lightning and thoughts.

Ahh, Memorial Day: the perfect time to hang out with family and reflect on a busy week (and in this case, also a prime time to sit on a porch and watch a lightning storm). This past week has brought me through orthopedics, cardiology, family medicine, and gastroenterology, and they all offered more insight into health care than I ever anticipated. I experienced grumpy doctors, grumpy patients, flawed insurance systems, and dramatic nursing staffs, but was also exposed to some truly great physicians who deeply care for their patients and seek to do more than eradicate disease.

Often times, there is a big difference between simply treating an illness and truly caring for a patient. I’m learning that it’s not all about pharmaceuticals, but so many doctors just hear the symptoms and rip off a page of their prescription pad without sincerely attempting to comfort the patient. Patients are people; along with medical care, they seek compassion and encouragement from their doctor, but not all physicians offer this kind of deeper healing; they make it through the exam, give the scientific answer, document all the necessary notes for reimbursement, and call in the next patient.
I am realizing that— with or without our approval— time passes and we all get older. Every day I am getting closer to having to make a decision about what my chosen career will be, and it’s a little bit scary. If I do end up following this M.D. track, I still have no idea what I will to specialize in, but I’m not totally worried yet. What I do know is that I want to be a doctor that patients brag about, one that looks at an undergraduate shadow and says, “You’re learning from a great Doc.” That is how I’ve been able to determine which days I need to pay more attention—when a patient looks at me and says how great their doctor is. Obviously, they’re doing something right, and I want to learn what it is.