Behave

PUBLISHED ON  June 9, 2015

WRITTEN BY  Roni Zeiger

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Tonight I had such a fun time reading “How to Behave and Why” with my 7 year old. This 1946 classic includes thoughtful explanations about how to be a good person. It also includes things like this:

behave

 

My son laughed after reading this page: “No! That’s not right.” He believes we all have to talk about these things and we can all learn from each other. Never a prouder moment…

Doctor, what do I have?

PUBLISHED ON  April 22, 2015

WRITTEN BY  Roni Zeiger

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Today, while I accompanied a loved one to visit the geriatrician, I witnessed some of the best doctoring I’ve ever seen.

With honesty and understandable frustration about a body that seems to be abandoning its owner (who is otherwise quite young), my loved one asked the doctor for his diagnostic assessment: “So, what do I have?”

“You’ve had a great career, you have a great family, and you’ll have a great future that we need to write together.”

YOU’RE the patient

PUBLISHED ON  April 7, 2015

WRITTEN BY  Roni Zeiger

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Yesterday while working in urgent care clinic, I had a great opportunity to talk the talk. I was with a man whose abdominal complaints we still haven’t figured out. While discussing the possibilities, he said, “You’re the doctor” — implying we should do whatever I think is best. I took a moment to share with him that I don’t know what’s best and that his insights are critical to help guide us. “YOU’RE the patient,” I said, smiling. We are a team.

humility-flickr

A few patients later, I walked into another room, this time a young man was on his smart phone. “I’ve been researching this a lot,” he said, “and I think this is what’s going on with my shoulder.” I’m really good at talking the talk. However, when I heard this, my immediate reaction was: I’ll be the judge of that. I noticed that unspoken reaction of mine, and said something very different. We had a lovely interaction and I think he was right about his shoulder. But I’ve been reflecting on that initial reaction I had, and how engrained our expert-centric culture is. There’s a long path from talking the talk to walking the walk.