These e-books (and later website) are the culmination, convergence and combination of several ideas and observations over several years. \u00a0 All Family Physicians, through their years of practice, develop certain shortcuts in procedures or diagnoses, specific observations about patient care, and various routine practices.\u00a0 They learn from their patients, from other physicians, and by \u201ctrial and error\u201d. \u00a0 All combined, these \u201ctricks of the trade\u201d are used so commonly in everyday practice that they become routine in that physician\u2019s practice.\u00a0 That physician may assume that everyone else knows about these \u201ctricks\u201d and may well forget where or when they learned them.\u00a0 The majority of these pearls never find their way into the medical literature and cannot be deemed a product of evidence-based research.\u00a0 However, they work well for that physician and his or her patients.<\/p>\n
I noted the behavior of my partners when I would utilize one of my own \u201ctricks of the trade\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 When I was on call, many times I would use a learned \u201ctrick\u201d with a partner\u2019s patient.\u00a0 When my partner would read my written account of the patient encounter or hear a verbal report from that patient, he or she would question me about that specific practice.\u00a0 I had always assumed that everyone knew the \u201ctricks of the trade\u201d that I knew and used, and that they were commonly taught in training programs.\u00a0 This turned out to be false.\u00a0\u00a0 My partners were delighted to have these \u201ctricks\u201d shared with them so they could use them in their everyday practices.<\/p>\n
I also noticed that some of our very best community preceptors and many of my mentors were retiring. With these retirements, an amazing amount of wisdom was no longer being shared with young learners and was being lost.\u00a0 These \u201ctricks\u201d or pearls would have to be re-invented by other physicians. \u00a0 At the same time that I was noticing these trends, I was searching for a way to \u201cgive back\u201d to the specialty of Family Medicine and to help younger family physicians and learners.\u00a0 All of these thoughts and observations were mulling around in my subconscious while I was attempting to develop a theme and project for a sabbatical.\u00a0 Coincidentally, in this same time period, I took my family on a vacation trip to northern California.\u00a0 During a trip to Muir Woods, I had the opportunity to commune with the Giant Redwoods while the rest of my family took a long hike. \u00a0 As I sat alone in a grove of ancient Redwoods, I challenged the trees to \u201cinspire me\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 I imagined that they could truly impart \u201cwisdom of the ages\u201d since these trees had existed for centuries.<\/p>\n
A thought immediately struck me \u2013 Wisdom of the AGEDS.\u00a0\u00a0 I could interview experienced Family Physicians from all areas of the United States and record their wisdom and \u201ctricks of the trade\u201d they had learned through their years of practice.\u00a0\u00a0 I could then pass those clinical pearls on to younger physicians so that they would not have to reinvent or rediscover techniques that work.\u00a0 This could be my way of \u201cgiving back\u201d to the next generation of family doctors and would be a wonderful sabbatical experience.\u00a0\u00a0 The trees had given me my sabbatical idea in less than 5 minutes!\u00a0 Then I had almost two hours to wait for my family to return and nothing to do but admire the trees.\u00a0 It was wonderful.<\/p>\n
-Rick Ricer, MD\u00a0 2003<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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