By Guy Culpepper, M.D.
A CEO asked me “How does your day as a family physician compare to the work I do?”
Imagine leading 25 important meetings every day, half of which are with people you’ve never met.
15 of those meetings are unplanned and urgent.
Most of the people you meet are worried or frightened.
22 of the 25 don’t even want to be there.
Some have no idea why they are there, so the first half of your meeting is spent questioning its purpose.
Others bring along a spouse or parent who speaks for them, argues, or sits in silence judging you.
You are responsible for maintaining clear communication, even if the attendee is incoherent.
Each person expects you to deliver wisdom, insight, or guidance.
You must be at your very best for every meeting, every day.
A few people just want you to listen to them as they speak about everything possible… except the real reason for their visit. They refuse to comply with any counsel.
You are late to about half of the meetings and must apologize each time without explaining the reasons for your delay.
In between each of your 25 meetings you must answer important phone calls.
Almost half of every order you prescribed the day before is denied by an unknown clerk, requiring you to make changes on the fly.
Meanwhile, between meetings you are training your staff, signing documents, and supervising other clinicians.
At the end of each day, you must generate a full written report, legally documenting every detail of each meeting, including a plan of action that must be legal, cost-effective, and evidence-based.
Then you submit a summary, using nonsensical codes, of every nuance of each meeting to send to some unknown person who decides whether or not you deserve to be paid for your work.
