Overwhelmed and uninspired by lack of coordinated care: a call to action for new physicians

In this commentary, the author argues that medical students and residents often find themselves overwhelmed with the realities of facilitating coordinated care. He suggests that the difficulty in obtaining outside records for newly transferred patients leads to both unnecessary duplication of procedures and learned helplessness for new physicians. He provides examples of care coordination challenges by describing his five-hour attempt to obtain the medical records and brain biopsy slides for a transfer patient. He points out that practical solutions to these challenges have already been proposed but that their implementation remains a challenge given the many invested stakeholders. He calls on medical students and residents to join together with patients, community advocates, departmental leaders, and health system administrators to demand changes to the care coordination system that will ultimately provide patients with more efficient and appropriate medical care.