Ask Dr. Hallberg: A doctor's accoutrements change with the times

Dr. Jon Hallberg
Dr. Jon Hallberg is assistant professor in family medicine at the University of Minnesota, and medical director at Mill City Clinic. He is a regular medical analyst on MPR's All Things Considered.
Photo courtesy of Dr. Jon Hallberg

The classic doctor's black bag became a symbol of medicine. Like many symbols of past generations, it is all but gone. Now your doctor is just as likely to carry a backpack that can fit a laptop or an iPad.

Some thoughts in the New York Times from Abraham Verghese on what doctors carry has Dr. Jon Hallberg thinking about the old doctor's bag: what it symbolizes and what tools he still needs to do his work.

Hallberg is a physician in family medicine at the University of Minnesota and medical director of the Mill City Clinic.

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