DPC Myth #23: You need quality metrics to be a good doctor
Finding the freedom we yearn for can feel a little uncomfortable at first!
I sat at my desk, looked up at the plants, terrarium and crystals hanging from my ceiling while feeling a bit lost. I had just opened my DPC and there was no one there telling me to work harder. There were no emails sharing what the new normal would be. I had no one judging me on my productivity or metrics. There was no mess to clean up and no abuses to swallow. The energy was clear and filled with curiosity.
There was also discomfort because I had become accustomed to externalizing my own self value. I was use to seeing myself based on how much “I could take” and do so with a smile as I gave and gave and gave. Learning how to approve and value myself simply because I exist has become the new normal for me in my own practice.
I have continued to see my therapist and sat in the depth of my own pain and shadow while understanding my fear, pain, trauma and resilience. I understood that corporate medicine equates resilience with dissociation rather than true health. I have discovered how my past has influenced my present and am learning how to break the cycle. I leaped and the ground rose to meet me. And this ground is sacred because it is based on the truth that we are all enough as we are. I believe we are here on earth to love, to be loved and experience. Working in corporate medicine no longer felt like a loving environment to my weary body so I left and have never regretted opening my DPC practice!
My therapist has taught me that hawks work about 20 min a day to meet their needs and we humans think we are smart! Hmmm…me thinks not! But there are some humans who have jumped out of the system and found ourselves in the void of uncertainty. It turns out that the idea of safety in corporate medicine is an illusion. I have pledged to live in truth, and it is irrefutable that we can love and approve of ourselves and that is enough!
Approval is healthy when it comes from within. And by golly, I have not found a single metric when I look inside! Now that is a wonderful new life!
This DPC Mythbuster Series aims to debunk the most common fears, misconceptions, and half-truths that deter doctors from embracing Direct Primary Care. These opinions are from each individual blogger. You may or may not agree with them, but either way, leave a comment with your thoughts.
“corporate medicine equates resilience with dissociation rather than true health” – I will be mulling that one over for a while! Thanks
Quality metrics is the biggest B.S. on the face of the planet!!! I remember early in my residency some of the surgeons used to talk about Charlie Branch as he trained with THE Robert Zollinger back in the day at the “Bent Peter” hospital on the east coast? In fact Zollinger came to Peoria at Charlie’s retirement party to talk and man he was funny. I was there! His name is listed in the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome which of course is a rarer than chit condition I’ve never seen in my career!! Getting back to Charlie Branch, he took on some of the toughest cases in surgery that all other surgeons eschewed and hence he had “bad” mortality rates. The surgeons when I was in residency would talk about him with reverence in surgery if the case they were working on wasn’t that “intense”. This quality “chit” is “bullchit” as surgeons who take on tough cases, patients sometimes die and shouldn’t be penalized for their effort!!
Quality metrics is the biggest B.S. on the face of the earth!! I had patients who didn’t follow my instructions, still ate crap and died of atherosclerotic disease. So glad I was able to retire and get out of this mess. Gave up all my licenses and “drug” numbers. Still love it when people recognize me and address me as Dr. Savegnago in Walmart and ask if I’m going to “go back”. I respond I’m a widower and have to take care of a mentally handicapped son. Don’t have pity on me as he’s not so bad and we can go out and about, even to nice restaurants and he’s o.k. Kurt