Dr. Rob Barkett Jr, MD

Simple Medicine chronicles the changes in primary care medicine over the past 50 years. Despite all the new medical technology, studies, medications, specialization, and computers, medical care is fractured. The physician-to-physician relationships have decayed.
This book lets you review your medical conditions in a concise manner and know where to go next.

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 Have you ever googled your medical condition, started having a panic attack and gone absolutely crazy about the possible diagnosis? This book will help you from jumping off the cliff and soothe your mindset!

About The Book

The federal government and insurance companies are dictating what they think is appropriate medical care. Too many patients are over medicated and not receiving the standard of care that is warranted in 2021. In Simple Medicine, the most common medical conditions, complaints, screening, medications, and medical testing are described in layman terms and very easy to understand, helping patients take control of their own health care and challenge their doctor to do the right thing.

Introduction

Growing up as a doctor’s son in a smaller community, I was quite starry-eyed about medicine. The doctors I observed were curing the masses, loved, respected, placed upon a pedestal, wealthy, and intelligent. During medical training and after passing medical board examinations, I could diagnose and treat problems A-to-Z. The problem lies in that primary care providers may see the majority of conditions once or twice in a lifetime. I have provided the most common conditions that physicians will treat on a daily basis, and they must be familiar with the atypical presentations of the common conditions. For older physicians that are stuck in their old ways, it is hoped they will see that life-changing medications and treatments are at their disposal.

Today I am a grizzled veteran of twenty-seven years in primary care medicine. I have two target audiences: the general public who are invested in their health, and other primary care physicians. In the pages that follow I will bridge old and new school medicine and preserve the past traditions while embracing new technologies. I address the changing doctor-patient and doctor-doctor relationships that are quite different in this day and age.

I began practicing medicine in an autonomous situation where I could prescribe any medicine or order any study I desired. Medicine is no longer autonomous as insurance companies dictate what the physicians may do. Patients are information hungry and desire instant gratification. Patients no longer discuss their symptoms with me; they just tell me their diagnosis. Google search has taken over their medical care. When I Google certain diseases, differential diagnoses, and medications, it is often difficult for even me to understand them; it is very time-consuming, and nothing is concise. I have written this book in layman’s terms and hope the general public will understand it clearly.

During patients’ office visits, doctors speak in medical terms and discuss diagnostic testing and disease states as if patients actually understand what they are telling them. What I’ve done here is provide patients a CliffsNotes version of common disease, laboratory review, simplified testing, and medications that should be prescribed for common problems. Patients deserve to know what doctors are thinking and why we are prescribing certain medications and not prescribing others that are potentially harmful for them. Multiple, different, equally effective cancer screenings, tests, and treatment plans exist for every disease. My recommendations reflect the standard of care and are cross-referenced with the American College of Physicians publication, Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment, Number 17.

I have grown bitter with the change in medicine throughout the years. Big business and technology have ruined the physician-to-physician relationships. Communication between physicians is awful as information is passed on by a fax or redundant chart notes from the electronic medical record (EMR). A phone call is almost extinct between the specialist and primary care physician. Also, EMR has changed the whole dynamic of routine office visits with patients. No longer can doctors practice medicine like the empathetic and caring Marcus Welby, MD! Since I was trained in old-school medicine and have adapted to the new technology, hospital-owned practices, hospitalists, and EMR, I believe my advice will be beneficial to medical students, residents, and young doctors, and I hope it will rattle the chain of large hospital institutions.

Sincerely,

Robert E. Barkett Jr., MD

 

What’s inside

Section 1: The Changing Medical World

The Decay of Physician-to-Physician Relationships

  • Know Your Patients
  • Staff
  • Nurses
  • Billing Department
  • Electronic Medical Records
  • The Examination
  • Honesty
  • Follow-Up Care and Consultations
  • Reality with Patients
  • Internet
  • Urgent Care
  • Physician Burnout
Section 2: Medical Conditions

Chapter: Hypertension

Chapter: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Chapter: Atrial Fibrillation

Chapter: Congestive Heart Failure

Chapter: Chest Pain

  1. Angina
  2. Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

Chapter: Hepatitis

  1. Autoimmune Hepatitis
  2. Hepatitis A, B, or C
  3. Hereditary Hemochromatosis
  4. Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
  5. Primary Biliary Cirrhosis

Chapter: Cancer Screening

  1. Breast Cancer Screening
  2. Cervical Cancer Screening
  3. Colon Cancer Screening
  4. Lung Cancer Screening
  5. Prostate Cancer Screening

