Specialty Internal Medicine Facility Roseville Medical Center Department of Medicine - Hospital Based Services Address 1600 Eureka Road Roseville CA 95661 Map & Directions

My Profession

I am a hospitalist. A hospitalist is a physician who specializes in the care of hospitalized patients as well as adult patients with medical problems in the Emergency Department. This allows me to specialize and become an expert in a rather narrow spectrum of disease and provide our inpatients with the highest quality of care. I have been a hospitalist since 1996 and I estimate that I have taken care of the following:

• 250 patients with MLS
• 400 patients with Strokes
• 330 patients with Congestive Heart Failure exacerbation
• 650 patients with exacerbation of COPD
• 500 patients with pneumonia
• 1000 patients with Chest Pain of unclear etiology
• 1000 patients with sepsis
• 620 patients with a gastrointestinal bleed
• 250 patients with a broken hip
• 500 patients with delirium
• 1500 frail elderly patients with multiple ongoing issues
• 200 patients with Acute renal failure
• 200 patients with ileus or partial bowel obstruction
• 150 patients with Pancreatitis
• 150 patients with diabetic ketoacidosis

I have also seen some uncommon diagnosis including: Miller-Fischer syndrome, Jacob-Creitzfeld disease, Guiane-Barre syndrome, adult diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis, status epileptics, conversion disorder, meningitis-viral, bacterial and fungal, psycogenic vomiting, thrombotic thrombocytopenia purpura, Pott’s disease, botulism food poising, hepes encephalitis, mucormycosis, vental-septal defect, endocaridtitis, and abscess of the liver, brain and lung.

I enjoy being a hospitalist because I am able to make a huge difference in my patients' lives. I know most patients come to the hospital in crisis and I am able to help them get better and out of crisis. I especially enjoy meeting patients in the Emergency Department-formulating a plan and getting the patients well enough so that they can return home.

As a hospitalist, I round on patients seven to fourteen days in a row and during this time I spend several evenings working in the Emergency Department admitting patients. As I said earlier, I enjoy meeting patients in the ER-developing a plan and following the patient so that they get well and go home.

My Credentials

Medical school	UC Davis School of Medicine, Davis, CA
Internship	UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA
Residency	UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA
Board certification	Internal Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine

My Practice Philosophy

I like working with the patients or their families and developing a plan together. This requires that the patient be active and educated in their disease process. My biggest ally in getting patients well and keeping them well is an educated patient or educated family.

My Tenure With Kaiser Permanente

I joined Kaiser Permanente during my residency at UC Davis Medical Center. Kaiser Permanente was and is the only community-based hospital that the medicine residency is associated with. Kaiser Permenente has always provided the residents with excellent training with wonderful role models in their physicians, and an excellent standard of care. I was lucky enough to be selected to join Kaiser the same year I finished my residency even though there were 24 residents who also finished that year. Although many applied to work for Kaiser in the Sacramento valley, only two were selected to do so. When I joined, I started working in the primary care clinic and then switched over to become a hospitalist when the hospitalist program started in 1996.

Why I Like Practicing Medicine at Kaiser Permanente

I love practicing medicine with Kaiser Permenente for many reasons. All I have to worry about are my patients, their medical issues, and how to best take care of them. I have the freedom to get any test I feel is appropriate for my patients. I receive generous support for my continuing medical education. I receive generous support from my sub-specialty colleagues and have never felt alone in practicing medicine. I have access to cutting edge information technology. Kaiser Permenente has always stressed quality first in patient care.

My Professional Interests and Affiliations

I belong to the American College of physicians. I am also a member of our Palliative Care service which provides patient and family education for patients whose disease is not responding to curative treatment. I am a trainer for and teach a course called “Educating Physicians for end of Life Care”. I have also completed a course called “Fundamentals of Critical Care Support”.

My Personal History

I am happily married and my wife and I have three wonderful boys. My wife works as a high school teacher. My oldest son is in high school and enjoys playing soccer. My middle son loves to play basketball and everybody in my house is a Kings fan. We speak two languages in our house-Japanese and English. My wife was originally from Japan and my kids go to Japanese school on Saturdays.

What all patients should do while in the hospital.

1. Bring in a complete list of medications.
2. Write down all your questions so that we can go over them.
3. If your loved one is a patient who is elderly or suffers from a memory impairment-please bring in favorite items from home-it helps them feel secure in an unfamiliar environment.
4. If the patient is not on any dietary restriction families can bring in comfort foods for the patient to eat.

What all patients should expect to happen while they are in the hospital.

1. Their primary care physician should receive a copy of their history and physical and a copy of their Discharge Summary.
2. Their primary care physician can be involved in any major decision.
3. Patients will leave with a follow up appointment in hand at the time of discharge with either their primary care provider or a sub-specialist.
4. Their care does not stop when they leave the hospital-that often a plan of care will be outlined that goes forward.

Some links that I would recommend:

American Association of Retired Persons for geriatric related issues
American Heart Association for issues relating to your heart. There is also a link to information about strokes.
Amercian Diabetes Association
American Lung Association

Be sure to visit the New Kaiser Permanente Website for additional information regarding appointments, prescriptions, health education classes and other health-related topics. You can also click on my department link above to receive additional health information.

To choose your own personal physician, click here.

Checklist for New Members

About Your Office Visit

Prevention Information on Your Registration Slip

Disclaimer
If you think you have a MEDICAL OR PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY, CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY or go to the nearest hospital. DO NOT attempt to access emergency care through this web site. An emergency medical condition is a medical or psychiatric condition that manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that you could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in any of the following: serious jeopardy to your health, serious impairment to your bodily functions, or serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part. An emergency medical condition is also "active labor," which means a labor when there is inadequate time for safe transfer to a Plan hospital (or designated hospital) before delivery or if a transfer poses a threat to the health of the member or unborn child.

This site may contain links to other web sites outside of www.permanente.net. Kaiser Permanente has no control over the content or the availability of these sites, and is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites. Web links are provided as an educational tool, and should not be relied upon for personal diagnosis or treatment. A link or reference to a web site should not be construed as an endorsement of the site or its contents. Any medical content that you feel may be important to your health should always be discussed with your Kaiser Permanente physician.