Its nearly Christmas so we began with a brief discussion of how we celebrate Christmas at our work place. Then, as an opening question we shared instances in which we were told something that we had trouble believing. This mostly centered on situations in which we either had or heard of patients who had experienced unexpected healings. One hard to believe instance that was raised was the actual Gospel – that we can gain our salvation with a profession of faith without the added baggage of trying to gain our salvation through works. Read More

The next few months we will be looking at a variety of Biblical characters and what we can learn from them in our Christian walk both at home and in our medical practices. This month we will discuss Gideon, one of the Judges of Israel. One of the hallmarks of Gideon’s story was his reluctance to lead his people. So we opened our discussion with relating instances in the past or present when we have been asked to assume leadership and how we felt about that request. Read More

Matthew 28:18-20
¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[b] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
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We began our discussion by proposing that there are certain behaviors, attitudes or habits a physician who is a Christian tries to incorporate into their lives which distinguish them from their non-Christian colleagues. These characteristics when incorporated into their practice may affect their management of patients, their practice and their daily lives outside medicine. We listed and discussed seven of these but there may indeed may be several more. A section of scripture was selected to lead off the discussion of each one.

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This evening we looked at a passage from the Book of Philippians, a letter Paul wrote while in a Roman prison. Obviously, a Roman prison was lousy place to be confined and Paul had no desire to be there anymore than any of us would want to be in that situation. Yet, Paul finds reasons to be joyful even then. All of us either at present or in the recent past have probably found ourselves in situations at work, with family, finances or relationships that make us cry out “I don’t want to be here.” As we read Phil 1:12-26 the members of the group were instructed to think about those situations that you are in which they really do not want to be in. Read More

We began our discussion by sharing who we each remembered investing in us or mentoring us as young physicians and how we saw that displayed. Many members of the group mentioned their residency or fellowship program directors as being very influential and how they experienced mentoring. A few participates had trouble coming up with anyone who was particularly helpful and they even may have resented the fact that no one had taken as much interest as others had experienced. Then there were some members of the group who had a clear mentor-mentee relationship and were able to discuss how beneficial it was to them. Read More

The days of the doctor being viewed as “The Captain of the Ship” seemed to have past us by as there are more and more people and authorities that seem to be telling us what we need to do administratively and even what we are to do for our patients. Yet, as physicians, we remain in a position of authority over many of those we encounter in our practice. We began our discussion identifying the types of people we oversee. This very much depends on our individual practice situation. The group mentioned receptionists, LPNs, physician extenders and nurses in our offices, technicians and nurses on the hospital wards, the ER and OR, medical students and residents. Read More

We began our discussion with sharing what words we commonly use in each of our particular specialties that may not be understood readily by our patients. Many mentioned anatomic names of the part of the body we care for such as thyroid, esophagus, a variety of bone or muscle names. Then there are the multitude of procedural names that are part and parcel of our practice that are completely unfamiliar. In addition the names many conditions and diseases are often new to many patients. All of these things are readily understood when we speak with our colleagues but when we are discussing these with a patient if we do not explain the nomenclature it is as if we are speaking in a foreign language. Read More

Before starting our discussion of retirement, we began with a very basic question: Why do you work? There were, as expected a variety of answers. Work gives our lives a sense of purpose and a feeling of being useful and it allows us to use the talents that God has instilled in us. We derive a part of our identity from the work we do and we find the work stimulating to our lives. Then there is the very practical reason that we need to earn money to support ourselves and our families. Read More

We began our discussion by sharing what we think society usually bases its judgement on of a person’s value and worth. Answers centered on their financial worth, their employment situation, how they dress or speak and what they own, where they went to school. Unfortunately society also counts their gender and race as factors all too frequently. We see this play out continuously in how some people are acknowledged in a crowd and other ignored. Studies show that women and non-white employees continue to be paid less then white men. We also discussed how sometimes when we meet a new patient in our practice we make snap value judgements based on some of these factors. Read More