RANDOLPH, Vt.—Bryan Smith, MD, has joined the team at Gifford Health Care, providing care to patients as a hospitalist at Gifford Medical Center.
An internal medicine physician, Smith has practiced hospital medicine for the better part of his career. He brings to his role at Gifford more than 20 years of experience, including most recently as clinical director of medicine at Palmerston North Hospital in New Zealand, as well as a commitment to providing the highest-quality care to all patients.
“I think of the practice of medicine as a calling and access to excellent health care to be a fundamental human right,” said Smith. “Because each of my patients historically has entrusted their care, and in many cases their lives, to me, I really am honored by this and indebted to them, and obligated to be the kind of doctor I would wish to have caring for me or my loved ones.”
Smith’s clinical interests include endocrinology, especially diabetes management; cardiovascular disease, particularly the management of congestive heart failure; and sepsis. He also is deeply committed to end-of-life and palliative services.
Smith’s approach to care is based on establishing a partnership with patients.
“I believe that 50 percent of good care is partnering with the patient in order to achieve the best possible outcome,” he said. “I will spend hours, if needed, to teach my patient what is wrong, including providing an elementary lesson in the underlying processes, what is being done to them, and what might be expected from here forward. I do a lot of education at the bedside.”
His experience “on the other side of medical care, as a patient,” he said, “has reinforced the notion that we are all perilously close to being at our most vulnerable. I would like to think that I bring this empathy to the bedside on a daily basis.”
Prior to his position at Palmerston North Hospital, Smith practiced internal medicine at the U.S. Veterans Administration Ambulatory Care Center in Pensacola, Fla. He previously held hospitalist and emergency medicine positions throughout the U.S., including in Florida, Washington, Nevada and Alabama. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine; earned his medical degree from University of South Dakota School of Medicine in Vermillion, S.D.; and completed his residency in internal medicine at Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham, Ala. He earned bachelor’s degrees from Eastern New Mexico University and University of South Dakota. When not at work, he enjoys spending time with family, boating, scuba diving, and learning to play the guitar.
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Gifford is a community hospital in Randolph, Vt., with family health centers in Berlin, Bethel, Chelsea, Randolph, Rochester, and White River Junction; and specialty services throughout central Vermont. A Federally Qualified Health Center and a Top 100 Critical Access Hospital in the country, Gifford is a full-service hospital with a 24-hour emergency department and inpatient unit; many surgical services; a day care; two adult day programs; and the 30-bed Menig Nursing Home, which was named by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best 39 nursing homes in the country in 2012. The Birthing Center, established in 1977, was the first in Vermont to offer an alternative to traditional hospital-based deliveries, and continues to be a leader in midwifery and family-centered care. The hospital’s mission is to improve individuals’ and community health by providing and assuring access to affordable, high-quality health care in Gifford’s service area.
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Maryellen Apelquist
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