From the editor
From the Editor
Dr. Schwarzenberger is the former physician editor of DermWorld.
By Kathryn Schwarzenberger, MD, June 1, 2018
There's a horse in the waiting room and your patient is convinced the blisters on his arm resulted from a run-in with a 15-foot weed. It must be summer.
If you think this scenario could never happen in your office, I encourage you to read this month’s Dermatology World. Our featured dermatologist and member of the bar, Dr. Cliff Lober clarifies federal regulations regarding service animals, including which animals are approved for service and what questions you may legally ask a patient who arrives accompanied by four-footed assistant. You may be surprised by the law.
Summer is a great time to refresh your knowledge of the plants around us. Many are relevant to our practices, causing either allergic or toxic reactions in the skin. We are poison ivy experts, and I suspect we all get a little excited when we see those unusual hyperpigmented streaks that result from an unfortunate combination of lime juice and sunlight. However, would you recognize a rash that results from contact with my new favorite plant, giant hogweed? This oversized “Queen Anne’s Lace on steroids” looks and sounds like it belongs in a Harry Potter movie. Contact may result in painful blisters, erythema, and postinflammatory hyperpigmentation in sun-exposed skin; if the sap gets in the eyes, severe irritation or even blindness can result. If you haven’t yet encountered this noxious plant or seen the rash it causes, chances are you will someday. It is in many northern states, as well as Canada and Europe. This, and other interesting botanical hazards, are highlighted in this edition of DW.
The first time I heard someone ask “what is your preferred pronoun?” I was a bit taken aback, wondering how and why you would ever need to ask. I now understand how valuable this simple sentence can be. Over the years, I have encountered patients whose gender identity was not immediately apparent, and I struggled for a good way to ask them without unintentionally causing offense. This simple question — “what is your preferred pronoun?” — offers a way to ask in a respectful and nonjudgmental fashion, which is always the way I hope to interact with my patients. Victoria Houghton’s enlightening article will bring you up to date on the state of transgender medicine and help you provide competent and compassionate care to our growing number of transgender patients.
Finally, we cannot publish an edition of DW without something that hopefully makes your life better. This month, we look at scribes. Many of us use some form of scribe to help capture the enormous amount of medical documentation required these days, and in many cases, our medical assistants have assumed the role of amanuensis. This works well in many settings; however, there are alternatives to having a scribe in the room. Have you considered a remote scribe? Would you prefer using voice recognition software? Some of us tried and gave up on earlier versions, which often required more time than just typing the note; however, my predecessor Dr. Abby Van Voorhees assures us the modern versions are truly both new and improved. We have many options these days. You can decide which works best for you.
Oh, and the next time someone shows up in your office with a miniature service horse, don’t say we didn’t warn you! Happy summer!
