DR . WHO
( continued from page 37 ) he looked at the list and found he was on-call .
“ Of course , as a first-year intern , your worst fear is if there ’ s a code and people are crashing in the hospital , what do you do ? We had two codes that first day . That was the scariest experience as a medical student , intern , resident or physician , because you ’ re really put into the fire . It does really help build confidence after you ’ ve experienced the scariest thing you can on the very first day .”
Also during his first year , Dr . Kim and his first wife welcomed a baby girl , Jacquelyn . At the family ’ s first checkup , they were in for a surprise – another on the way ! Julia was born less than a year later ( so for about a week each year , his daughters are the same age ).
After finishing residency in 2001 , he worked as an attending in Phoenix for a few months before deciding he needed a change for the sake of his family ’ s health . “ You ’ re so accustomed to spending all that time in the sun , I was literally worried about my children ’ s skin health .”
His sisters and cousins still lived in Louisville and getting back to being around family again was appealing . Also in Louisville was his best friend and medical school roommate Dr . John Won Kim ( who had also been his kids ’ pediatrician ), and his wife Dr . Kimberly Hansford ( his kids ’ pediatric dentist ) and getting to be near them again was a major draw to come back to town . Plus , he missed the sense of connection to others that he ’ d felt in Kentucky , that he didn ’ t get out west .
“ I think it ’ s good to branch out a little bit , but then you find the good qualities about the people from Kentucky and especially in Louisville . You find that sense of community more than a place like Phoenix which has so many transient people coming from all around the country . I never felt that sense of community there , but Louisville is different . Whether it be sports teams or universities , there is a sense of community .”
Dr . Kim now practices with Baptist Health in an office with three nurse practitioners . He said it ’ s difficult to find other internal medicine physicians , and while his team is still looking for another to join them , it ’ s very rewarding to work with the nurse practitioners and other mid-level providers .
“ When I work with our nurse practitioners , my job is to make sure that we train them to be great . In the next five to 10 years , it looks like primary care is going to be managed by mid-level providers along with collaborating physicians to oversee things . You have nurse practitioners and mid-level providers that come out of training , and we put them to the test . Unfortunately , they don ’ t always have the opportunity for the collaborating physician to oversee their competencies and skill sets and how they ’ re taking care of the patient . As more primary care is placed on the shoulders of nurse practitioners , we have to make sure that they ’ re well trained .”
The teaching aspect is something Dr . Kim loves and said he makes sure there ’ s time in his day for them to ask questions , even pointing out the barber ’ s chair in his office reserved for those stressed or nervous who need a listening ear .
38 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE