Profiles

Paul Baumert, Student Health Service

	Paul Baumert coordinates the primary health care for all University of Iowa athletes. Photo by Tom Jorgensen.

You could say that Paul Baumert plays a key role in devising strategy for the University of Iowa football team. No, Baumert is not a coach—he lets Kirk Ferentz and his staff handle the X’s and O’s—but as the primary health care physician for the Hawkeye squad, he takes care of the team’s general medical problems and illnesses, and keeps the athletic training staff and coaches informed on the availability of affected players.

Baumert, a staff physician at UI Student Health Service (SHS), coordinates primary care (all nonsurgical care) for all UI student athletes. The job is a good fit for Baumert, who has an expertise in sports medicine and has long held a fondness for his alma mater.

More than anything, Baumert enjoys the interaction with people that comes with health care practice—whether the patient is a star athlete or a top scholar. “This is a great place to practice medicine because of the people you get to meet,” he says. “I don’t have to travel the world; the world comes to me.”

Baumert recently sat down with fyi to discuss what’s new in SHS, his leadership role in a regional college health organization, and how he managed to receive a game ball after a key victory against the University of Wisconsin.

You coordinate the primary health care of the UI athletes—what does this entail?

It involves all of the nonsurgical aspects of their care—we handle the day-to-day medical issues of the athletes, including the urgent as well as the not-so urgent medical problems, and hopefully our care can help keep an athlete from having to miss a practice or game, or having to go to the emergency room for a more serious problem down the road. We have a number of primary care physicians on staff; and each physician is assigned to one or more athletic teams. We make sure that all athletes and teams have good primary medical coverage, and we consult with the athletic department to determine the level of on-site staffing needs for each game or match.

I take care of the medical duties for football, which involves a great deal of extra work throughout the year due to the number of players on the team and the year-round dedication that these athletes have to make to their sport. My work outside the student health clinic usually intensifies in early August and runs continuously through Thanksgiving, and a little beyond when bowl games are involved. Each physician on our staff communicates injury or illness situations with the athletic training staff and coaches—it keeps them informed on whether or not an athlete is ready to return to full or limited participation.

Football is such a high-impact sport. What sort of challenges does that pose in your role overseeing the team?

Most of the injuries that prevent an athlete from participating are orthopaedic, so primary care physicians don’t often have to make critical decisions regarding participation. With football, I have to make decisions regarding return-to-play following concussions, and when contagious medical illnesses develop, we have to work to limit the risk to the athlete as well as his teammates.  I think of my work with the athletes as really just good medicine that I would practice for any other person.

How do you become interested in this line of sports medicine?

I was never good at sports myself but I enjoyed the environment. I knew I did not want to be a surgeon—my dad was a meat cutter—and I really enjoyed the musculoskeletal aspect of medicine. I was one of those “weird” guys who spent an extra month in the cadaver lab, just to brush up on where everything was and how it worked!

Was it always a goal to come back to The University of Iowa?

I wouldn’t say it was a goal, but I’ve always had a fondness for the University. It’s a special, unique place—I’ve always been proud to say I was a student here. I was in private practice in Kansas City when I heard about the open position here and the opportunity to coordinate sports medicine care. I knew that coming back to Iowa City with my family—I have a wife and four children—would be much different than my days as a student, but once I came back, I knew I’d take the job in a minute if it were offered. I’ve been working here since 2000, and I have no regrets.

What do you like best about your job?

I like seeing patients. I like the interaction. It is still an awesome profession and a privilege, being a health care provider. If I had chosen a specialty with less patient interaction, I don’t think I could do it. I’m glad there are doctors who can sit in a dark room and look at x-rays, and others who can look through a microscope all day long—but that wouldn’t be me.

What’s going on in SHS?

We’re always looking at new and better ways to serve the student population. Rather than letting a corporate, “this is how we need to do things” attitude prevail, we are always seeking more input from the students we serve. The most important thing to them seems to be convenient, easy access to our services. They also want to be able to use high-tech ways to communicate with us, set up appointments, that sort of thing. The hospital is going to have a new electronic records system, so maybe we can make some of these technological advances happen. It’s the way of the world.

You are serving as president of the North Central College Health Association (NCCHA). What is that organization all about?

The American College Health Association connects college health services around the country, and Iowa is one of five states in its North Central group. Our region has big schools like The University of Iowa on down to schools with campus health care services directed by a single nurse. It’s interesting to hear how health care is provided within that full spectrum. The NCCHA meets as a board a few times a year to discuss issues within our region and on the national level, and we gain an overall sense of camaraderie. When there was a mumps outbreak a couple of years ago, our members were on the phone and sending us e-mail: what should we do, what should we look for, how can you help us?   We aim to reach out to those smaller schools, and offer support in any way we can.

What’s the most unexpected thing that’s ever happened to you on the job?

The football team experienced an influenza outbreak toward the end of the 2003 season. I’d never seen a flu outbreak in early November. I had to devise a strategy for isolating affected players and distributing limited flu medicine. The coaches and athletic staff followed my recommendations, and we had enough guys to make the road trip to Wisconsin—and after a week of unexpected turmoil, the Hawks won! That’s the only time in my life a coach has given me a game ball for my contribution to a victory. There’s no better feeling than knowing you probably had a positive impact on the outcome of a game as a team physician.

What’s the secret to doing your job well?

A cheerful heart is the best medicine—that’s somewhere in Proverbs. That’s partly what I try to bring to medicine every day. It is so important to be able to not take life so seriously, to laugh at yourself from time to time, and to use stories or laughter in positive ways, so patients know that you’re a real person.

by Christopher Clair

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