I'm a small town OB. I literally cannot go out in public without seeing a patient or two. My kids are getting used to it. My husband laughs because if I see an obnoxious patient, I will use him as a shield so that she can't see me.
Going to a birthday party today for a friend's child. I delivered her...which is how we met. That's part and parcel of small town. There is a limited pool of people to be friends with...and there's a limited pool of docs. By necessity, we are friends with some of our patients. We work with our patients (I have delivered L&D nurses and have several of the unit clerks as patients).
It's hard, being both a friend and a doctor. I really hate operating on friends, although I have done it. I did one case last month on a friend and it went perfectly, although the night before I was nervous.
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That is difficult.
I'm blind without my glasses, and look very different without them. So my wife knows when I suddenly whip them off, it means I've sighted a patient and am trying to hide.
And my verification word is vigab. Oddly, this is also a new epilepsy drug.
I live in a small town too. I volunteer on the ambulance.
About a year ago, I was on an EMS forum and one of the Paramedics posted the question, "About a year and a half ago I transported a patient, about 3 months ago I ran into her at a party, she is cute and a lot of fun, would it be okay to date her?". He stated that in 10 years as a paramedic, it was the first time he had seen a former patient in real life.
It was amazing the number of urban paramedics who were swearing up and down that it would be unethical and he should stay as far away from her as possible.
I told them they were full of themselves. They are paramedics for pete's sake. Only people in Urban areas can believe that is possible to treat people and never see them outside life too.
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