Nurse Practitioners Walk The Line

I often find myself wishing for the good old days when your family doctor was truly a part of your community. Back in the prairie days, docs and teachers would rotate staying in family's homes and often ate dinner with people in their community. People appreciated their care and the medical provider had a vested interest in helping people. Too often, many health care providers don't really know anything about their patients and aspects that influence the decisions they make in life. We are such a litigious society and providers are all about the numbers game. I have socialized with patients outside of taking care of them at work. (My husband and I have gone to the movies with a patient and her daughter, and they have come to our home for dinner) That doesn't mean that I would ever do something for them extraordinarily or outside what the normal care would entail. They know that once I leave work, I don't cross that line again until I clock in the next morning. You have to make hard fast boundaries such as I NEVER write any controls for anyone that I have ever seen outside work. I don't show favoritism in scheduling or callbacks. I don't discuss their healthcare outside of the office. If they need a script for something, they have to see me in the office and it's all documented in their chart. I work in a very small community and every day people ask me how so and so is doing or that so and so sent me to see you because you take such great care of them and you really listen to...
Source: The Nurse Practitioner's Place - Category: Nurses Authors: Source Type: blogs