To round out my perspective on District 10 (and close out my district visits for the year!), I look forward to meeting individually with District 10 Board delegate Dr. Vicki Roberts at the MAFP Show Me Family Medicine Conference come June.  If you’ve not yet registered for this conference, be sure to do so at https://www.mo-afp.org/cme-events/annual-scientific-assembly/ for a great educational and networking opportunity in Lake of the Ozarks!

In the interim, I was honored to visit District 10 in May with a trip to Cape Girardeau.  I first spent time with Dr. Julianna Lippert-Keck and the team at Southeast Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine.  Dr. Lippert-Keck is a family physician who practices full-time wound care.  Her clinic team emphasizes a holistic approach to wound care.  As a family doc, Dr. Lippert-Keck brings a perspective to wound care not always manifested by other wound care experts.  Her experience with house calls, for example, or board-certified knowledge of diabetes management allows her to more expertly coach her patients on the importance of the healing environment or the role of glycemic control in wound care.

A Navy veteran, Dr. Lippert-Keck hangs her Navy bell in the clinic for patients to ring in celebration when their wounds are healed and care is completed.  Dr. Lippert-Keck clearly uses her military leadership skills as a team leader, ensuring each staff at the clinic feels empowered to speak up on ways to improve patient care.  One practical example she gave of team inclusion was simply making sure every clinic staff voted on what color to paint the interior walls.  “We all have to look at it every day,” she laughed, “so we should all have a say in what color goes up!”

I next visited with Dr. Jamie Harrison at Southeast Primary Care.  Dr. Harrison kindly gave time in between patients and highlighted the ongoing need for access to behavioral health, particularly in rural areas of our state. 

I closed my visit by rounding the floors at Southeast Hospital.  I was even allowed a sneak peek at its new Cardiac Pavilion!  This new unit emphasizes decentralized nursing, eliminating one central nursing station in favor of pod workspaces directly outside patient rooms.  I was reminded of Dr. Lippert-Keck’s team philosophy as nurse manager Jennifer Kiplinger described the design process of the Cardiac Pavilion as inclusive, stating every member of the patient care team – from nurses to patients to physical therapists – gave input as to how to best arrange the floor, it’s individual rooms and it’s work flow process.

Many thanks to Drs. Roberts, Lippert-Keck and Harrison as well as the administration and staff of Southeast Health for their hospitality and insights! 

It has been a joy driving to MAFP’s districts this year!  I look forward to sharing with the MAFP Board and our members-at-large all the comments and ideas generated by these visits.  I appreciate everyone who helped facilitate or participated these meetings, particularly Executive Director Kathy Pabst for her planning of and company on these trips!

Any opinions or errors in this blog are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or work of the Missouri or American Academies of Family Physicians nor their respective staffs.