December 17, 2004
Perks of the Job
Most days I get a lot of satisfaction from my job. I get to meet people from all waks of life. I have the opportunity to help people and make a significant difference. I am in a position to alleviate pain, provide comfort and lighten dark moods with humor. Once in a great while I have the chance to use the skills I’ve been blessed with to save a life.
Most of the perks of my job are the appreciation of patient with a “thanks doc” on their way out of the emergency department. So far on my locum I have been privaleged to a few additional perks.
I treated a patient who cut her finger. We got to talking while I was sewing up her finger and it turns out her son owns one of the local cafes in town. She insisted I visit his cafe for some free breakfast for two and cookies to go. (see picture above) It was a different experience because in my line of work, I don’t get much time to build rapport with patients. I see patients who are often too sick to chat and my interactions with them are limited by time and the fact that my interactions are not likely to result in repeat buisnes if they can help it. (Who wants to end up in the ED twice?) So this was a treat to have a patient appreciate me enought to desire more contact. So on this morning we headed to the BLUE Cafe, for a nice full breakfast for two and a package of yummy cookies to go. Thanks Rose!
Patients have brought back everything from cards of appreciation, cookies to fresh rasberries. Of course, this appreciation is not directed only at the physicians, but the whole team of people who care for patients in the emergency department. The most touching card was from a patient whose life was saved in the emergency department who writes a card every year to the date with the words, “Every year is another bonus thanks Accident and Emergency!”
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