Dr. Darren Haskell sits down with host Jason Edwards to share his unique perspective as both a practicing internist and Chief Medical Officer at St. Luke's Hospital. Their conversation cuts to the heart of healthcare's most pressing challenges while offering a glimpse into promising solutions on the horizon.

Dr. Haskell represents a vanishing breed of physicians who still follow their patients from the office to the hospital bedside. "It's just the way I was trained," he explains, noting how patients appreciate seeing a familiar face during vulnerable moments. This continuity of care, once standard practice, has largely disappeared as medicine has become more specialized and fragmented.

The demands on primary care physicians have reached staggering levels. One eye-opening study revealed that delivering guideline-directed preventive care would require 29 hours per day for a physician with a standard patient panel – an impossibility on our 24-hour planet. This reality has transformed primary care into "a team sport," requiring nurses, medical assistants, and advanced practice providers working in concert.

Technology offers both challenges and solutions. While electronic health records initially pulled physicians' attention away from patients, Dr. Haskell is now piloting AI-powered voice recognition software that transcribes patient conversations, allowing doctors to maintain eye contact instead of typing notes. "It gets that visit back to being much more what I remember from my training – that human-human connection," he shares.

The conversation takes a sobering turn when discussing physician shortages. The St. Louis region currently faces a deficit of 324 primary care physicians, projected to grow significantly as baby boomers require more complex care. Dr. Haskell predicts "market disruptors" will redefine how primary care is delivered, likely through team-based approaches and technology integration.

Despite these challenges, medicine remains profoundly rewarding. "There are very few professions where you get that feeling, that feedback from people that you've helped," Dr. Haskell reflects. For those considering medical careers, he advises understanding the commitment but emphasizes the incomparable satisfaction that comes from making a difference in patients' lives.

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