JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP The moment is forever etched in my mind. It occurred while I was in my fourth year of medical school during a radiology rotation in Scottsdale, AZ. I was doing everything I could not to fall asleep while sitting in the dark film-reading room, listening to a tonally flat radiologist dictate plain film reports. I got up to splash some cold water on my face and as I was …
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March 2008
What the Gray Haired Never Shared
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP For some reason, it is likely that no one with gray hair ever sat you down and shared with you some secrets to longevity, productivity, and career success in medicine. Why we in medicine tend to “eat our young” remains a mystery to me. If you have seen the movie 300 or read the book Gates of Fire, you understand that we tend to act very “Spartan-like.” I am …
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February 2008
Insulating Your Practice from Sexual Harassment Claims
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law describes sexual harassment as a form of employment discrimination consisting of unwelcome verbal or physical conduct directed at an employee because of his or her sex. Quid pro quo sexual harassment occurs when a condition of future or current employment is predicated upon fulfilling sexual demands. Finally, hostile environment sexual harassment occurs when the harassment has the effect of interfering with the victim’s work performance …
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January 2008
In Consideration of Binding Arbitration Agreements
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Otter: Point of parliamentary procedure! Hoover: Don’t screw around, they’re serious this time! Otter: Take it easy, I’m pre-law. Boon: I thought you were pre-med. Otter: What’s the difference? Otter: Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with our female party guests—we did. In contrast to the dispute resolution procedure regarding the Delta house’s …
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December 2007
Compliant Management of Non-Compliant Staff
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Are you from the era where Spare the Rod, Spoil the Employee was the title of the disciplinary section in the employee manual? Most urgent care centers in the United States discontinued the practice of caning employees after Michael Fay received his licks for vandalizing cars in Singapore in 1994. Now-a-days, you may want to consider following a few simple rules when it comes to employee remediation (as opposed …
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