Family Physician Q&As
Dr. DeVry C. Anderson - February 2012
DeVry C. Anderson, MD, started his career as a military surgeon, completing an internship in orthopedic surgery before serving in the military. He went back to complete a family medicine residency in 2009 and now serves as a military surgeon for the Warrior Transition Brigade, Fort Hood, TX, and as owner and chief medical officer for Quick Care Walk In Clinic, North Austin, TX. Dr. Anderson uses his training for the management of simple fractures and common sports injuries, occasionally working the sidelines for high school sporting events. He also has Federal Aviation Administration designation as an Aviation Medical Examiner, which allows him to offer health care to both military and civilian pilots. Through his two practices, he is able to serve two very distinct medical communities. At his military practice, Dr. Anderson focuses on full-spectrum adult medicine and flight medicine, often seeing issues common to pilots, soldiers and veterans returning from war, including behavioral health and sports injury components coupled with routine health maintenance and screening. The Quick Care clinic services a predomantly Spanish-speaking and underserved population, and the care is focused on urgent care medicine, patient education and access to care for a population that might otherwise only be able to utilize the emergency room for routine care.
Q: What led you to practice family medicine?
Dr. Anderson: I originally began my medical career as a surgeon, however, after multiple military deployments, my previous medical lifestyle began to weigh heavily on my family. I entered the family medicine residency because of my desire to build my career around my own family life, not the other way around.
Q: How have things changed since you entered the field?
Dr. Anderson: Nation-wide health care reform coupled with the transition to the patient-centered medical home has been the hallmark of the past three years of family and primary care medicine. Increasingly, the primary care physician is being relied upon to be the hub of patient care and the portal of entry for every other level of specialty care medicine. There has likewise been increased utilization of physician extenders, such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurse case managers and clinical social workers, to augment the practice of family physicians. These extenders have in no way replaced the family doctor, but rather they have served to magnify our ability to serve larger patient populations.
Q: What would you tell an undecided medical student who is considering family medicine?
Dr. Anderson: Family and primary care medicine provide a unique opportunity to directly interact with and impact the community in which you work. Family physicians are central to the provision of health care and we are typically the first contact the patient has with the health care system. Because of the broad training we receive in family medicine residencies, family physicians are really able to branch off into any number of unique practice niches. You will find family physicians in the emergency room and practicing obstetrics and office gynecology, behavioral health, aviation medicine, urgent care medicine, preventive/travel medicine and sports medicine, as well as in health care administration roles and hospital leadership roles. There is no other specialty that offers the diversity in practice and lifestyle as family medicine.
