Communication hub
articles
CASE STUDY: My obese gay patient just told me he is a Bear.
What does that mean, and how can I support his health?
FREE RESOURCE: Trans Care BC Primary Care Toolkit
This resource continues the groundbreaking work in gender-affirming care that has evolved from Vancouver-based healthcare providers for more than a decade.
FREE RESOURCE: Trans Primary Care Guide from Rainbow Health Ontario
Rainbow Health Ontario has created an excellent resource for healthcare providers and trainees with regards to providing gender-affirming care. initially launched in 2016, it was a recently updated along with the 4th edition of the primary care guidelines from Sherbourne Health Clinic in Toronto, a leading provider 2SLGBTQ+ care.
We have 15 minutes today
We know that doctors of different types and stripes have different appointment lengths, and if you're working on an inpatient service you may not have a specific schedule. Regardless of whether you have eight, fifteen or thirty minutes (like I do in my clinic for...
What if my patient has too many issues to discuss during the visit?
The laundry list A common gripe from doctors is the patient who arrives with a never-ending list of issues. “These patients have unrealistic expectations,” they complain. “We can’t possibly address them all in the short time we have.” We might think that...
Agenda setting for the doctor-patient clinical encounter
Ask ‘What else?’ As doctors, there are few things more frustrating than attending a department or other meeting without a clear agenda, so it makes sense that we and our patients have the same expectation of why we are meeting and why we’re gathering and what we’re...
books
Restoring Practice
A Workbook for Healing Physicians
Marcus Greatheart MD MSW
Be the doctor you always wanted to be
A Workbook for Inspiring Physicians
Marcus Greatheart MD MSW
Transforming practice
Life Stories of Transgender Men that Change How Health Providers Work
Marcus Greatheart MD MSW
The Contemporary HIV Zeitgeist
Annals of Gay Sexuality
Marcus Greatheart & Robert Birch, eds.
about
MEET MARCUS GREATHEART MD MSW
Marcus Greatheart is a practicing physician, registered social worker, author and a doctor-patient communication specialist.
Leveraging his decades of experience in social work and medicine, he trains overloaded doctors to deploy time-saving communication tools and techniques with their patients. In doing so, he coaches physicians to take control of their schedule, achieve better outcomes for their patients, demystify complicated clinical encounters and reduce burnout.
about
I was 40 years old when I packed up and moved across the country to start Medical School.
I arrived with a real sense of calling as a doctor. In my back pocket I had a BA in Art History and a Master’s degree in Social Work. I didn’t need a Science degree to get into Med school, but I sure needed one on the first day.
It was a challenging journey but when I finished, I moved back to my hometown to complete a residency in Family Medicine.
As a resident, I noticed the many comments I received on my last name.
“You should be a cardiologist, or a pediatrician,” they said, if they even got my name right. I got Greyheart and, of course, Braveheart (ugh, that terrible movie!) Goodheart is a tough one because when I reply “Great, not Good,” I sound like I’m full of myself.
What I could not have anticipated was the comfort my name would give patients, especially at 2AM in the hospital. Patients and their familiies would ask me about my name, or comment that I must be a good doctor with my name, and the small talk helped initially-nervous patients relax and tell me what brought them to the ER.
Nowadays, I work alongside the city’s 5 percent most complex patients with medical, mental health and psychosocial issues, using strengths-based and trauma-informed practice through a social justice lense.
I live with my beekeeper husband, Brandford, and our Golden Retriever pup Vince.
– Marcus Greatheart