Has it been difficult to unite people with different backgrounds and health professions to create a medical home?
Not at SLUCare or Saint Louis University School of Medicine. [School of Medicine] Dean [Phillip] Alderson has been a strong proponent of interprofessional education. Typically, every health profession is trained separately: Nurses are trained with nurses; physical therapists are trained with physical therapists. Doctors are the worst at this; we’re not trained to deal with people from other professions well. In our department and at SLU, we’re dedicated to bringing all of the experience and expertise together for the good of our patients. You have a master’s degree in epidemiology. What exactly is epidemiology, and what role does it play in your practice? It means that scientific evidence guides my patient care. As an epidemiologist as well as a physician, I value the study of risk factors and the prevalence of disease. For example, if you come in with chest pain but there’s no family history, your blood pressure and cholesterol and fine and you’re in good shape, the chances that it’s
