What my patients mean to me

The best part about being a family doc is definitely my patients. I continue to be amazed when one of my patients returns to me for a visit after I have sent them off to the heart specialist, bone specialist, or blood specialist for a condition that I do not have the expertise to treat. Inevitably, after I ask them what the specialist recommended, they will tell me the prescribed treatment and say something like "But I told him, doc, that I wouldn't do anything until I talked to you." Flattering as this is, I remind the patient that I sent him or her to the specialist specifically for a recommendation that I wasn't able to make. However, it demonstrates the trust that my patients have in me and I hope that trust is a manifestation of the care they sense I have for them.

My patients are much more to me than a sore throat, diabetes, or a broken foot. Maybe it is because a family doctor has to focus on the whole person - there is no "part" we don't take care of - that I still look at my patients as whole people. This allows me to not get too upset when my patient with heart disease decides to stop taking his cholesterol medication. Yes, cholesterol lowering is important, but I can understand that the side effects from this medication make his quality of life so poor that it's just not worth it. This "holistic" approach satisfies the humanity of my profession, allowing me to become much more than a technician or an expert. I am a care provider in every sense.

Of course, that is not to say that I adore each of my patients. Many are challenging causing me to groan inwardly when I see them on my schedule. I never want to lose sight, though, of the individual person who has a completely unique make up, set of circumstances, and hopes and dreams for himself.