Six Rules for Doctors (and Aspiring Doctors in Short White Coats)

With two weeks remaining in my last summer vacation, I am beginning to dread the return of school. It's that same feeling I used to get right before dragging my feet to go back to school shopping. As my mom helped me fill the cart with pencils, notebooks, crayons and school supplies, I would realize I'd be leaving the carefree days of summer cartoons and frolicking for a regimented day in grammar school, full of worksheets and scheduled play time and discipline.

As I count my last days in lab (5 days), I realize I will be giving up my evenings to studying and all the other medical school commitments. Sigh. All good things to come to an end. We return August 26th.

I do still have some time remaining to muster some research results in the next five days (highly unlikely, but miracles do exist). I have reserved the last few days of summer for recharging (or spending my time with family and friends outside of SF and tying all those odds and ends).

While I was catching up on the current events on the NY Times, I came by this interesting piece outlining "Six Rules Doctors Need to Know," written by Dr. Robert Lamberts, a physician and blogger. He chronicles his thoughts about medicine and a variety of other interesting (and somewhat unrelated topics, such as "dogs driving cars") on his blog Musings of a Distractible Mind

Here are Dr. Rob's Six Rules ("they" refers to the patient):
Rule 1: They don’t want to be at your office.
Rule 2: They have a reason to be at your office.
Rule 3: They feel what they feel.
Rule 4: They don’t want to look stupid.
Rule 5: They pay for a plan.
Rule 6: The visit is about them.

Some basic Rules that are often not followed...

Just some points to ponder.

For more information: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/six-rules-doctors-need-to-know/