One of my patients threw a fit. It was really disappointing because I had serious issues with this patient, but this person demanded a personal apology. I did it, and licked my wounds. Truth be told, I don't really care much.
One skill that I picked up in med school during my clinical years was that when it comes to patients, leave your ego at the door. I've had patients yell at me, call me names, disparage me to my face. I just sit there and take it in stride. It's not worth getting angry about.
So apologizing isn't really all that difficult. The only regret I have is that in medicine, the customer is not always right. And it seems like whenever I try to be a good doctor and order tests and medications appropriately, that's when I end up in trouble. And it would be so much easier to just order the needless test, give out the unneeded antibiotic.
But easy doesn't make it right. And the key in all things is whether I can go to bed with a clear conscience.
1 comment:
i heard that you need to be a masochist to be a doctor... :C
btw b/c you were talking about the customer not being right, you might find this interesting:
http://notalwaysright.com/
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