Newborns are so fragile and tiny — and that’s at full-term! Modern medicine has made great advances in being able to save much tinier little people who are born many weeks early. This is a cause for celebration, but of course it’s also a roller coaster, emotionally, for the families involved.
In this week’s episode of Best of Both Worlds, Sarah and I interview lawyer and mom Colleen Blanco. Her eldest son was born at 24 weeks (nine years ago) and she talks about their subsequent NICU journey, which even included an emergency evacuation during Hurricane Sandy. She shares the challenges and wins of raising a child who was born extremely prematurely (her son is doing quite well at age 9) and what it’s like to have subsequent children after a traumatic first birth. Her story is very powerful, and we hope it’s helpful for others who might go through this experience or know someone who is going through it.
In the Q&A we tackle a question from a physician who’s having trouble staying on top of her notes. Please give the episode a listen, and as always, we appreciate a review or rating at any of the podcast sites!
In other news: Things might be a bit light on the blog this week…my husband and I closed on a house yesterday! More on this soon.
Great episode!
I feel for the OB/Gyn who submitted the question. I see 75-80 patients a week and charting is always a challenge. Unlike SHU, really prefer to chart in my in-between patient moments and call patients at other times. I feel like inevitably patients don’t answer the phone when I call and then call the office back 5 minutes later when I am back in the exam room leading to a crazy game of phone tag. I also much prefer portal messages for conveying lab results whenever possible for this reason. Also, if I think results are likely to generate a ton of questions (a new patient with a complicated diagnosis) I will schedule a virtual visit to review labs (one Covid bright spot!). Still charting is an epic task (oops, no pun intended) and the more you can automate with templates etc. the better!
Totally agree about patient portal use AND bringing back in for virtual ‘results’ visit!