Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Physician, don’t heal thyself

Myles Riner, MD
Physician
January 12, 2012
Share
Tweet
Share

A couple of months ago, I was dragging a large suitcase that got hung up on a curb, giving my arm and shoulder a good yank.  Over the next few days, my shoulder began to ache a bit.  Applying the very reasonable ‘tincture of time’ principle, I rested it a bit, hoping that with time the symptoms would resolve.  Two months later, I was getting an MRI and anticipating surgery for a torn rotator cuff that would turn me into a disabled dependent, relying on my non-dominant hand and my wife to help me with everyday tasks, including driving and getting into and out of shirts and a bulky shoulder immobilizer for three months.  The good news: the MRI showed no tears, so I did not need surgery.   The bad news:  I was the victim of my own mismanagement, and had a partially frozen shoulder, requiring a few months of rehab and daily, uncomfortable stretching.  This probably could have been completely avoided.

Patients’ responses to illness or injury range from absolute indifference to reasonable concern to excessive, even debilitating fear.  The physician’s role includes helping the patient compensate, if necessary, for their inclination to respond in less than healthful ways to the insult, aligning with what they need rather than getting caught up in what they usually do.  When a physician is his own patient, however, it is often difficult to practice this particular art without blurring the distinctions between their “patient personality” and their “physician persona.”  That is why today I have a stiff, sore shoulder pumped full of Kenalog.

It is easy to understand why physicians often resort to “healing themselves.”  It is easier, faster, less expensive (sometimes), and less disruptive to a physician’s busy schedule to treat your own sinusitis, wrap your own sprain, prescribe your own anti-hypertensives, medicate your own migraine, or diagnose your own rash.  Most of the time, this approach works, more or less, and consequently many physicians don’t even have their own primary care provider, especially when they are young.  They just have the proverbial fool for a patient.  I have a primary care provider, but that didn’t keep me from relying on what I was inclined to do as a too-well-informed patient, rather than relying on my own physician’s considerable skills.   I hope I have learned my lesson, but that remains to be seen.

If you are your own physician, draw a distinct line at readily apparent, short term, minor illness or injury, and find a good provider to rely on when you slip over that line.

Myles Riner is an emergency physician who blogs at The Fickle Finger.

Submit a guest post and be heard on social media’s leading physician voice.

Prev

A concierge or boutique label is discredits retainer medicine

January 11, 2012 Kevin 43
…
Next

Granting rights to a fetus at the cost of the mother

January 12, 2012 Kevin 114
…

Tagged as: Emergency Medicine, Primary Care

Post navigation

< Previous Post
A concierge or boutique label is discredits retainer medicine
Next Post >
Granting rights to a fetus at the cost of the mother

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Myles Riner, MD

  • Sooner or later, you will need the ER. Will it be there?

    Myles Riner, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    Ebola and the psychology of contagious disease

    Myles Riner, MD
  • Reducing hospital readmissions from the emergency department

    Myles Riner, MD

More in Physician

  • Why working in Hawai’i health care isn’t all paradise

    Clayton Foster, MD
  • How New Mexico became a malpractice lawsuit hotspot

    Patrick Hudson, MD
  • Why compassion—not credentials—defines great doctors

    Dr. Saad S. Alshohaib
  • Why Canada is losing its skilled immigrant doctors

    Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD
  • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

    Maureen Gibbons, MD
  • Why screening for diseases you might have can backfire

    Andy Lazris, MD and Alan Roth, DO
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • How New Mexico became a malpractice lawsuit hotspot

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • How community paramedicine impacts Indigenous elders

      Noah Weinberg | Conditions
    • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • How medical culture hides burnout in plain sight

      Marco Benítez | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • Who will train the next generation of primary care clinicians without physician mentorship? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
    • The CDC’s restructuring: Where is the voice of health care in the room?

      Tarek Khrisat, MD | Policy
    • Choosing between care and country: a dual citizen’s Independence Day reflection

      Kathleen Muldoon, PhD | Policy
    • What Elon Musk and Diddy reveal about the price of power

      Osmund Agbo, MD | Conditions
    • 3 tips for using AI medical scribes to save time charting

      Erica Dorn, FNP | Tech

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 1 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • How New Mexico became a malpractice lawsuit hotspot

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • How community paramedicine impacts Indigenous elders

      Noah Weinberg | Conditions
    • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • How medical culture hides burnout in plain sight

      Marco Benítez | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • Who will train the next generation of primary care clinicians without physician mentorship? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
    • The CDC’s restructuring: Where is the voice of health care in the room?

      Tarek Khrisat, MD | Policy
    • Choosing between care and country: a dual citizen’s Independence Day reflection

      Kathleen Muldoon, PhD | Policy
    • What Elon Musk and Diddy reveal about the price of power

      Osmund Agbo, MD | Conditions
    • 3 tips for using AI medical scribes to save time charting

      Erica Dorn, FNP | Tech

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Physician, don’t heal thyself
1 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...