Vacation

I've always found vacation to be such sweet and sour activity.

I love getting away from work. Traveling or just bumming around at home with the kids is always such a treat.

However, it is hard to leave my patients. Some of them will get sick and need my help. Others have test results that they will want to discuss with me. Colleagues will have issues that need discussing as well.

As a member of a large practice, I know that my patients will have coverage 24 hours a day. Yet, I do feel bad that there are times that they need me most and I am unable to be with them.

I'm sure that many of my colleagues feel the same way. Funny, we do not really talk about it amongst ourselves.

E-mail has really changed things though. In the past, message from patients and test results were just left on my desk with the patients chart. Now, I can get an email pushed to my BlackBerry sitting on the beach or at the sidelines of my daughter's soccer game. This clearly has its good and bad sides. Things will get even more complicated when we fully migrate to an EMR, so I can be sitting in my home an be able to have full access to a patients entire chart.

Overall, I remain a huge fan of technology and its direct impact on the modern day practice of medicine. However, it is hard to put down my BlackBerry and enjoy vacation as a true "time away" from the office and my practice. I usually still choose to pick it up once or twice a day to answer emails regarding patient care and keep up with the business side of my practice.

Well - vacation - here I come!!!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry