Primary Care
Physician perspectives on preventive care, chronic disease management, and evidence-based primary care practice.
Recent Discussions
What are the best practices for optimizing transitions from hospital to skilled nursing facilities for older adult patients, with specific regard to adapting hospital medication regimens to the skilled nursing facility setting?
Medication errors and discrepancies are well known to lead to adverse drug events during transitions of care, as well as rehospitalization. The standard of care that has emerged over the last twenty years or so is rigorous medication reconciliation. Medication reconciliation is defined as comparing ...
Would you start treatment for MAC in a patient with nodular bronchiectatic disease who has demonstrated radiographic progression but remains asymptomatic and smear-negative?
My default answer would be yes; this is a sign of progressive disease that will get worse without treatment. Having said that many things could be considered while making the decision, including patient preferences. First is there another cause? Does the patient have an exacerbation of bronchiectasi...
How do you approach patients who are inappropriately worried/fixated on a test result that is flagged as abnormal but not clinically significant?
This happens all the time now. I tell them that those results were flagged as outside the reference range (I don't use the term abnormal) but that they are not clinically significant. It does not always work if there is a patient who is super anxious or hyper-focused. Typically, if they need a lot m...
How do you approach patients who are inappropriately worried/fixated on a test result that is flagged as abnormal but not clinically significant?
This happens all the time now. I tell them that those results were flagged as outside the reference range (I don't use the term abnormal) but that they are not clinically significant. It does not always work if there is a patient who is super anxious or hyper-focused. Typically, if they need a lot m...
How do you approach prescribing statins in patients with an ASCVD <7.5% but have a strong family history and/or elevated LDL (but <190)?
When considering statin therapy for patients with an ASCVD risk of less than 7.5%, but with a strong family history of cardiovascular disease or elevated LDL cholesterol levels, the decision is nuanced. Here’s how I approach this situation: Shared Decision-Making: Involve patients in the discussion...
Would you recommend delaying left heart catheterization until development of ESKD in a patient with CKD Stage 5 and stable coronary artery disease given concern for contrast-induced nephropathy?
This is a complicated scenario and one in which there are more factors than just medical ones. I am far less concerned about contrast nephropathy (even arterial as in this case), compared to a decade ago. The more important question is whether a patient with stable CAD requires a cardiac cath. If th...
What is the best treatment for radiation recall skin reaction of the breast?
History and distribution suggest radiation recall effect. If no agent which precipitated recall, can be ascertained then have done symptomatic management with a topical agent and follow up to see course (it subsides or gets better with time).
How are you deciding between injectable and oral formulations of buprenorphine, given new studies suggesting injectable performs similarly in regards to safety and efficacy when compared to oral buprenorphine?
The study referenced here was a randomized trial evaluation of the initiation of buprenorphine in an emergency room setting, comparing long-acting injectable formulations with transmucosal formulations. It showed that both formulations are safe and effective even for patients with active/recent fent...
Do you recommend to exchange nephrostomy tubes when a patient is diagnosed with a urinary tract infection in the absence of any overt signs of infection at the exit site?
This patient has asymptomatic bacteriuria by definition - apparently with occasional symptomatic UTI. I would not change the tube because of the ASB like I would not change a urethral catheter in the setting of ASB. And as noted the patient has already demonstrated continued ASB after changing the t...
In what scenario, if any, would medroxyprogesterone acetate be preferred over micronized progesterone given the latter's better side effect profile and lower rate of DVT/PE?
Medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) would be preferred over micronized progesterone primarily in the case of a woman with a peanut allergy, as micronized progesterone is suspended in peanut oil. In that case, however, some physicians would prescribe micronized progesterone via a compounding pharmacy t...