Women's Dermatologic Society

  Tips for Communicating with Your Dermatopathologist By Randie Kim, MD This month, we will be discussing the requisition form as the primary form of communication between clinicians and dermatopathologists. The requisition form accompanies a biopsy specimen and ideally contains a specific clinical question for histopathologic interpretation, which is then sent back to the clinician to help guide management. Believe it or not, on average, 20 different handoffs can occur throughout the skin biopsy process (1). What information is typically included on a requisition form? In a survey of 145 surveyed dermatologists (2), three elements were rated as “important” for the requisition form and included biopsy site location, size, and the clinical impression. In contrast, dermatopathologists identified 10 clinical elements that they felt were critical for the requisition form. These included age of the patient, any prior diagnoses, location, duration, morphology, clinical impression, ...

  Applying for Dermatopathology Fellowship: Tips from 3 Fellowship Directors Special thanks to Drs. Emily Chu, Tammie Ferringer, and Michi Shinohara for providing tips, resources, and guidance on the best way to prepare and apply for a dermatopathology fellowship! Drs. Chu, Ferringer, and Shinohara currently serve as dermatopathology fellowship directors at the University of Pennsylvania, Geisenger Medical Center, and the University of Washington, respectively.   

  From Dr. Shawna Flanagan Getting involved with industry can be an easy transition if you have an area of interest and you want to speak on their behalf. Letting local sales representatives know you are interested in doing speaking programs for their company is a great start. They are the key contact people up the chain to getting more speaking engagements or becoming a trainer for certain companies. If you get interested in doing clinical trials and setting up a clinical trials unit as part of your office, it often just starts as letting the company know you are interested. With the upcoming AAD meeting in San Diego there will be an opportunity for networking with companies that you may be interested in working with in the future.   With any side gigs you take on, just remember that everything you do may take away from your main practice time as well as your personal time so make sure you have that extra time available, so you do not get overextended and ...

  By Azeen Sadeghian, MD, FAAD Working within healthcare presents many challenges and as a physician, your role extends beyond an understanding of medicine to encompass a wider scope of personal and business functionalities.  Being a physician means being a team leader that works with a wide range of individuals on multiple teams. This includes your innermost medical team such as assistants and residents, as well as an extended outer team including administrators, vendors, societies, etc. You are inherently leading, defining, delegating, and setting expectations every day. This is seen at all levels of medicine from residents managing students, attendings managing residents, physicians managing their care teams, physicians being in administrator roles and more. Managing is central to every role a physician takes and its importance must not be overlooked.  In addition to the type of teams you work with, the scale of projects that physicians manage ranges in size and impo...

PAC Pearls from the Women’s Dermatologic Society Difficult conversations can be stressful for everyone involved, especially with employees. However, avoiding these conversations won't make the problem go away. By not addressing the issue, you may be enabling negative behavior and allowing it to affect others. Follow these tips from the WDS Practice Advisory Committee (PAC) for all stages of having difficult conversations with employees. Before the Conversation Before the conversation, identify what corrective actions or problems to address. However, resist the urge to publicly correct the employee. Having a private conversation creates an opportunity to show respect and sensitivity regarding the difficult topic. If possible, be sure to have an office manager present to provide support. During the Conversation During the conversation, ensure you have a clear plan to convey the issue, set expectations for future behavior, and outline a concrete action plan.  Convey t...

A collection of PAC Pearls from the Women’s Dermatologic Society Managing staff employment is an essential element to a successful private practice. The WDS Practice Advisory Committee (PAC) has put together a list of pearls to help navigate staff hiring and firing in your Dermatology practice.  1. Hire Slowly and Fire Quickly  Consider a prolonged new employee interview after initial screening, where the candidate spends time in the department they will work in. Get feedback from your current employees and make sure that the candidate is someone they can see themselves working with. Have a 90 day trial employment with assessment by the office manager and the physicians at the end of the 3 months. Be clear that if they are not working out after 90 days, they will be let go. This makes everyone re-evaluate the candidate. If someone is not performing, or is a negative energy in your office, let them go. Delaying firing a weak or negative employee, no mat...

The Practice Advisory Committee has put together a list of pearls to help manage angry patients. Anger in some situations is a secondary emotion. I try to identify and address the primary emotion instead of the anger. For example, fear and anxiety are two primary emotions that can result in anger. Reassuring the patient by addressing their fear and anxiety helps dissipate the anger. - Molly Hinshaw, MD Listen, 90% of the time an angry patient just wants to be heard. And often they have a valid point. I always say I hear you, let me take care of your skin, and then I’m going to make sure that your problem gets taken care of. And if it’s my fault, for example running late, I apologize and move on. - Deirdre Hooper, MD Listen with empathy. Let the patient express what they would like to say and acknowledge their frustration to deescalate the situation as much as possible. Even several minutes of letting the patient talk without interruption can really he...