It’s easy to get caught up in academic medicine. The variety of work is what always drew me in. One day you’re seeing patients of all ages. The next day, you’re working with medical students and sometimes even undergraduate students. Wednesday, you might be working with interns and residents. Thursday, you’re meeting with office staff and administrators working on practice redesign and quality improvement. Friday, I might be working on faculty initiatives. Every day, brings new and different challenges.
It’s a hectic pace, and one in which it’s easy to lose sight of what’s important and our motivations to get into medicine in the first place. For most of us, what initially drew us to medicine are the patients. For many, especially those that pursue specialty career paths, I imagine it’s not just the patients, but also specific disease states that drive their motivations. As a primary care physician, it’s not the disease, but the entire patient that I’m most interested in. When I look at the myriad of things I do, I’m starting to feel patient care is the most enjoyable part of my week. I really relish the variety of challenges I tackle every day but it’s helping patients overcome their own challenges which really brings a smile to my face.
Although I consider all my jobs important, this blog post is meant to be a self reminder to keep within my sights what’s most important ; the happiness and success of my patient and parallel to that, my own contentment.
Shab's Sanatorium 