This wonderful statement was said to me at a patient appointment the other day. These words both fill me with happiness and joy and sadness at the same time. I am thrilled to hear them, but I find it unsatisfying and somewhat sad that I was the first person to take this patient’s concerns seriously and even bother to address them. This patient had been to so many doctors and desperately attempted to ask so many questions, all for naught. She left every previous physician office with no answers and only more frustrations rather than solutions.

This is NOT how it is supposed to be folks! We are supposed to listen! We are supposed to be invested! We are supposed to love our job enough to do it well and to the fullest of our capability! We are not supposed to just barely show up as if we are forcing ourselves through drudgery or see so many patients in a day that we just file them through like some sort of herd. We need to listen. We need to provide individualized, thorough, compassionate care to every single patient that walks in the door. We need to let go of any preconceived notions that we may have heard elsewhere or told by someone else. We need to let go of any held on judgements based on previous experience. The only person that matters is that patient that walks in the door. Let’s get our crap together people and do the job that we were meant to do.

If you are a patient out there who has felt neglected, frustrated, and not listened to, please reach out until you find a physician that does listen. You are worth it!

Ponder this for a moment and have an amazing day.

Dr. Katz