Author: D. Kay Kirkpatrick, MD

Career Path

“Don’t It Always Seem to Go, That You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Till It’s Gone”

I have recently been thinking about this old Joni Mitchell song. I tried to retire last year and succeeded in stopping clinical practice after 30 great years of hand surgery. For better or worse, I ended up immediately running against 7 other people (including 2 other doctors) for an open Georgia State Senate seat. The seat became vacant due to…
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Career Path

What is the purpose of retirement?

Many doctors are increasingly frustrated about the bureaucratic and regulatory environment of physician practice. For those who are nearing retirement age, it is tempting to “hang it up” early to escape the stress of a job that has lost its fun. Since younger physicians are frequently much more adept at the use of EHR’s and other forms of technology, they…
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Career Path

What’s in a Name? Or a Title?

Recent events including “retirement” and a successful run for the Georgia state Senate have caused me to think about my various names and titles. Although married professional women frequently have name decisions to make, all of us are identified as “Doctor”. How much of our personhood is wrapped up in that professional title as well as other titles accumulated along…
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Ethics

Telling It Like It Is: Difficult Peer Conversations in the Outpatient Setting

Many of us have become leaders in our practices, ambulatory surgery centers (ASC’s) and hospitals by choice or circumstance. Leadership often means that difficult conversations with our fellow surgeons are part of our responsibility. Unfortunately, few of us are trained in the art of handling these conversations in a way that ends with the desired outcome, which is usually to…
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