As residents, we deal every day with nurses, medical assistants, scrub techs, therapists, other physicians, and support staff. Health care doesn�t occur without the team of people we know so well. As a new physician in practice, I�m learning daily just how important and integral to my practice the office staff is.

As a resident, I was in the position to observe how other residents and attending physicians treated the various staff they worked with, as well as reciprocal treatment from the staff towards residents and attendings. I was often disappointed with the lack of respect that passed back and forth between these groups. For example, a CRNA once called one of my coresidents �stupid.� Clearly, this is both a breach of professionalism and pure rudeness. As a result of this incident, as well as other complaints, she was justifiably fired from the hospital. On the other hand, I�ve witnessed pure and unrelenting disrespect from attendings toward OR staff. I�ll bet everyone reading this has some story about a brutal attending who treated not only them but anyone in the vicinity with disrespect. Some cases don�t always go as planned, and tempers can become very short, but this doesn�t give us permission to be rude.

Now, although my circumstances have changed, the rules are still the same. It�s always been my opinion that respect and kindness are the best motivators rather than fear, intimidation, and disrespect. In my office, we have four folks who assist us with patient care. In essence, it�s two medical assistants and two front office staff. They are well-trained, caring, and friendly, and I realized from the start I had to make friends with them quickly. I could�ve easily walked in as the new surgeon, educated and trained to perform major reconstructive foot and ankle surgery, and treat them like underlings, as less than me. Instead, I consider them colleagues rather than employees. Starting from a level of respect has not only improved their productivity, but provides an extremely useful resource for my continuing education as a new practitioner. These ladies know how the system works, all the ins-and-outs. They keep the office flowing, allowing me to see more patients in a professional manner. Most importantly, they are the first line to advertising me to new patients and the office staff of referring physicians.

For example, the other day, a patient called to see what the doctors were like at the practice. The MA proceeded to talk me up to the caller describing my bedside manner, friendliness, and willingness to take extra time with them if necessary. This patient will be coming in next week to see me. Obviously, if I were disrespectful to my staff they would have no motivation to speak well of me, and I would have lost that patient.

It all boils down to respect, and residency provided the opportunity to enhance these people skills. Some educational opportunities come in unusual packages; not all lessons are in the text books. The next time you�re tempted to be sarcastic or rude to someone, remember the golden rule: Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You. Have a great week.

Talk to me,

Jarrod Shapiro, DPM
PRESENT Resident Editor
[email protected]

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