04/03/2026
I was texting with Sarah yesterday...some feelings of overwhelm as I was moving into my third hour of working on a case.
Generally, after taking a history, reviewing records, test results, I have a good understanding of what a patient needs to be working on. The more time-consuming portion of this, is putting that plan into words in a way that anyone can understand it. Not fancy medical terms, not speaking above one's head, but an everyday discussion. Anyone can type a plan that gives dosages, timing, what to take/when. A nice, brief write up. Concise. But it would be impossible to count the amount of times new patients I sit down with, digging through their bag of goodies, "I don't know what that medication is for" or "I don't know what the supplement is, I was just told it would help me." That is just unacceptable in my eyes.
I really believe what sets my little practice apart from others is the time that is taken to *teach* patients about their own health. Not just the action steps they need to take. But how their health got to where it is today, what went wrong or right over time, how it got so tangled, what that tangle means, and more importantly, how to untangle it. And in every complex case, there's more than one way to untangle things, of course, and we have to have contingency plans in place because the more complex a case, the more reactive/sensitive that case will likely be. We use drawings, white boards, charts, graphs, algorithms, and every patient leaves with usually (multiple) pages of summary explaining what just took place in their whirlwind of an appointment.
I hope, of course, that every patient I work with is able to have better health in walking away from our time together.
But more importantly, I hope every patient walks away with a better understanding of their health, what their care should look like, and more empowerment to advocate for themselves with whatever medical specialty they work with.
This is Docere, "Doctor as Teacher". This is the most time consuming part of the job, the most energy expenditure...
And the most fulfilling.
