for healthcare professionals to engage in quality improvement (QI) education. Joining host Alicia Sutton to discuss this evolution is Dr. Jack Kues, Associate Dean for Continuous Professional Development at the University of Cincinnati.

Dr. Brian McDonough welcomes Charles Cleary, President and CEO of Leadership Outcomes, Inc, a healthcare management consulting firm. Mr. Cleary's specialty is in helping healthcare organizations define outcomes to sustain the highest levels of medical & surgical quality care, patient engagement, satisfaction and retention. Their discussion centers on the ever-present mandate for higher quality care at greater efficiency and lower cost, and how individual practitioners and organizations alike can work to turn the seemingly impossible into reality.

Gun violence continues to be a major health care issue. What can physicians and other health care providers do to reduce firearms-related violence? Host Dr. Maurice Pickard welcomes Dr. David Fleming, the 2014-2015 President of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the nation's largest medical specialty organization. Dr Fleming discusses the ACP's new policy paper, Reducing Firearm-Related Injuries and Deaths in the United States, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. This paper offers strategies to address the societal, health care, and regulatory barriers to reducing firearms-related violence, injuries, and deaths in the United States.

Dr. Fleming is Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, where he also serves as Chairman of the Department of Medicine and Director of the MU Center for Health Ethics.

Host Dr. Maurice Pickard welcomes award-winning journalist Katy Butler. In her book, Knocking on Heaven's Door, she speaks for the twenty-four million Americans who are helping their parents through their final years. Ms. Butler's memoir and investigation reports on the modern complications of technology, medicine, and business toward the process of dying. Knocking on Heaven's Door helps encourage readers to have the difficult conversations with loved ones that are needed in order to discover paths toward a better way of death.

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The most common reason for patients to visit healthcare providers at all levels is to treat pain. Yet in spite of this known trend, medical education woefully underemphasizes methods to approach the myriad of communicative, ethical, and procedural issues deeply entrenched in modern pain management. Here to shed more light on this complex subject with host Dr. Brian McDonough are Drs. Sean Yanchunas and Jeffrey Fudin. Dr. Yanchunas, Pharm.D, MBA, is Clinical Content Manager and Workflow Subject Matter Expert at Catholic Health East Hospital. Dr. Fudin is Clinical Pharmacy Specialist and Director of Pharmacy Pain Residency Programs at the Stratton Veterans Administration Medical Center in Albany, NY. He is also host of the popular blog PainDr.com.

Dr. Randa Sifri is an Associate Professor of the Department of Family and Community Medicine in the Sydney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Director of Reasearch in the Department, and Research Fellowship Director. Listen as Dr. Brian McDonough interviews Dr. Sifri on early diagnosis, prevention, and recommended screenings for cancer in primary care patients.