You may click on any of the above links for more information.  On the links page, you can click on Medline Plus and search any topic.

What is Infectious Diseases?  Infectious Diseases is the study, diagnosis, and treatment of serious infections.  It is a subspeciality of Internal Medicine.  In order to qualify to be board certified in Infectious Diseases, a physician must first become board certified in Internal medicine.  Infectious Diseases is often referred to as 'ID'.  An ID specialist my do many different things that are not typically associated with physicians.  The ID spcialist may serve as an advisor to a hospital for clustering of infections, do clinical research on wasy to improve treating infections, work with area healthcare orgainizations to assist in the community, provide educational programs for a variety of organizations, diagnose and treat infections, or act as a 'curbside consultant' to advise and answer questions to other physicians.

What kind of training does an Infectious Disease Physician have?  An Infectious Disease specialist will have completed at least 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, 3 years of Internal Medicine residency, and 2 years of Infectious Disease fellowship.  Once the ID specialist has completed his/her training, they are eligible to take the boards for Internal Medicne followed by those for Infectious Diseases.   Dr. Shadowen is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases.

How many Infectious Disease physicians are there in this area? As of this writing, there is one ID physician in this area. 

What is Epidemiology?  Epidemiology is the study and interventions involved in infections and their rise and fall.  It is the term we associate with 'epidemics' but is so much more.  It may encompass isolation procedures for hospitals; interventions to stop the spread of infections; predictions and study of trends of infections; advice to groups, healthcare facilities, or individuals to help decrease infections and resistant orgainsms.

 _______________________________________________________________________________

What is an A.R.N.P.?  A.R.N.P. stands for Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner.  It is an advance degree of nursing.  Nurse practitioners will be found in various places; communities, health departments, physician's offiices, emergency rooms, hospitals, or anywhere assistance with the care of the patient is needed.  A nurse practitioner must have a Masters degree in Nursing, 6 years of college.  Following this they may proceed to a Nurse Practitioner program.  You will find varied degrees among Nurse Practitioners, but rest assured, they are A.R.N.P.'s because they choose this path.

What does a nurse practitioner do?  Nurse Practioners, or N.P.'s do many different things.  Some may provide routine medical care in a primary care setting.  Some may work at a health department.   In our case, Lisa Hays, A.R.N.P. works in speicalty level medicine.  Her role is to assure the plan for your care is carried out.  She may do an initial assesment with our paitents or follow them up to keep us all on track!  She is an excellent communicator and provides a wonderful resource for information.  Our N.P. stays in contact with our physician frequently and finds those details out about patients; such as thier laboratory and x-ray results, history information, or outside records.  She is vital to keeping your care going smoothly and assuring important medical issues are addressed early. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

If I am traveling, why do I need to come see a doctor?  Our office has 2 major opinions about this question.  Firstly, if you are a part of a missionary team or traveling for business purposes, you have an obligation to many people.  It is your responsibility to carry out this obligation.  Becoming ill on a trip with something preventable, certainly interfers with your ability to fulfil your committment and obligation.  Secondly, if you are traveling for pleasure and can prevent an illness during that travel--or upon return to work and school after you return-why wouldn't you?!  There are many areas of the world that have serious, life threatening, or even chronic and fatal infections that can be easily acquired by the unexpecting traveler.  Such things as Malaria, Chagas Disease, Leshmaniasis, Dengue Fever, Yellow Fever, Schistomiasis, Typhoid Fever, SARS, Bird Flu, Hemorrhagic Fever, Hepatitis A and B, HIV, Hepatitis C, E. coli 0157:H7, Polio, Meningiococcus, Japanese Encephalitis Virus, and others!  It is the knowledge of how to avoid these infections coupled with vaccinations to provide immunity and medications to prevent infection that really can make a difference in your trip.  To help with all this, one needs an individual who is knowledgable about the infections, medications, vaccinations, regions of the world, and keeps up with changes such as outbreaks of infections in a real time fashion.   Where can you find such help?  The Infectious Disease Specialist who has a interest in and experience with Travel Medicine.  Not all ID specialists will be Travel Medicine Specialists.  Be sure to check out the qualifications of the physician advising you for your travel.  These issues are why you will find both Dr. Shadowen and Nurse Practitioner Hays are well versed in Travel Medicine, as well as our office certified as a Yellow Fever Vaccine Center.

 ________________________________________________________________________________

Can Dr. Shadowen take care of all my healthcare needs? Simply stated, NO!  Dr. Shadowen stays very busy trying to do just her specialty of Infectious Diseases, Healthcare Epidemiology and Travel Medicine.  She works to stay up to date on the issues of ID.  She does not do any primary care.