Excellence in Healthcare, Geriatric Medicine
Wichita Business Journal | June 2021 | Excellence in Healthcare | Category: Geriatric Medicine
Michael (Mike) Shaw, PA-C, ABAAHP
Physician’s Assistant, Wichita
How did you choose a career in geriatric care? I was interested in geriatric medicine because I felt there were things that we could accomplish to help slow the rate of aging and loss of functionality, to allow individuals to maintain independence and freedom from disease. Traditional medicine can often approach geriatric care by managing symptoms and disease that is assumed to be a given result of aging. The approach we have at the Riordan Clinic is to address the aging process earlier, identify root causes of disease, maintain wellness, empower health, and create optimal aging. Quality of life is just as important as longevity of life.
What is your greatest professional achievement? The greatest achievement in my career is the realization that aging is more than a reactive approach of the natural progression of pathology-driven disease management. Instead, I focus on a proactive, causation-based approach of slowing the progression of biological aging in the body.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your career? Major insurers aren’t primed to cover proactive and preventive care. This creates an obstacle to care until someone gets to the point of having a diagnosis or disease, rather than correcting that course early in the process and helping them avoid that path altogether.
What is the best advice you would give to someone considering a career in geriatric care? I would tell them to step back and evaluate the patient, not with a reactive pathology approach, but from a proactive causation perspective.
Are you involved in the community? As a not-for-profit organization, the Riordan Clinic has a robust education program. I contribute as an author, speaker, podcast guest, and teacher for professionals shadowing at and learning from the clinic. I also work with the Wichita Police and Fire Departments to help provide annual physicals for their employees.
What do you like to do in your spare time? Walking, biking, gardening, and spending time with my children and grandchildren.
How has the pandemic affected your job? Thankfully, it has minimal impact. We are in an environment where we have been able to continue seeing patients and providing quality health care services.
