Ask a Doc

Dr. Susan Klee Anderson is Family Medicine physician who joined the Duluth Clinic in 2008. Her practice includes obstetrics. The 31-year-old physician  works at SMDC Medical Center's Duluth Clinic-Lakeside.

Dr. Anderson grew up in Rochester, Minn. She earned her undergraduate degree from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., and her medical degree from the University of Minnesota, studying both in Minneapolis and in Duluth. Her residency was with the Duluth Family Practice Residency Program. She started her practice in June 2008.

Dr. Anderson is married and starting a family. She enjoys spending time with her husband and their dog doing outdoor activities, such as hiking, running and canoeing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

To ask Dr. Anderson a question, simply complete this online form. You'll get a personal e-mail reply and, with your permission, she'll add your question and her answer here.

Q. Why did you choose Family Medicine with obstetrics?
A. One of the reasons I chose to work in Family Medicine is because of the continuity of care you can provide for someone. I really enjoy working with younger women and part of the big events in their life is being pregnant and giving birth. I enjoy the obstetrical part of family practice because it fosters a good relationship with the patient, and I am able to provide care before, during, and after the pregnancy and take care of baby. It's very rewarding part of my practice.

Q. Why did you choose the Duluth Clinic?

A. I chose to work for the Duluth Clinic because they were able to provide the type of job I wanted. My ideal job was family medicine clinic with OB and without inpatient adult medicine. No one offered that type of job. Duluth Clinic said they were looking at a few changes, and maybe they could make this work and they did. I love it!

Q. As a new doctor, what's your practice like?

A. I have a lot of new patients I see every day, on average 3-5 new patients. Most of my patients are female and between the ages of 20-50. I do have another grouping of active young 70- to 90-year-olds. I have between 15-20 OB patients and add a new baby to the clinic about 1 time per month.

Q. Can you describe a typical work day? How many patients do you see in a day? What's their acuity? What kind of procedures do you do?
A. Clinic starts at 8 a.m. and my last patient is at 4 p.m. If I do not have an OB or newborn in the hospital, I leave home at 7:40 and go straight to the clinic. We use an electronic medical record in the clinic, and I template and type most of my notes. I am usually able to get out of clinic by 5:30 p.m.
I see patients every 20 minutes and new patients for 40 minutes. I average 17 patients a day. More and more of the patients I see are my own, but 25 to 30 percent of them on slower days are my partners. I am seeing them usually for acute care…colds, coughs, headache, etc. Acuity is moderate. Most patients come in with more than 1 thing that needs to be addressed.
The main procedures in the clinic are mole removal, IUD placement, endometrial biopsy, wart treatment, casts and splints. Circumsicion and delivery in the hospital.

 
Q. What's your call schedule?
A. Call is 1 in 6 during Monday-Thursday, and 1 in 6 weekends, which are Friday- Sunday. We no longer do inpatient adult or pediatric medicine; our patients are seen by the hospitalists. So when we are on call, it is for patient calls and newborns. One other doctor in our clinic and I share OB call during the week, and OB weekend call is shared with the Hermantown clinic, so it's 1 in 6 or 7 weekends.

Q. What kind of facility do you work in? Does it have the right equipment and services for you to care for your patients?
A. In Lakeside, our new building opened in fall 2008, so things are really nice. It is not connected to the hospital. We have X-ray, lab, mammography, PT, and a pharmacy all on site.