LENEXA, KS, September 17, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Paula Lou Nauer, MD, with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Dr. Nauer celebrates many years' experience in her professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes she has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Dr. Nauer was inspired to pursue a career in medicine by her family doctor who delivered her in March 1949 and treated her and her family from then until she left the community after college graduation. She grew up on a farm in western Kansas and attended Jennings Rural High School where she graduated with a class of 24. Following graduation, she attended Fort Hays Kansas State College where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1971. Her love of science and memories of the comprehensive care provided by her family doctor led her to attend the University of Kansas Medical Center (1971-1974) where she received her Doctor of Medicine degree. In medical school, she was fascinated by all the fields of medicine but her childhood perception of a doctor caring for all ages for all reasons influenced her to choose a residency in the developing specialty of Family Practice. She had the honor of being accepted into Goppert Family Care Center (GFCC), a new family practice program established by Dr. Jack Stelmach, a prominent member in the developing field and a president of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). This enabled her to work directly with this nationally recognized leader and his chosen faculty.
She was board certified in Family Practice in 1978 and started a private practice in Prairie Village, Kansas where she was joined a year later by another GFCC graduate, Dr. Roger Bruning. They ran the practice, Village Family Practice, for 20 years. During that time she also worked in an Urgent Care and worked part-time as an Emergency Room Physician. When running a private practice was no longer feasible because of interference from managed care, insurance companies and government regulations the partners sold their practice to a local hospital, Shawnee Mission Medical Center. This move freed them from the business and financial duties of running a private practice but as employed physicians their practice was governed by the oversight of hospital accountants. Dr. Nauer quickly left the employed physician business model position and joined Encompass Medical Group, a privately owned group of physicians in Lenexa, Kansas where she was once again able to practice where decisions were made by physicians rather than accountants. Unfortunately this situation was eventually disrupted by the introduction of the electronic medical record (EMR) which steadily eroded time away from direct patient care. The practice of medicine became so detached from patient care and so dependent on data entry in an EMR that she felt she was no longer able to provide patient care as it had been instilled in her by her training and by the model of care demonstrated by her family doctor. As the growing demands and inefficiency of the EMR continued to erode into the practice of medicine, she regretfully made the decision to retire prematurely in 2015 after 12 years with Encompass.
In Family Practice, board recertification is required every 7 years. Dr. Nauer remained board certified throughout her career and is still a member of the AAFP. She was a member of the American Medical Association, the Kansas Medical Society (KMS), and the local Johnson County Medical Society throughout her career. She enjoyed serving as Physician of the Day in the Kansas Legislature when time allowed. She was a Johnson County Representative for the House of Delegates for the KMS from 1989 to 2008 and was Johnson County Councilor to the KMS from 1996 to 2002. Following retirement she started to serve on the Board of the International Essential Tremor Foundation.
Science and medicine have always fascinated Dr. Nauer but she has also found time to pursue other interests such as travel, photography, scuba diving, underwater photography, sky diving, star gazing, playing piano, and enjoying the outdoors. She was able to combine two of these passions, medicine and scuba diving, by adding certification in diving medicine by Human Underwater Biology to her degrees.
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Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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