349 - New Clinician Spotlight: Dr. Lauren Hall

Dr. Lauren Hall, a new physician with UnityPoint Clinic Family Medicine - Mount Vernon, joins Dr. Arnold to talk about her background, clinical and personal interests, what led her to UnityPoint Health and much more.

If you would like to schedule an appointment with Dr. Hall, call UnityPoint Clinic Family Medicine – Mount Vernon at (319) 895-8841 . 

This is another episode in a segment on the podcast called "New Clinician Spotlight." In these episodes, Dr. Arnold will sit down with new clinicians at UnityPoint Health - Cedar Rapids and get to know them as a clinician and as a person.

If you have a topic you'd like Dr. Arnold to discuss with a guest on the podcast, shoot us an email at stlukescr@unitypoint.org.

Transcript

Dr. Arnold 0:07

This is LiveWell Talk On... New Clinician Spotlight. I'm Dr. Dustin Arnold, Chief Medical Officer at Union Point Health St. Luke's Hospital. Today's episode is another installment and series on the podcast where we sit down with new clinicians at UnityPoint Health, Cedar Rapids, and get to know them as a clinician and as a person. Our guest on today's episode is Dr. Lauren Hall, a physician at UnityPoint Clinic Family Medicine - Mount Vernon. Dr. Hall, welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 1 0:30

Thank you for having me.

Dr. Arnold 0:32

Where are you from?

Speaker 1 0:33

I'm from Illinois, small town about two hours east of here.

Dr. Arnold 0:36

Okay.

Speaker 1 0:36

And where'd you do undergrad and I did undergrad at the University of Illinois, also called the U of I, which was very confusing when I first moved here to Iowa because it's referred to that as a University of Iowa.

Dr. Arnold 0:50

It's I mean, it's a lot of Hawkeyes don't understand that their school is actually SUI, State University of Iowa on the charter. And University of Illinois is U of I.

Speaker 1 1:03

So I'm correct. So then I will not start telling that.

Dr. Arnold 1:08

As a diehard Notre Dame fan, I like to point that out to the Hawkeye fans. But yeah, go on sorry.

Speaker 1 1:12

You're good. Um so I did undergrad at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Urbana. After that, um I took a couple years off. I worked and I was a medical scribe, decided finally that I wanted to do medicine, went to medical school at Southern Illinois University down in Springfield. Springfield, yeah. And then I couples matched here to University of Iowa with my now husband Bennett, who's in Obi-Gan.

Dr. Arnold 1:37

Oh, and where does he practice at?

Speaker 1 1:39

He just graduated, so technically he is not working right now. Um he uh is gonna be starting at the university though in August.

Dr. Arnold 1:48

Okay, cool. Um, do you did did did you see yourself going into primary care? How did you end up doing family practice?

Speaker 1 1:57

Yeah, great question. I so I didn't always see myself going into medicine. I found myself there. Um I always loved biology and science, ended up studying nutrition in undergrad, and realized that I really like the interface of nutrition with health. So that's how I ended up in medicine. But from there, family medicine spoke to me most because it has its foundation in preventative care. Um, and that's one of my passions. And so that's how I ended up with family medicine specifically. Uh, in addition to preventative care, it also lets me do one of my other clinical interests, which is women's health.

Dr. Arnold 2:28

So you did your residency at the University of Iowa?

Speaker 1 2:31

Correct.

Dr. Arnold 2:31

And you ended up in Mount Vernon with Family Practice Clinic. Tell me about that clinic. Uh it seems, you know, going way back to that my friends down there, a lot of them have retired, but uh the clinic's grown, like they have uh mental health in the clinic. Uh I mean it's a full spectrum care.

Speaker 1 2:49

Yeah, it's uh it's an excellent clinic. I actually ended up there and at UnityPoint um because of a colleague, so a spokesperson, um Dr. Stein. She was uh my senior resident. And so I actually was interested in UnityPoint and that clinic specifically because of her. Um and yeah, we do a lot there. It's been a really interesting switch for me going from a tertiary care center in patient medicine to the Mount Vernon clinic uh because there's not a lot around Mount Vernon. The closest uh even urgent cares are about 20 minutes away, um, either in you know, Solon, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City. And so we get a lot of walk-ins, which I at first was not expecting necessarily, but I really enjoy those visits actually.

Dr. Arnold 3:32

Did you tell me, did you have the aha moment when you coming from a tertiary center where you're like, wow, these doctors that work in these smaller towns do a lot of cool stuff.

Speaker 1 3:44

Yes. Did you have that moment? Yeah. Yeah. Um I don't know how in the weeds you want me to get. Just a lot of, again, walk-ins where people will fall and hit their head and they don't want to go to the ER and right because it's far away. Um if the tertiary care center you're there, you get the CT scan no matter what, because it's it's if you if you don't, there's no excuse. The CT scanner's right there. Versus in Mount Vernon, it's more of a discussion with the patient of how high risk are they and do you really need to tell them they have to go by ambulance, or can we try to manage this differently? Um, or things like again, lots of broken bones, fractures, um uh abscesses, that procedures, uh suturing, lots of yeah, lots of acute care things.

