"Thank you doctor; you're a very good man."

What's more rewarding than being told by a patient that you are a good doctor?

I was in my clinic the other afternoon and saw this new patient. He doesn't speak English, but his sister was helping with the interpretation. He's a typical case of someone who needs multiple visits to the clinic to get things straight - a male in his 40s with sub-optimal health care due to insurance issues, with history of insulin-dependent diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, as well as a chronic lower back pain that is the main reason for his visit today. I took the time to learn more about the pain and explained to him the management plan. I told him that it will probably take some time to fine-tune his meds, since besides the back pain we'll need to address his other problems too after checking his lab work. A quick neuro exam revealed that his diabetes is not too well-controlled either as he's showing signs of peripherial neuropathy.

As they walked out of the patient room, his sister said to me, "thank you doctor; you're a very good man and we'll see you again next month." As I always say, that extra mile you take to learn and talk to your patients' problems shows that you care about them and often times this is the most important thing they need. Of course, as an intern I have the luxury of seeing only 3 patients in the afternoon instead of the typically 12-16 for a typical family physician; when you have only 15 minutes for a patient it's not easy to try to address his problems all at once.

"Here's the motivation," I told the medical student standing next to me who smiled at me after hearing the lady's remark.