CHOC – and our pediatric subspecialists – are proud to partner with pediatricians throughout Southern 
California to enhance the delivery of pediatric care. Together, we’re committed to securing bright futures for children. We’d like to take a moment to introduce you to one of our community partners, Pediatric and Adult Medicine, Inc. (also known as PAM). In today’s Q & A, we learn more about what this group considers their best practices, among other things.
What excites you most about practicing pediatric medicine?
Serving as a guide for families in keeping their children healthy, strong and reaching their full potential is what excites us the most.
What is one of your group’s best practices?
We treat all of our patients as if they were members of our family. We do for them what we’d want done for our own sons and daughters. This ensures that our patients are given the best possible care, along with showing compassion for them and their families. We think of our practice, including the staff, medical assistants, nurses and doctors, as one big family. This is why we love working together and doing what we do every day.
What do you see as the latest advances in pediatric care?
Technology has greatly enhanced our practice in the last several years. Our practice went on an electronic medical record (EMR) in early 2010. There was a steep learning curve for the physicians and staff, and many hurdles to overcome, but today we are better able to serve our patients. All prescriptions and lab orders are now sent electronically, which reduces error and is more convenient for our patients. The EMR will also allow population-based health management with the implementation of clinical decision support that helps remind physicians about best practices for our patients.
Additionally, we have implemented a patient portal, which allows our patients/parents to communicate via secure email, obtain test results, view visit summaries, and schedule well visits. With the EMR and our patient portal, we now have the ability to start to manage our patients and identify those patients who are in need of care and services. As our patient portal matures, this will allow enhanced communication and management of patient care, with reminders and ease of patient access to the practice.
We believe technology has made us better practitioners and improved patient satisfaction. We will strive to continue to incorporate more technology into our practice.
How do you see health care reform impacting how you deliver care?
Health care delivery will remain the same in our office as far as we know. The implementation of health care reform is still in its infancy, and we don’t truly know how it will affect us as medical providers with the exception of our young adults continuing to have insurance until they are 26 years of age. It is wonderful that people who previously had limited access to health care will now be able to get the care they need without burdening emergency rooms.
Fictional physicians have graced the small screen for years. Which TV MD gets your group’s vote for “top doc” and why?
We couldn’t get a consensus on this one. Dr. Mackey loves Dr. Leonard H. McCoy (“Star Trek”) for all of his cool gadgets and his service to Captain Kirk. Dr. Turner grew up watching “The Cosby’s” and admired Dr. Huxtable’s amazing bedside manner and his ability to balance family life with a career, while valuing education. And Dr. Bruner is fond of Dr. “Hawkeye” Pierce (“MASH”) for maintaining a sense of humor, while practicing medicine with a sense of caring and intelligence.
Located in Tustin, Pediatric and Adult Medicine, Inc. includes the following board-certified pediatricians: Dr. Reshmi Basu; Dr. Dawn Bruner; Dr. Mike Cater; Dr. Angela Dangvu; Dr. Norah Gutrecht; Dr. Dan Mackey; Dr. Carlos Martinez; Dr. Priya Mody; and Dr. Marisa Turner.
