Long Term Relationship with Patients

[Jerry S]

Hi,

I am a currently MS2 and wanted to get some opinions from practicing Family Physicians.I am really interested in goin into family medicine (private practice) in order to build strong ties with my patients and their families.

My goal is to essentially be a holistic practitioner, connecting with my patients spiritually, as well as taking care of their spiritual and mental well being.

My question for you is whether or not you feel like you have that connection with your patients or not? Or whether I am making it more glorified than it really is. I really hope there are some Family Physicians that do have strong rewarding ties with their patients.

In addition, if this ideal is something that falls into the lines of "its all what you make of it," it would be reassuring to hear that it is possible to run a practice in which I can have long term strong relationships with my patients and their families. I feel like that would motivate me and give me energy each day to keep going just having that connection.

Please let me know!

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[deleted87716]

I'm not sure what you're thinking when you say, "taking care of their spiritual well being." If your faith is aligned with your patient's, you may be able to do that to some extent. Otherwise, it could be problematic. It might be better to just encourage a person of faith to trust in their faith, and leave the details up to their pastor/rabbi/imam/guru or whatever.

As for building ties, I can think of no field of medicine with more potential for building long-term relationships than family medicine. The realities of today's employer-based insurance do sometimes interfere with this, unfortunately, but not entirely.

 

[cabinbuilder]

I agree with Blue Dog. I see a big problem if you come at patients with a faith based practice. Not every patient has that type of belief system and I have found folks who rely on faith more in certain geographical areas. I personally would not ever return to a practice where that (religion) was inserted into my visit. Tread lightly with what you are envisioning,