Update:
Check out this continuing list of Kyle's latest blog posts-
Rural Training
Should Appearance Matter in Medicine?
EHR Notes
Kyle Leggott, MD, is fresh off his residency and blazing new trails as a fellow in the Department of Family Medicine and a contributing writer to the American Academy of Family Physician’s Fresh Perspectives Blog.
We sat down with this ambitious doctor to find out how it all happened and where the trail is leading him.
Tell us about how your touching essay in AAFP’s Fresh Perspectives came about. What inspired your inspiring words?
Read the blog post.
It was during a Reach Out and Reed (ROAR) didactics sessions with the wonderful Alex Reed. The topic of the discussion was saying goodbye to patients. All the third-year residents were sharing stories about saying goodbye to patients and as a group we reflected on shared experiences. I realized at that moment that although I had started saying goodbye, something was missing from the interactions with my patients. That night at home I kept thinking about what was missing. That led to thinking about how our development as physicians and healthcare providers is based on learning with and from our patients. The next time I had to tell a patient that I was graduating, I thanked them for helping me become the physician I am today, and it no longer felt like something was missing.
What do you miss most about those patients you had to say goodbye to?
Each relationship was so unique that it’s hard to pick a single thing. I miss the updates about the best sci-fi/fantasy novels from one patient, I miss seeing photos of another patient’s dog, I miss reminiscing about green chile with a patient who grew up in New Mexico. I miss the special relationship I had with each of them, all of the unique things that defined the difference between being their primary care provider or just another physician they saw for care.
You’ll be contributing on a regular basis to Fresh Perspectives. What can we look forward to reading from you?
Read the Kyle's latest blog post.
I am very grateful to be contributing to the AAFP Fresh Perspectives blog. Currently, I am working on a few blog posts that will hopefully be coming online soon. The first is a Q&A on healthcare cost sharing and trying to define “High Quality Care”, and the second is on the lack of access to healthcare in rural America and how to increase the rural physician workforce.
You are now doing more work through the Department of Family Medicine in the Junior Faculty Development Fellowship overseen by Dr. Brian Bacak. Tell us about the scope of your work through the Fellowship.
The fellowship allows recent graduates to split their time evenly between being Junior Faculty and pursuing an area of concentration. My clinical duties including practicing at Lone Tree Primary Care (which has been wonderful), precepting at AF Williams, and attending on the inpatient Family Medicine service at UCH. My concentration is Health Politics & Policy, the area of intersection between politics and health policy/advocacy. I am partnering with health policy centers, professional medical organizations, and interfacing with state and national legislative groups. For example, I am spending more time at the State Capital working with legislators to address health care issues in Colorado such as opioids and substance use disorder. I am continuing to work on Graduate Medical Education (GME) reform with Dan Burke and Kent Voorhees. I am also becoming more involved in the Colorado Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), through activities such as running resolutions at the AAFP Congress of Delegates (COD).
Finally, what is your favorite thing about being a family physician?
Relationships. I love the rapport and relationship building that goes into being a Family Physician. We get to be involved in the most intimate and emotional aspects of our patients lives and then use our relationship with them to provide healing.