Dr. Arnold 4:30

No, I've uh you know, I've had that experience. I remember my aha mole, I was moonlighting as a resident down in a tumwa uh for Dr. Wayne and Dr. Blue, they were pulmonologists. And I was like, whoa, these guys are good. You know, because you're in the training center, you think that's the ivory tower. And you know, if you're not at the U or you know, a big hospital, then you must not be that good a doctor, right? You know, you have that preconception coming up uh of training, and it's a great feeling when you have that aha moment. It's r you really it for me, it really means like I was part of something special. And I I I will never forget that. You you mentioned women's health. What are some other clinical interests you have?

Speaker 1 5:16

Women's health is a big one, and so that and what does that mean? That I do prenatal care. Um, we also are doing colposcopies, IUD removals, insertions, and then codons, um, and then endometrial biopsies. So lots of women's health. Um, but then I really enjoy, like I said, preventative care. So I do really try to talk about lifestyle with all my patients, um, whether they want to or not. I I the phrase I use often is I'm gonna keep bothering you about this. That's my job, whether it's smoking cessation or um, like I said, lifestyle changes with eating or exercise. So weight management becomes a big part of um my clinical interest as well.

Dr. Arnold 5:53

Well, you know, for me, it's interesting that you had the nutrition background because I'm of the generation over, you know, over 30 years ago, medical school curriculum for nutrition was biochemistry, carbohydrates, you know, fats, proteins, you know, and how metabol. We we got very little.

Speaker 1 6:15

And and still today there's very little unless you specifically go out and seek it. I it is increasing. What by the time I left medical school, there was some curriculum being built around that that was more applicable to patients. Um, but it I think it still is lacking to some degree. And preventative care in general is not uh necessarily reimbursed as well by our society or valued as highly by our society or the system. So it's it often takes a sideline. It's also preventative care and nutrition, it's hard to prove a negative. What I mean by that is if you prevent something from occurring, like a heart attack or a stroke, sometimes it can be difficult on an individual basis to say it would have occurred had you not let a health advice, had you stopped smoking.

Dr. Arnold 7:00

So it's not glamorous when you prevent illness, you know. Uh rescuing someone from an acute illness is a little bit more measurable. No, I yeah, that's that's a great analogy. Um how's the transition from academic training to in practice? How's it gone?

Speaker 1 7:20

It's going well. It's it's everyone says the first two years of the hardest, you are just I and that has been true so far. Uh you're just learning a lot being on your own and not having that person to constantly not even change your plan, because by the end of residency, mostly you're managing things on your own. But to get that stamp of approval, um, you're not really having that on every plan. And so it takes a little bit of time to build confidence. But I um like I said, Dr. Stein is at my clinic with me, so I often have if I do have a question, I do have somebody to ask.

Dr. Arnold 7:51

And it's an exciting time, you know. It's uh it it should be. I I hope you're having fun. Yeah, you know, because it is exciting. Um now you mentioned um preventative health and women's health. Are there any other areas that you find uh a special interest in?

Speaker 1 8:13

I think the weight weight management, that's and that is that's preventive in a sense because with uh reducing weight, there's a lot of other conditions that can be improved or prevented, but it is its own, it's its own, you know, um visit in itself.

unknown 8:28

Yeah.

Speaker 1 8:30

Have you so you kind of grew up with the GLP ones, kind of through training and yeah, but we couldn't prescribe them because they weren't they weren't really that accessible for weight management, um pretty much only diabetes, and even now we still run into that where insurance is very rarely will cover them for weight management. Um, but before they were, you know, a thousand dollars a month, which was no one ever wouldn't be able to afford that. Now they can be closer to 50 to 150, depending. That's still a very large amount for a patient. So I never ask patients to pay out of pocket. There are other medicines that we can use besides GLP ones, but um some patients they they've they were spending $150 a month on a trainer, and so they they are willing to kind of switch those funds.

Dr. Arnold 9:16

Um the orals, uh what's been your ex kind of getting off the subject here, but since I have a captive audience, what what what uh what's been your experience with the orals as far as the like the oral semaglutide insurance up at the end of the day? Yeah, I mean, you know, be working on the hospital medicine side, you know, haven't had a lot of patients on them. Um, you know, I read the other day one in five patients is on uh a GLP1, uh, which you know that wasn't reference, that was social media, you know, how accurate it is. But definitely see more from the hospital. But I know the orals are on the market now. Have you used them at all?

Speaker 1 9:53

Yeah, I definitely use them a lot. I'd say the advantages is some patients don't want to inject themselves, and so the orals can have an advantage there. You can also stop the oral medication more easily. Once the injection's in, if you do have a side effect, you can't you can't take it out. You have to go through, you know, seven days of having that medicine. Um, and then they were they're a little bit less expensive when paying out of pocket. Let's say $300 per month, $200 per month, $150 versus the injectables are usually closer to that $300 to $500 range. Um, but I've had very good response. They're quite effective, and patients seem to really like them.

