Scott Webb (Host): When it comes to choosing a doctor or practice, availability of providers and ease of scheduling are often factors. And in addition to those benefits at Eisenhower Center for Family Medicine, entire families can be seen in the same visit. And here to tell us more today is Dr. Chad Braun. He's the Program Director for the Eisenhower Health Family Medicine Residency Program.

 This is Living Well with Eisenhower Health. I'm Scott Webb. Doctor, it's nice to have you here today. We're going to talk some differences, if you will, between Primary Care, Family Medicine, what are those, you know, providers do, and what are the similarities, differences, all that good stuff. So, let's just start there. The most basic one, like how is family medicine different than Internal Medicine and/or Primary Care?

Dr. Chad Braun: I think family medicine, one of the main differences is we take care of patients of all ages. So, really from cradle to grave. We can follow the patient, you know, throughout their life. The other main tenet of Family Medicine is patient-centered care. So, that's really putting the patient in the middle and, you know, making your decisions around care, around really what's best for that patient from the patient's interests, making sure that there's mutual decision-making and they really understand the direction that you're going from therapy perspective.

Host: Sure.

Dr. Chad Braun: Family Medicine doctors also receive more training in subspecialties like Musculoskeletal Medicine, Sports Medicine and Dermatology than their Internal Medicine colleagues. So, I think that it's just more of a place where you might be able to get a little bit more comprehensive care than an Internal Medicine office.

Host: Yeah. As you say, sort of birth to the grave, comprehensive care, one-stop shopping perhaps a little bit. So then, let's talk about like why Family Medicine or a Family medicine physician is a good choice for a family, especially with children and then maybe also for older adults.

Dr. Chad Braun: Well, I think one of the advantages of Family Medicine overall is that you are able to-- really almost by definition-- take care of the whole family. So, you could have the same doctor, you know, throughout your entire life. And it's nice to be able to, again, sort of that one-stop shopping.

 Mother can make an appointment, bring two of her kids with her, and we can do everything that all of them need from a pediatric care, from a female care, and from just an overall medical care perspective there that day. So, I think that that really is an advantage of family medicine overall.

Host: Yeah. And then, how about for older adults? My mom is now in her mid-70s, you know, and so, I think about her and who she's seeing and the kind of care she's getting. So, maybe you can give us a sense like why a Family Medicine physician is also good for older patients.

Dr. Chad Braun: Well, I think one of the advantages from a family medicine perspective in older patients is again, we do have training in Musculoskeletal Medicine, Orthopedics, Dermatology. So as you age, your body changes a little bit. If you're having some joint pain and you need an injection, your Family Medicine doctor can be trained in doing those. So again, it's a way of having a lot of different services at the same place. We also have training in end-of-life care and, you know, having discussions around what the best way is to navigate life as we get toward the end of life.

Host: Yeah. That's great. I love hearing that. And I've hosted podcasts before on Family Medicine, and I just love hearing about all the stuff that Family Care Physicians and Centers do. And along those lines, I want to have you tell folks about the Eisenhower's Center for Family Medicine.

Dr. Chad Braun: The Center for Family Medicine at Eisenhower is a residency training program. So, I'm the Program Director, and what that means is we have learners and faculty in the office resident physicians. They finished medical school, and so they're doctors, but they're still in their training there. It is a three-year program where they're going from medical school to going out in the real world and being a able to take care of patients on their own. So, what we do is it's almost like having two doctors in one for a visit. So, the resident physician, you know, goes and sees the patient, comes back and talks to us. And then, a lot of times we go and see the patient together, a resident and attending, and sort of come up with a plan, talk through that with the patient, and move forward from there.

Host: I'm sure doctor, that some folks would say, "Well, yeah, but the residents don't have experience." Maybe you could sort of dispel that and let them know like what the benefit of going to a residency clinic?

Dr. Chad Braun: One of the benefits is, as I said, it's a two doctors-one for the visit. Another one is that because the residents are learners, they're reading all the time and they keep us very current as faculty on our medical knowledge as well.

And from a patient perspective, I think there are two significant advantages also. One, you're helping train the future docs of America, and that's a big service. I mean, people have to have experience in their training to get to, you know, where I am in life taking care of like 40,000 patients, right? And the other advantage is availability. I mean, especially out here in the desert, it can be hard to get into see your primary care doctor if you have one. But we're usually really good at having same-day or next-day appointments. So, that's another big selling point, I think, for the Center for Family Medicine at Eisenhower.

Host: Yeah. Just increasing your odds of getting in. We all know that there just aren't enough doctors and nurses, right? The supply doesn't meet the demand, if you will. So, yeah, many advantages, of course. And we talked a little bit earlier about it sort of being one-stop shopping and mom or dad can bring the kids and everyone can be seen, but maybe especially just drill down a little bit, like why this is so good for kids.

Dr. Chad Braun: Well, one, in the desert, it's very good for kids for availability. There aren't enough pediatricians out here to take care of everyone. And so, we have more availability and we have a good training in musculoskeletal care for pediatric patients and dermatology for pediatric patients. And again, it's a place where you can take the whole family. So, we can provide pretty much the same services that a pediatrician's office can provide, but just with the layering of, you know, taking care of the whole family on top of that.

Host: Yeah, I just want to get a sense from you, Doctor. I'm just sort of picturing, you know, day-to-day life for you at the office, and I feel like the wide range of patients that you get to see kind of is exciting for you, kind of keeps you on your toes. I feel like my primary, I feel like she just sees a bunch of middle-aged people like me over and over and over where you get such variety. Maybe you can tell us just about your average day.

Dr. Chad Braun: Well, I mean, I think that that was one of the things that drew me to Family Medicine in the first place, was you really never knew what was coming in the door next. It could be a newborn there for their first exam in the office or, you know, an elderly person you're talking about how they were navigating, you know, changes at the end of their life. And the next patient could be someone with a cough. And the next one is a blood pressure follow up. And then, you could have a procedure that could come in after that. So, the variety is there every day.

And then, the other exciting part about my day is really getting to work with the residents. I've been fortunate enough to do it for about 25 years, and it's just exciting to watch them learn and to build relationships and to develop into the family physicians of tomorrow. And I come from a family of teachers and this allowed me to just sort of marry my interests in science and medicine with sort of the teaching background that I grew up with. And it's been just a very fulfilling career for me.

Host: Yeah, that's great. That brought a big smile to my face. My mom was a teacher too, and I'm a teacher as well and a sort of an alternate version of my life when I'm not behind the microphone. So, good stuff today. Doctor, just give us a sense here then, in terms of scheduling. We've talked about families, obviously Family Medicine, but can families literally just schedule an appointment for the whole family?

Dr. Chad Braun: A hundred percent. That's actually pretty common for us. Yesterday, we saw mother and two of her kids with, one of the residents. So yeah, we don't have any limitations on scheduling for families. You know, you should be able to schedule, basically, if you're established with us, I think same-day or next-day. New patient appointments with the residents can be as soon as a week. So, I think the availability is a real selling point for the Center for Family Medicine here at Eisenhower.

Host: Yeah, it sounds like it. As you say, they're out in the desert and perhaps other places around the country. There's just a shortage of docs, a shortage of nurses, and there at Eisenhower's Center for Family Medicine, availability, you know, ease of scheduling, one-stop shopping, get the whole family in. It all sounds like good stuff. So, thank you so much.

Dr. Chad Braun: Well, thank you.

Host: And for more information, visit eisenhowerhealth.org/family. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for additional topics of interest. I'm Scott Webb. And this has been Living Well with Eisenhower Health. Thanks for listening.