Neil H. Baum, MD

Grand Rounds in Urology Contributing Editor Neil H. Baum, MD, Professor of Urology at Tulane Medical School, offers advice on managing chronically late patients. As most physicians know, late patients create significant scheduling challenges, decrease staff efficiency, and increase stress levels. Dr. Baum suggests creating a written policy addressing chronic lateness that explains the cascading problems for doctors and staff when patients fail to arrive on time, and requesting patients arrive early to complete necessary paperwork or pay for their visit. He also advises seeing chronically late patients at the end of the day or rescheduling them which will serve to reinforce the message. Of course, it is valuable to understand reasons for occasional lateness like older patients who may be dependent on a family member for transportation. Dr. Baum underscores the importance of being an on-time physician if asking the same of patients. Inevitably schedule delays happen. If you’re running late, send a staff person out to the waiting room to explain and give patients an option to reschedule. Contrary to popular belief, charging patients for lateness is ineffective and the fees are hard to collect. Likewise, overbooking patients in an effort to fit them around late arrivals is more likely to create additional delays for physicians and staff.

Grand Rounds in Urology Contributing Editor Neil H. Baum, MD, Professor of Urology at Tulane Medical School, offers advice to urologic clinicians on leading during uncertain times. Through the lens of adventurer Ernest Shackelton, Dr. Baum illustrates how providing excellent patient care involves responding to new information, maintaining morale, and leading by example.

Grand Rounds in Urology Contributing Editor Neil H. Baum, MD, Professor of Urology at Tulane Medical School, provides thoughtful advice for generating patient referrals from physicians and non-physicians. He encourages physicians to personally meet all referring physicians, share up-to-date practice information, and offer value-adds such as providing a brief written summary to a medical question.

Grand Rounds in Urology Contributing Editor Neil H. Baum, MD, Professor of Urology at Tulane Medical School, presents on the impact distractions have on the doctor-patient relationship. Dr. Baum reviews data on the role distracted driving plays in fatal car crashes before drawing a parallel to distractions in the exam room. He concludes that physicians should avoid and eliminate distractions in their practice by using technology to avoid data entry during an exam and setting criteria for permissible interruptions.

discusses effectively communicating with colleagues through patient referral letters. He observes that promptly reporting back to the referring physician is the second most common reason why a physician will receive referrals in the first place. Equally important to swift response is sending clear referral letters that provide the physician with valuable information. Dr. Baum contends that the traditional referral letter is typically too long, slow to arrive, and can be expensive for transcription. Similarly, an electronic copy of patient’s electronic medical record can require too much time to review. Instead, an effective referral letter contains three simple components: diagnosis, medications, and treatment plan recommended. Additionally, physicians should strive to turn around a referral letter before the patient returns to the referring physician for follow up. Dr. Baum offers tips on creating a template referral letter to simplify the process with either preprinted forms or through the patient’s electronic medical record.