I called a colleague the other day to discuss a patient
From the Editor
Dr. Schwarzenberger is the former physician editor of DermWorld.
By Kathryn Schwarzenberger, MD, FAAD, March 1, 2022
I somehow found his office number, picked up the phone, and called him. We had a very productive chat, and at the end he thanked me and remarked how very rare it is for anyone to actually call these days. I laughed away my aberrant behavior by acknowledging that I am old school and that while I am comfortably facile with our newer technologies, I do occasionally get tired of typing. I also still like to talk with people. While we seem to gain efficiency from the many electronic means of communication we have at our fingertips, there is much to be said for direct contact with the human on the other end of that line. I love the fact that I can text or send an EHR message to a colleague any time of the day or night and they can reply at their convenience. The ability to communicate electronically has virtually saved us all during the pandemic, allowing us to continue to see patients and meet with friends and colleagues. Read what some of your colleagues shared with us about their electronic encounters this month in our feature article “The Tech Connection.” The positive response to the AAD’s VMX meetings speaks both to the ease by which these platforms can be accessed, as well as the growing comfort within our ranks for remote electronic learning. I am quite sure we will continue to expand our use of electronic communications in years to come. However, at the risk of sounding like the paleo derm that I am, I do hope as we tally up the perceived benefits from expanded digital forms of communication, we consider what we might risk losing in the process. There’s a lot to be said for human contact that just cannot be replicated on a screen. To that end, I am really looking forward to seeing many of you in Boston, even if most of your faces will still be hidden behind masks!
Change is a common theme in this month’s DermWorld. We asked members of our Editorial Advisory Workgroup to think of diagnoses that they make now that they might have not learned in their residencies (and they are ALL diagnoses we never considered when I trained…!). BAPomas, prurigo pigmentosa, and facial discoid dermatosis were some of their picks. New diseases? Or did we see them and fail to recognize them for what they are? We continue to learn and, through innovation and technologic advances, our abilities to recognize and treat both old and newly recognized disorders advance. We will soon have in our armamentarium many biosimilars, whose promise is similar efficacy to their original version at a potentially lower cost. Our feature article on biosimilars will help familiarize you with the ones we are likely to encounter. As with many transitions, I assume time will tell whether these will be as good as promised.
And speaking of transitions, March is the quintessential transitional month. We spring forward into Daylight Saving Time on the March 13. We celebrate the arrival of spring as some of our friends and colleagues share the joy of Holi. I know I could use more color after a long, grey northwest winter! I hope the winter has been easy on most of you, but know that, as in years past, the days do get longer, and daffodils are just around the corner. I hope you have some planted in your garden, whether real or virtual!
