If you didn’t know, this week is National Doctors Day, a holiday celebrated yearly on March 30. I was not aware of this date for some time and even thought it was a new addition to the calendar. It turns out it has been around since 1933 when a physician’s wife in Georgia (Eudora Brown Almond, Dr. Charles B. Almond’s wife) wanted to have a day to honor physicians.
This week’s blog post is a thank you letter to all my friends and colleagues. I happen to be on service this week in the hospital. For those of you who don’t know what that means, it means I go in the hospital every day, round on the patients admitted to the Neurology service and accept new admissions as patients are also being discharged home. It can be busy and frustrating but also extremely rewarding and a great opportunity to work with medical trainees and do lots of teaching.
I really wanted to pause and write a blog post expressing my gratitude to all my physician colleagues since it is very easy to forget the hard work we are all putting in when we encounter issues within the system and lack of resources, including being short staffed.
Doctor friends, I see you. We live between wanting to do everything for our patients but also wanting to be with our families. We want to cure all the diseases in the world but want to sleep as well. We sometimes feel tired and overworked but also realize what a privilege it is to take care of our patients. Healthcare can be tough to navigate these days and insurance companies dictate much of what we do.
Why do I stay in Medicine? I love what I do. I don’t know many people that say that about their jobs. I don’t necessarily think every doctor would agree with that either but I am extremely fortunate to say that I do. I get to help children and their families. I get to constantly learn and teach. Every week is different and every year brings me new challenges. But one of the best part of my job is the amazing colleagues I work with. I love seeing what everyone is doing, whether it is research, giving a lecture, being a wonderful clinician, or stepping outside the box and showing me other paths I would never have thought about before.
If you are reading this and are not a doctor, please remember to thank your favorite doctor that day. It means a lot to us when our patients recognize how much we care about them and how hard we work to give the best care we possibly can.
Happy National Doctors Day!!!
