September 1999 Table of Contents
Letters
Editor's note:We received these letters in response to the article in our June 1999 issue by John-Henry Pfifferling, PhD, and Kay Gilley, MS, "Putting 'Life' Back Into Your Professional Life." The article asked, "What has helped you to recapture the joy of family practice?"
Learning to relax
To the Editor:
I got a dog. I take her for a walk every afternoon, and I sit with her on the lawn in the early evenings just to relax. Through this, I am learning to feel love and respect for life again.
Also, I try to get away from the office as much as possible, since (mis)managed care is brutal and hurtful to my sensitive soul!
Gary M. Gorlick, MD, MPH
Los Angeles
Joy in teaching
To the Editor:
Teaching medical students and residents as part of my weekly routine has been an important part of my professional life. Rewards are often delayed, but hearing from students and residents later in their careers certainly adds to my personal and professional joy.
Ed Paul, MD
Lebanon, Pa.
Make the most of what you have
To the Editor:
I joined a rural family practice group about 20 years ago. We practiced full-scope medicine and felt like we were the doctors for the entire community. I also worked with residents and students.
A couple years ago, the package began to unravel. On the verge of financial collapse, our practice was taken over by the local hospital. They had a very different agenda than we did, and they restructured the practice. Our patient loads were diluted, and our roles in both the hospital and the community were greatly diminished.
At first, all of this was very difficult to swallow. I certainly battled my share of frustration and emotional fatigue. Sometimes we felt so drained by operational problems that it seemed we didn't have enough energy left for compassion on the clinical front.
Since then, I have found joy in being able to accept my new role, although modified, and I try to focus more on my life outside of medicine, such as family time and hobbies. I realized that, despite all of the negativity in medicine, I still take pleasure in the basic idea of helping people and in the occasional opportunity to teach. I'll continue to see whatever patients I am asked to, try to overlook the things that frustrate me and concentrate on the aspects of medicine I still enjoy.
Most of all, I am comforted by the fact that no matter what happens in the future -- even if I had to give it all up tomorrow -- I can always look back with pleasure at all of the wonderful years I did have. And that can never be taken away from me!
Bruce D. Greenberg, MD
King City, Calif.
Joy and faith
To the Editor:
I never lost the joy of family practice in the first place, and that is because of my faith in God and my ability to allow him to be my ultimate, eternal source of joy, peace, hope and encouragement.
I feel blessed to wake up every morning and go to the office where I can allow God to work through me to touch the lives of the patients I see each day. The impact I see him having on the lives of my patients through my work makes the various difficulties that we face in medicine today seem trivial.
Ray D. Howell, MD
Roachdale, Ind.
Cutting back
To the Editor:
To recapture the joy of family practice, I've done four things: I've gotten off all committees and commissions; I've stopped trying to ascend further up the medical-political ladder; I've left my group practice and returned to solo practice; and I ride my Harley-Davidson more.
Michael W. Kelber, MD
Salem, Ore.
Correction
We failed to include the following author disclosure in the article, "Voice Recognition Software: A Tool for Encounter Notes," in our February 1999 issue. The author, Louis Spikol, MD, disclosed that he resells Dragon Systems products and other voice recognition products.
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Copyright © 1999 by the American Academy of Family Physicians.
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