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Eglin doctor named physician of the year

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  • By Kevin Gaddie
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Just minutes before convening a weekly faculty meeting at Eglin's hospital in late February, Lt. Col. Patricia Goodemote got a phone call she couldn't put off.

"The residency administrator came in and said 'I have a call for you,'" she recalled, asking her to take a message. "She said 'no, you have to take this one.'"

It was from the military chapter of the Uniformed Services Academy of Family Physicians, telling Colonel Goodemote, the hospital's assistant program director of family medicine residency, she had been named 2011 Physician of the Year.

While she was on the phone, the administrator informed everyone at the meeting of the good news.

"I wasn't going to say anything," said Colonel Goodemote, "but when I came back in the room, everyone was clapping and congratulating me. I was very surprised and flattered."

Colonel Goodemote, one of more than 2,300 military family physicians within DoD, has been in her current job for the last four and a half years.  She works with a staff of 30 first-year residents (doctors who practice medicine under the supervision of fully licensed physicians), 12 faculty members and a behavioralist.

The Dell Rapids, S. D. native decided to join the Air Force after a trip to East Berlin as a ninth grader.

"I saw how much freedom the East Berliners lacked at the time, and really appreciated the freedoms we have in America," Colonel Goodemote said. "I knew this was in part due to the military, so I decided to join the Air Force ROTC once I started college."

Her calm voice, pleasant personality and well-articulated medical knowledge combine for a bedside manner suited to putting patients and co-workers alike immediately at ease around her.

"I train physicians to become family medicine physicians," Colonel Goodemote said. "They're already doctors when they graduate from medical school, but to be a family medicine physician they need another three years of training. My main day-to-day job entails preparing the residents so they will actually see patients in the clinic."

Areas the residents are trained in include: outpatient medicine - caring for patients with diabetes, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, allergies, ear infections, pregnancy and well child care.
 
They also learn casting of fractures, vasectomies, exercise stress tests (to evaluate for heart disease); and inpatient medicine - delivering babies, pneumonia, chest pain and kidney infections.

Colonel Goodemote and her staff guide the residents through their patients' problems and concerns until they become proficient enough to make proper diagnoses and correct decisions on their own.

"The residents work incredibly hard and do a lot of self-teaching," she said. "However, the faculty does a great job at helping the residents to identify their blind spots."

Those areas are gaps in their knowledge base, communication skills to improve patient relations, and insight into a broader perspective of how a patient's disease is affecting that particular patient because of their social support system, according to the doctor.

Faculty assistance in overcoming recurring issues includes discussions with the residents on the best approach to a problem; videotaping of patient session, with consent; and additional training, Colonel Goodemote said.

Colonel Goodemote knew Col. James Haynes, the program director, put her in for the award, but she didn't think she had a chance.

"I know there are a lot of family medicine doctors who work very hard and are good at what they do," the 18-year veteran said humbly. "I know some of the people who've won the award previously, and I don't feel I'm in that class."

She credited her staff for her receipt of the award, and described them as 'stellar.'

"I was the acting program director for the last six months while Colonel Haynes was deployed and I think the only way I was able to do that job is the other faculty members I work with are always looking to help in any way they can," she said. "They're constantly watching out for me and watching each other's backs."