I was waiting for a delivery the other day so I wandered over to the hospital library to read some journals while waiting. I grabbed a recent issue of Medical Economics and read.
For those not in medicine, MedEc is a journal that is a mixture of business articles and essays reassuring us that we have chosen a noble field. Well, one essay was an internist talking about how to handle difficult patients (a subject which is of interest to every field within medicine...except pathology). And she ended it as saying these patients present us with the chance to show some grace.
In my current position, I have plenty of opportunities to show grace. Last weekend, I got multiple phone calls from this one patient. I finally told her Sunday to call first thing today and we'd get her in. She called 3 minutes after the phone lines opened and I saw her this morning.
Not an easy patient. Multiple psych issues on top of multiple medical issues. But she likes me and hasn't done some of the stunts that she has for other docs (hence, the reason why she has been booted out of many docs' practices).
And she's not my only one like that. I haven't figured out why, but the difficult and crazy people like me. Maybe like seeks out like. ;)
2 comments:
I think they spend the day driving back and forth between our offices.
I've had the opportunity to show a lot of "grace" lately. I'm not sure it's my forte. And for some reason crazy people like me too. I think I should maybe analyze that about myself. But I think I'm too scared of what I'd find. :) Good luck with all of your patients!
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