Berks County Medical Society Medical Record Fall 2019 - 5

times and so I worry about
the future of our profession
even as technology advances
...and sometimes because of
such advances (in the case
of electronic health record
systems).
EHRs have not been
designed with the primary
aim of helping physicians
work more efficiently and
intelligently while caring
for patients, or if that ever
was the aim it has been very
imperfectly realized. Between
the demands of EHR documentation, other administrative
tasks, the ever-increasing complexity of dealing with insurance
company roadblocks to getting patients the tests they need and the
medications they depend on, employer productivity requirements,
punishing work hours that begin in residency, and the stress that
comes with any bad outcome, is it any wonder that a significant
percentage of physicians lose their sense of accomplishment,
become emotionally detached from their work, and are prone to
depression?
Every summer for six years now I have had the privilege of
getting to know an intelligent, accomplished, and enthusiastic
college student interested in the health care field through my work
with the Berks County Medical Society's Pat Sharma President's
Scholarship program. This year I had the distinct pleasure of
getting to know Spencer Barbera, the author of this edition's lead
feature article and a future physician (he will enter the Tulane
University School of Medicine next year). Spencer is poised to go
far and do a lot of good in his career.
Each of the young people I have worked with has made me feel
more hopeful about the future, but I also worry about the future we
are leading them to. If physicians currently in practice-especially
those of us who have been around long enough to appreciate some
of the trajectories we are on-do not work together to promote and
protect our profession from the forces making it more and more
difficult to exercise our best judgement and focus on delivering to
our patients the care we know they deserve, the practice of medicine
will become increasingly less rewarding and there will be fewer and
fewer committed and caring physicians. Participation in organized
medicine, whether by simply paying dues or by taking an active
role, is the key to having a voice that policymakers and the public
will listen to. PAMED, with its county affiliates such as the Berks
County Medical Society, is the strongest such voice in Pennsylvania.
Enough said, I hope.

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301 S 7th Ave Suite 145,
West Reading, PA 19611
610-376-6542
FALL 2019

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5
Berks County Medical Society Medical Record Fall 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Berks County Medical Society Medical Record Fall 2019
