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5 Quick Questions With: John Stoukides, MD

https://briarclifferi.com/blog/dr-john-stoukides-named-chairman-of-medicine-at-roger-williams-medical-center/

 

1. What is your role in the RI healthcare community?

Primary Care Geriatrician and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Roger Williams Medical Center

 

2. What do you love about your job?

Caring for patients and teaching young doctors.
 

3. What is the biggest challenge that you face when providing care to your patient population?

Allocation of financial resources to get the care needed.

 

4. What are some healthcare barriers that your non-English speaking patients face?

Frequently they show up in the hospital without someone to translate. We have video translation services available but it is not the same as being able to converse in a language that the patient is fluent. Also, there are multiple brief interactions with the patient that we are not able to access the video service quickly; We also have a very hard time getting access to patients who are not fluent in English into clinical trials which could benefit them.
 

5. If you could make one change to the RI healthcare system, what would it be?

Get rescue to transport patients to hospitals that their physician requests as opposed to where the rescue drivers prefer to go. This would greatly improve continuity of care.

 

Anything else you'd like to add about current challenges facing the RI healthcare community?

The lack of competitive reimbursement for primary care doctors in RI continues to challenge the success of health care in this state. Hopefully this will be addressed with current legislation