Gary Oftedahl: Here we are again…a cautionary note

Several months ago, the insertion of a few sentences, perhaps not crafted as well as desired, but innocuous to most of us, resulted in a firestorm of public furor. The wish to provide reimbursement for the time a physician/health care provider provides consultation with a patient and family regarding end of life issues quickly became the basis for the well-known if not notorious (depending on your perspective) “death panels.” Pundits, commentators, little old ladies, ministers, for heaven’s sake, almost all venues raised a hue and cry against the evil notion being perpetuated upon our citizens by the inhumane, impersonal, autocratic bureaucrats and health care world.

Kent Bottles: How Hard Is It to Get Health Care Reform Passed in Congress

My twitter buddy and former summer ICSI intern @agrey (Ashley Grey) invited me to be on a panel for an open forum titled “Health Care Reform 101.” The target audience for the event that was held in the Mayo Auditorium at the University of Minnesota was undergraduate and graduate students. Ashley introduced the topic by stating that only one in four young people between the ages of 18 and 24 are engaged in this timely topic for all Americans.

Gary Oftedahl: Vulnerable in the moment–what happened?

Occasionally, an event occurs which despite my best intellectual efforts, creeps into my consciousness and prohibits me from ignoring it. As a scientist at heart (at least that’s what my medical training tried to impart), it was my objectivity, my ability to rise above the fray, to remove my emotions from the discussion that were encouraged and valued. Often I would hear of the need to remove my personal feelings and involvement when engaging my patients to ensure that I was not “sucked in” to their personal issues.

Kent Bottles: Twitter & Texting: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

Maybe it’s due to the Halloween time of year, but I want to focus on The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of Twitter & Texting. Anyone who has followed me on this blog or Twitter knows that social media is an important tool that I use to keep up to date in my field, network, and inform followers about ICSI educational activities.

Gary Oftedahl: Indecision in the Face of Complexity–leadership?

The complexity confronting us in health care reform is beyond the capacity most of us have for dealing with issues. In a book entitled How We Decide, Jonah Lehrer compares the human’s prefrontal cortex function to that of a computer’s microprocessor—with one caveat—it’s not a very good one. When confronted with more than 4-5 incoming pieces of information, it is incapable of managing the information in a functional manner. Thus we strive for simplification, and hope to prioritize to allow us to feel at least a bit competent in dealing with the multiple challenges we face daily in health care.

Gary Oftedahl: More Forks in the Road

From DIAMOND to Denver, a week of transition, was written while sitting in a hotel room in Colorado, pondering the potential future paths in my personal and professional journey to support the transition in health care. It’s now two weeks later and I’m sitting in a hotel room in San Diego, looking back at those blog comments, and realizing one thing–I must stop writing in hotel rooms, they seem to have a strange effect on my thought processes.

Kent Bottles: Random Observations on a Trip to Botswana

It is very hot in Botswana and when taking a two-hour walk over sand in the Okavango Delta, my face got really sunburned.

China has a growing presence in this part of Africa. The SinoHydro Company is the main contractor on the new airport terminal being built in time for the big upcoming soccer tournament. At the National Museum down the street from where I am staying in Gaborone, there is a huge Chinese exhibit extolling their free and fair elections, their religious freedom, and their friendship with Africa.

Gary Oftedahl: Blogworld or just out of this world

You know, this is hard. I mean blogging and being able to sound intelligent, pithy, “cutting edge” and articulate–and doing it weekly. At least it is for me, and that’s surprising. Why? Anyone who knows me is well aware of that I have an infinite number of ideas, am totally willing to share them, and can articulate at length (yes, I know, too much length) on a huge number of topics.

Getting Ready to Say Goodbye to Mom

ICSI has just launched a strategic initiative on palliative care, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. My Dad is 94 and takes care of my semi-invalid 87-year-old mother in a small house south of the Twin Cities across the road from where Dad lived and farmed for most of his life. Don’t tell me they should be in assisted living or at least in a seniors’ apartment—that issue has been raised more often than the American flag, and taken down, folded and put away just as often. My Dad says he’s going to live to be 100 and I’m not going to argue with a man who spent four years in World War II and taught half his unit how to box.

Kent Bottles: What Have I Learned About Keeping Myself Healthy, Happy and Well

I was surprised this morning when I took my shower in my South Minneapolis basement apartment on Portland Avenue. The shower which is usually lazy and dribbly at best raged forth and hit the other wall of the shower stall. It is true that I had sent the landlady an e-mail noting that the shower was rather anemic, but I was shocked that she really had somebody fix it.