The Impatient Doctor

The patient before me has several health conditions

That need to be addressed, I must find the most pressing ones

That I can try to fix in a short visit today

Unfortunately my patient has a lot to say

His anecdotes illustrate how his health has an impact

On his daily life, but in the interest of time, with as much tact

As I can muster, I interrupt him to tell him about my plan

I must wrap up the visit as fast as I can

I am being impatient, I am quite aware

In reality, it is not that I don’t care

I’ve already spent twice the amount of time allotted to me

There are other patients in the clinic that I need to see

While I would love to listen to that one patient, it would not be fair

To my other patients, for whom I would have less time to spare

*

Patience is a hard skill to master, for certain

It is even harder to practice when

You feel squeezed past the limits of efficiency

It seems difficult to listen patiently

To patients trying to tell you how they feel

In long-winded ways, you don’t have the time to deal

With their stories, you have to get to the next patient too

Running late with each patient is something you cannot afford to do

Because if you did, the workflow would stagnate

You cannot spend thirty minutes for every fifteen-minute visit on your template

*

Patience is not easy to summon on a busy day

But whenever unexpectedly I have extra time, I try to stay

A little longer in patients’ rooms to have conversations

About their lives, their concerns, their strengths and limitations

Not every visit can be as detailed, I know

I work on being patient each time things are slow