Surgery at the BEST Medical Center—Clyde’s Adventures in BEST Land: Down the Rabbit Hole

Publication date: July–August 2018

Source: Clinics in Dermatology, Volume 36, Issue 4

Author(s): Philip R. Cohen

Abstract

Dr. Ida Lystic is an assistant professor in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Byron Edwards & Samuel Thompson (BEST) Medical Center. Before becoming one of the BEST doctors, she completed her fellowship training at the Owen T. Henry and Eugene Rutherford (OTHER) Medical Center and her MD degree at the prestigious Harvey Medical School (which was recently renamed the Harvey Provider School). She is still challenged by the new electronic medical record system—LEGEND (also referred to as the Lengthy and Excessively Graded Evaluation and Nomenclature for Diagnosis), after the BEST discarded the SIMPLE system. Recently she became the deputy head of the Gastroenterology Fellowship Selection Committee and had to organize the candidate activities that included testing of new physicians' most important skill: the typing trial. Dr. Lystic's stepfather, Clyde S. Dale, MD, developed severe spinal stenosis and required surgery at the BEST Medical Center. The BEST, being a model of efficiency, has no schedulers to "interfere" with the patients' ability to schedule themselves for all their tests and book their surgery. Indeed, it took only 22 phone calls on Clyde's part to ensure that everything was properly calendared. Clyde's postoperative course was complicated by hypoxia and atrial fibrillation (which revealed that the BEST Rapid Response Team has no physician or midlevel practitioner), as well as a missed cerebrospinal fluid leak and an ulnar neuropathy secondary to inadequate elbow padding during surgery. Fortunately, however, Clyde's insurance coverage is excellent, and all of his bills have been paid.