Women’s health, men’s health…what about the family physician’s health?

By Samuel T. Coleridge, D.O.
TAFP President

We attend CME programs devoted to women’s health, then men’s health, depression, ED, asthma … the list goes on. Our elder patients are asking about the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan; our office partners are asking about Gov. Perry’s business tax; our spouse and children are pondering whether a vacation is possible this year. We may be wondering if we should take a golf lesson to prepare for the hospital annual golf outing and our daughters and sons are wondering if we can go to look at colleges this fall.

Ah, yes, we are successful, financially, despite concerns about “investing” in an electronic health record, and purchasing additional equipment for cosmetic surgery, retinal scans or stress tests. Will the managed care organizations reimburse family physicians next year for this or that?

As family physicians, we have full plates and we really seem to enjoy it. We love treating all age groups. We love doing procedures. We love being challenged and learning new treatment regimes! We’ve even learned how to better document and code our hospital and clinic visits because it is another “achievement” and also prevents further financial drain.

Gosh, we even relish preceptoring medical students and the occasional Texas Statewide Family Medicine Preceptorship Program student in our office ­— introducing our future “replacement” to our patients, friends, colleagues and providing stories and advice that we learned from our mentors. It just doesn’t get better than that!

But what about going to the fitness center, the YMCA or wherever, to work on our own bodies? Do we really want to get up at 6 a.m. and play golf every Saturday or Sunday? Where does one find time to do this? Read a book? You must be kidding! Work in the garden? Darn, we missed watering it for the last three days and the plants are dead. Why bother?

We bother because we are in love with life and the activities in our lives have overtaken us ­— they are determining what, when, where and why we do everything instead of the opposite. How did that happen?

We all know how that happened. George Carlin has provided some cynical but alarming comments.

• We’ve learned how to make a living but not a life.
• We plan more but accomplish less.
• We have learned to rush but not to wait.
• These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses but broken homes.

Carlin goes on to provide some advice.

• Remember to spend more time with your loved ones because they are not going to be around forever.
• Say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe because that little person will soon grow up and leave your side.
• Give a warm hug to the one next to you because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent (and takes less than a minute — Coleridge’s observation).
• Remember to say “I love you” to your partner and loved ones, but most of all “mean it.”
• Give time and love, give time and speak, and give time to share precious thoughts in your mind.
• Always remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.

Ouch! I know that everyone reading this can relate to something stated above. Besides reminding y’all what you already know (and I know this because we each tell our patients this every day), I wish to offer a few gems that we may have lost along the busy journey of our careers, and maybe we can modify our workweek/lives just enough to bring a little more emotional and physical health to our lives.

• Use Post-it Notes lavishly around the house. I occasionally put one on my daughter’s bedroom door (closed, of course) or my wife’s car window when I leave for the office in the morning. My wife even put these in the lunch bags of our girls when they were younger — fun, silly reminders of something to make them smile and remind them that we love them.
• Take lunch to work. It’s cheaper, it ensures that we eat something — probably even something healthy, and it almost forces us to find time to eat.
Walk at lunch time or go to the fitness center if we can. This is a much better idea than after work — it ain’t gonna happen for me, at least not consistently!
• Wear a pedometer and see how much walking we actually do. It may surprise us, one way or the other.
• Go to a religious service every week. We all need the reminder and a dinner with the family afterwards will be remembered for years and may even be repeated by our children. Is that a great legacy, or what?
• Pull out the calendar and circle one day each month to do something special with our spouse and children (and maybe even without the kids on occasion).
• Schedule at least one vacation per year — one full week — a real trip with the family. Make it fun and memorable and do not bring the computer, Blackberry/PDA/Smart Phone/cell phone, etc., (if we can get coverage) — and really try!
• Consider a walk at night with our spouse (we can even take the kids if they are young enough not to think that we are crazy) or we can take the dog(s) — forget the cats!
• Sing, whistle, learn a few jokes to share with our staff, patients, children, spouse.
• And then finally, look at ourselves in the mirror. Are we getting heavier, less particular in our appearance and more tired? The walking, eating breakfast and lunch (remember the one that we bring to the office) and small dinner could trim a few pounds. The regular workout at the fitness club three or four times per week, or crunches and lumbar flexion/extension exercises at home can make us stand taller. Even if we don’t lose much weight, we will carry it better. We could update our wardrobe more often. That white coat does not cover the worn shirts, slacks and the weathered shoes. It is amazing that when we wear something nice and that fits well, we often feel better about ourselves and we more readily give to others.

Of course, our children who become physicians in the next generation, may have the best solution. They will be able to evaluate their patients on their home computers while still wearing their pajamas. They’ll be able to take a break to change their children’s diapers and put them down for a nap before calmly returning to their home EHR for the next patient. Their only fear will be forgetting to turn off the camera of their home computer! Ah, yes, it is coming.

But until then, we need to reassess our own habits and time commitments in order to give more quality to others, rather than just the quantity that seems never ending. Shucks! And this can be so much fun.

Join me in an effort to practice what we preach! If this is good enough for our patients, it should be good enough for us. Many of them are as busy as we are and we expect them to make these changes. Are we doing the same? These are our lives! Time for us to take charge if we fit the profile described above. I am learning to have more fun. Join me!