Scrub Hill Press

Who is my doctor?

2008-09-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

I am a 3rd generation physician, which means that as a little kid I was given no choice as to what I was going to me when I grew up... "So, you are so smart little Johnny, I am sure that you want to be a doctor just like your father and grandfather and brother and uncle etc etc." You get the idea. My grandfather had his office in his house. He ate breakfast and then walked across the hall, opened the big sliding doors and Voila! he was in his office and its waiting room. What a great commute!

My father had operated on so many citizens of Quincy, Massachusetts that he was always leery of eating dinner at Quincy restaurants because so many people would rush over to see him that he never got to finish his dinner. Every Christmas we received hundreds of thank you notes from grateful patients. He was their doctor, they were his patients.

I have always tried to practice in the same way. I want to know who my patients are by sight. I want to walk out in that waiting room and pick them out from the crowd. Is this a crazy way to feel in 2008? Maybe.

Everyday I answer posts from patients who seem unable or unwilling to discuss their care with their "real" doctor. So they turn to the internet doctor instead. But I rarely have all the information that I need to respond in a really insightful way. Yet they are appreciative of the time that I take to discuss it with them.

Today I saw a new patient with a hydrosalpinx (blocked and fluid filled tube) and she had seen another fertility MD who (correctly) recommended a laparoscopy and possible removal of the tube if it could not be repaired. The patient wanted a 2nd opinion but really felt that her former MD had not explained why the tube may need to be removed. She is a very nice woman and I just don't understand why she wasn't treated better.

I want to practice medicine one patient at a time. To me it is not satisfying to perform 25 egg collections in a day on patients that I have never seen before. If I wanted that type of job then I would go work at Jiffy Lube (no slight intended on those who actually work at Jiffy Lube, but you get my drift). I just don't think that patients should be herded along like cattle and treated as just another statistic. You have to consider all aspects of the patient when planning treatment: financial, physical, emotional, spiritual and philosophical. One size does NOT fill all in terms of fertility.

So decide for yourself if it is important that you know who your doctor is....some patients don't mind fertility care by committee with a revolving door of specialists as long as they are well-trained. But don't expect to find me there. If I have to practice that way then I will pack it in and run my publishing company instead. Medicine should be practiced between a patient and her/his doctor.

I'll take my lumps when things don't work out but I hope that all my patients realize that I am trying my absolute best for them every day (including a lot of weekends).

So when all else fails, go ask your doctor and if you are not sure who your doctor is then consider whether you may do better in a different sized practice...

Not much medical advice today but it is Friday and it has been a long week...

Book Reviews

2008-09-23T06:47:00.000-07:00

Recently I responded to a review that had been posted on Amazon.com. The reviewer had blasted the Ob Gyn Handbook and said that it was very disappointing to her and that she wished she had her money back. So I emailed her and told her that I was sorry that the book had not her expectations and that I would refund her money if she wished. Well, it turns out that she was a medical student just starting out and the book was required reading for her class (not a clinical rotation). I agreed that the book was designed for clinicians and not as an introduction to the field of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She seemed pleased with the refund and must have thought better of her scathing review because it ultimately disappeared from Amazon.com.

In Cyberspace people can sometimes be rude and inappropriate because they are not facing a real person, but that doesn't mean that ther isn't a real person at the other end of a review or an email or reading a blog. If I had not communicated with this student then the one star review would have remained out there for all to see eventhough she thought the book was great but just wasn't appropriate for her level of training...

So my advice is do your own research. Use the Amazon.com Search Inside the Book feature or go to Google Book Search and check out the book before you plunk down your hard earned money.

Special Sales

2008-09-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

Special sales are the Holy Grail of publishing. Basically it is a large, non-returnable order that is frequently paid for in advance. Compared with the 120 day payment cycle that I work with in dealing with medical book wholesalers, it is like ambrosia to nail down a large special sale. In the past, Scrub Hill Press has managed to land quite a few of these rare deals and these have included those to TAP Pharmaceuticals, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, ViaCell, Merck and a few others. Most recently we were able to secure a deal to offer copies of the RE book, the Ob Gyn book and the PDA version of the OB book as rewards for an online learning module.

So if you want a free book and are a medical professional working on infertility then feel free to visit the website listed in the above image and knock yourself out. Only those truthfully working in the field need apply...

All Pharma reps interested in bulk orders or special sales may feel free to contact me for details!

DrG

Using Google Book Search

2008-09-11T06:27:00.000-07:00

Scrub Hill Press has participated in Google Book Search for a couple of years now and although I have never received any feedback I am somewhat curious as to how it is received. Essentially it is very similar the Search Inside the Book feature on Amazon.com but the images seem a bit better to me and it allows the reader to search for a specific feature.

If you want to check out Scrub Hill Books on Google the click on the links below and please let me know how it looks.

Reproductive Endocrinology
Obstetrics, Gynecology and Infertilty (5th Edition only, 6th is in progress)
Internal Medicine

Here is the link that allows all Scrub Hill books to be searched on Google Book Search.

Happy clicking!

DrG

Beginnings

2008-09-10T05:34:00.000-07:00

In 1989 I was an Intern in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston. My wife and I had chosen Houston as it was the one city where we both had firm job offers. However, the day of the candidate withdrawal date for the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) she had interviewed for a faculty spot at Stanford. By the time Stanford had made her an offer to join the faculty, the NRMP computer program had matched me to Houston. So off we went for a year.

In 1990, there were no 2nd year spots available in the Bay Area so I repeated my Ob Gyn internship. I must say that the second time around was easier than the first! During that year, Dr. Jan Rydfors, my Chief Resident and I wrote a small pocket handbook for the incoming interns. Eighteen years later that book has grown into the best-selling title in Ob Gyn in the country! In 1994, I founded Scrub Hill Press. The name reflecting the fact that the money to launch the company came from my parents, Dr and Mrs Edward Gordon, whose home on Cape Cod was named Scrub Hill.

The ups and downs of an independent medical publisher have been an interesting counterpoint to my "real" job as a Reproductive Endocrinologist in practice in Washington DC (Arlington, VA actually). For those who have bought and enjoyed the books that Scrub Hill has published, my many thanks and read this blog to see what is next for Scrub Hill Press as this story continues to unfold.