Chapter: Dementia

  1. Alzheimer’s Disease
  2. Frontotemporal Dementia
  3. Lewy Body Dementia

Chapter: Depression

  1. SSRI
  2. SNRI
  3. NDRI
  4. Trintellix

Chapter: Hyperlipidemia

  1. Cholesterol
  2. Hypertriglyceridemia

Chapter: Vaccines

  1. Influenza Vaccine
  2. Pneumococcal Vaccine
  3. Shingles Vaccine

Chapter: Cigarette Cessation

  1. E-Cigarettes

Chapter: Marijuana

Chapter: Alcoholism

Chapter: Obesity

Chapter: Sleep Apnea

Chapter: Asthma

Chapter: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chapter: Headache

  1. Migraine Headaches
  2. Temporal Arteritis

Chapter: Dizziness

  1. Acute Vestibular Syndrome
  2. Meniere’s Disease
  3. Near Syncope
  4. Vertigo

Chapter: Erectile Dysfunction

Chapter: Abdominal Pain

  1. Acute Abdominal Pain
  2. Acute Cholecystitis
  3. Acute Pancreatitis
  4. Acute Appendicitis
  5. Acute Diverticulitis
  6. Chronic Abdominal Pain
  7. Inflammatory Bowel Disease
  8. Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Chapter: Urinary Tract Infection

Chapter: Blood in Urine

  1. Infection
  2. Stones
  3. Tumor

Chapter: Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy

Chapter: Muscle Aches

  1. Fibromyalgia
  2. Polymyalgia Rheumatica

Chapter: Common Skin Conditions

Dermatology

Dermatitis

  1. Allergic Contact Dermatitis
  2. Atopic Dermatitis
  3. Fungal Dermatitis

Shingles

Skin Cancer

  1. Basal Cell Carcenoma
  2. Mole vs. Melanoma
  3. Squamous Cell Carcenoma

Actinic Keratosis

Seborrheic Keratosis

Skin Infection

  1. Abscess
  2. Cellulitis

Chapter: Deep Vein Thrombosis

Chapter: Respiratory Conditions

  1. Sinusitis
  2. Acute Bronchitis
  3. Pneumonia

Chapter: Thyroid Disorder

  1. Hypothyroidism
  2. Subclinical Hypothyroid
  3. Hyperthyroidism

Chapter: Calcium

Chapter: Osteoporosis

Chapter: Testosterone Deficiency

Chapter: Low Back Pain

Chapter: Arthritis

  1. Osteoarthritis
  2. Gout

Chapter: Red Eye

  1. Conjunctivitis
  2. Subconjunctival hemorrhage
  3. Others

Chapter: Anemia

  1. Folate Deficiency
  2. Macrocytic Anemia
  3. Microcytic Anemia
  4. Myelodysplastic Syndrome
  5. Normocytic Anemia
  6. Vitamin B12 Deficiency
Section 3: Medications

Beers Criteria List

NSAID = Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug

Narcotics

Sleep Medications

Benzodiazepines

Anti-cholinergics

Chapter Details
  1. Abdominal Pain
  2. Alcoholism
  3. Anemia
  4. Arthritis
  5. Asthma
  6. Atrial Fibrillation
  7. Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy
  8. Blood in Urine
  9. Calcium
  10. Cancer Screening
  11. Chest Pain
  12. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
  13. Cigarette Cessation
  14. Common Skin Conditions
  15. Congestive Heart Failure
  16. Deep Vein Thrombosis
  17. Dementia
  18. Depression
  19. Dizziness
  20. Erectile Dysfunction
  21. Headache
  22. Hepatitis
  23. Hyperlipidemia
  24. Hypertension
  25. Insomnia
  26. Low Back Pain
  27. Marijuana
  28. Muscle Aches
  29. Obesity
  30. Osteoporosis
  31. Red Eye
  32. Respiratory Conditions
  33. Sleep Apnea
  34. Testosterone Deficiency
  35. Thyroid Disorder
  36. Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
  37. Urinary Tract Infection
  38. Vaccines

Sections

Chapters

Pages

Download a FREE Sample Chapter

About the author.

Dr. Rob Barkett Jr, MD grew up in Mansfield, Ohio, was first team All Ohio in basketball, and attended Purdue University on a golf scholarship. He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. He attended Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and he completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Rob joined his father’s Internal Medicine private practice where they practiced together for 13 years until his father’s retirement. Rob has remained in solo practice and is the Medical Director for a nursing home and Hospice agency. He is married and he has 6 children.

Dr. Rob Barkett Jr, MD