There are times when work overwhelming appears
My patients are sick, and I constantly fear
That in taking care of patients too many with complex conditions
I would miss something crucial, fail to pay attention
When my bandwidth is stretched in every direction
My brain hardwired by training to strive for perfection
Can function no longer at the level highest
I try not to lower standards but despite attempts best
To aim for perfection in every facet of the work I do
I inadvertently overlook a few things, it’s true..
*
Sometimes that inattentive moment
Comes back to bite me, and torment
The perfectionist in me, I deepen my resolve
To pay more attention each time, I want to evolve
In to a person capable of aiming for the bull’s eye
Ignoring the noise around me such that I
Can focus on one task after another in a way
That I give my best to each patient, each day
I want to not let the sum of complexities daunt me
I want to break every problem into its components, simply
*
We are life-long learners, in medicine especially so
We strive for perfection, we strive to grow
The stakes are much higher when with life and death we deal
So we judge ourselves harshly, discouraged we feel
When we cannot meet our own expectations
For me, this is the best and the worst part of our profession
Passion...unbridled 