Dr. Arnold 10:32

We see a lot of patients on there. Um what what motivates you in the clinic? What what gets you there every day? I mean you're you're you're new, so it's exciting, but you know, I think as you'll traverse your career, you'll you'll find there are things that re-energize you. Um I know that for me it's being around the medical students when they come by, you know, I just enjoy that. Uh I like the people I work with, you know, so I've got a lot of opportunities to get uh re-energized each day. What for you, what what kind of makes motivates you?

Speaker 1 11:07

When I get feedback from a patient that I really made a difference, that I really helped them, or that they felt even if they just felt better, if they felt listened to, that really puts a spring in my step for the rest of the day. Maybe a couple days even. Um, and then I also we we're taking medical students, we've had three this year, and that really is energizing because it kind of brings back some of the excitement of learning new things. Um and patients seem to enjoy it too, because we tend to explain more when there's a medical student around, and that knowledge also carries around to the patient.

Dr. Arnold 11:41

Yeah, absolutely. And I it's it's good for me after all these years for someone to go, why do you do that? You know, I'm like, well, because I always did it this way. You know, it's nice for me to stop and I don't know, I really enjoy that well. Um it, you know, we ask what if there's one message you could provide for patients about their health, what would it be?

Speaker 1 12:02

Along the lines of lifestyle, I would say move, even if it's not a lot, a very small amount can make a big difference. Um, for example, I tell patients to quote mini exercise where they do 10 squats after each meal or they walk around the block or just down the driveway after each meal, and then um think about what you're putting in your body and try to make sure it's a healthy, balanced diet.

Dr. Arnold 12:23

You know one thing I always told patients, you know, when you go to Target, don't try to find a close parking spot. If the weather's nice, park out by the street. Yeah, you know, and just have a nice walk to the something small you can do. Yeah. Um, but uh you're right though.

Speaker 1 12:39

Again, our society is built in a way that it's very difficult for us to take the time to be healthy from a lifestyle perspective. Um, and also it's it's more expensive to be healthy for a lot of people as well. Like uh fresh, healthy foods are more expensive than some that are less healthy and less convenient to be.

Dr. Arnold 12:58

Isn't that crazy? Yeah, I mean it really is. Um you know, I I went to a lecture, oh gosh, maybe two years ago, and it was a gentleman he was uh doing it on. Um it was it was it he was preventive medicine, but it was about macro uh foods and you know the whole foods you can recognize. Okay, that's a tomato, that's an orange, as opposed to a Dorito, you can't recognize really what's in it, right? But you know, he had this great analogy. He said, you know, when he was a kid, his grandmother made mayonnaise for the homemade mayonnaise, and he he would have to stir it up before he'd serve it because it would settle out, you know. And then he gave the analogy that like mayonnaise that we buy in the stores is emulsified and it stays together. And you know, what does an emulsifier do to your st your intestines? Who knows? You know, it was a really interesting story about how processed foods are just bad.

Speaker 1 13:54

Yeah. And it's hard because we don't have a lot of data, and one of the other things that's uh uh can be problematic in our current system is misinformation as well on online, um, and even from providers or friends. Uh and we just don't have a lot of data on some things, and sometimes we don't have answers for patients on some of that, too.

Dr. Arnold 14:14

Well, a couple other fun questions here. You your your husband, Bennett. Um, do you have a family?

Speaker 1 14:21

Um we have two cats, we have two cats.

Dr. Arnold 14:23

Two cats.

Speaker 1 14:24

Um that's our it's just me, uh my husband and our two cats in our household right now. Um, and then we uh are very close to our family, so we are often traveling back to Illinois to visit our parents and siblings. Is he from Illinois as well? Yes. We met yeah, we met in medical school. Oh, cool.

Dr. Arnold 14:39

You know, two hours is perfect. Yeah, you know, it really is. Now home my my this is my hometown, so all my relatives are around. Um what are some of your hobbies? What do you do outside of medicine?

Speaker 1 14:51

So I like to do a lot of different things. I really like art. Um, so I will go to like a pottery class or a painting class. Oh wow. Uh I love hiking and nature. I love getting outdoors. I love eating and cooking and finding that balance between very healthy and flavorful, but still um sorry, very healthy but still flavorful and tasty. Uh go to a lot of national parks. I love games, euchre. If there's a euchre tournament, I will play. I'm not good, but I'll do it. Uh escape rooms, um, yeah.

Dr. Arnold 15:20

Euchre, that's interesting. When I was in college, you know, the fraternity, we I was so bad at it that like nobody wanted to play if I was at the table, you know, because I was just horrible at it. Uh I I have some post-traumatic stress from playing cards in college just because I was so horrible. Um well, Dr. Hall, thank you for joining me. That was very interesting. Welcome to the team. Uh it sounds like you've really established yourself in a short period of time there at the Mount Vernon Clinic. Uh, once again, this was Dr. Lauren Hall, a physician at UnityPoint Clinic Family Medicine, Mount Vernon. If you are interested in scheduling an appointment, Dr. Hall, call UnityPoint Clinic Family Medicine - Mount Vernon at 319-895-8841. Thank you for listening to LiveWell Talk On.... If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe. And if you want to spread the word, please give us a five-star review and tell your family, friends, neighbors, strangers about our podcast. We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever you get your podcast. Until next time, be well.