I received an odd, and rather moving, compliment from my Medical Assistant yesterday.

[3catwoman3]

2. I agree that the wording is a bit odd, but most definitely a compliment.

I learned way too late in my career not to end a patient visit with the too-general “Any questions?” and thereby open Pandora’s box. I modified that to, “Any questions about what we talked about today?”

And, if, when I’d have my hand on the doorknob preparing to exit the exam room, I’d hear that phrase we all dread, “By the way, as long as I’m here…”, unless the BTW was truly urgent, I found people/parents were generally accepting of me saying, “That sounds like something that deserves it’s own appointment so we can give it the time it deserves.” No one likes hearing, “I’m sorry, I don’t have time,” even if it’s true.

I once had a young man, 18 or so, make an appointment for a cold. As I had my hand on the doorknob, he said, “By the way, I’ve been having chest pain when I run.” I wanted to ask him why he hadn’t made the appointment for that! WTF!