|
medpundit |
||
 |
 |
|
Monday, May 06, 2002Doctor Ogden’s story is a good one, and it’s told well and fairly by Michael Winerip, the reporter. He started his practice in the 1970’s in a small town in western New York state, and was very successful. Unfortunately, he never learned to limit his obligations and save time for himself and his family. His response to the pressure was to drink himself into oblivion every night. Even more unfortunately, when you’re the doctor in a small town, emergency calls can’t be avoided at night. He got into big trouble after the death of a baby he delivered, and a concerned nurse reported his drinking to the state medical board. The story is told in a fair and balanced way, unusual for these kinds of reports. Ulitimately, it’s a story of redemption. The doctor’s license was suspended for a year; a year which he used to get his priorities straight and to stop drinking. He gave up medical practice altogether and is now the town’s health commissioner. The people of the town all seem to have forgiven him, and he seems quite happy to be out of the rat race. Doctor Levine’s story is the story of a young doctor headed down the same path of limitless obligations, but the solution he’s considering is to join a boutique medical practice where he can see only two or three patients a day for an exorbitant fee. When you read about Dr. Levine, it’s clear that he has overextended himself and needs to pull back. He has a panel of 4,000 patients (most physicians agree that a manageable number for one doctor is around 3,000), and he begins his day at 6:45 in the office doing paperwork. That’s a full two hours and fifteen minutes before the first patient even walks through the door. After he sees the last patient of the day, he spends another two to three hours answering phone calls and doing more paperwork. When I read about his day, it becomes clear that he needs to learn to delegate. Many of those phone calls could be done by a medical assistant or a nurse. His office, however, has invested in a computerized phone message and office record system that actually takes up more of his time (and overhead) than he probably realizes. His phone messages are all converted to e-mail which only he can answer, rather than put on a piece of paper that he could write an answer on to be relayed by his nurse. His medical records are on his computer, so he has to go back to his desk and enter the information rather than jotting it down on a paper chart while he’s in the room. As for all of those forms he has to fill out, that, too, could be done by an office assistant. It’s no wonder Dr. Levine is burned out at such a young age. He defintely needs to cut back, but he doesn’t have to forsake his principles to do that. He just needs to set some boundaries for himself. This is true for all of us, of course, regardless of profession, but doctors are at greater risk because we convince ourselves that we need to serve selflessly and without limits. It just isn't humanly possible, however, to be all things to all people, and we do no one any favors when we push ourselves past our limits, least of all our patients. posted by Sydney on 5/06/2002 07:20:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
|
