Telephones. Cell phones. Email. Limitless are the ways we can communicate with one another.

                 Further, the workplaces of most HCPs lend themselves to small social gatherings. We aren’t locked down to a location on an assembly line; our work tends to be mobile. We carry files, guide patients, and work through the examination rooms.

                 But do we talk to each other? Really talk.

                 “Howzyer weekend” doesn’t count.

                 Some offices have a tight camaraderie. But sometimes things are not so good; some offices are so dysfunctional they could be guests on “Jerry Springer.” People will work with each other for years with only the haziest ideas of who these people really are.

                 My brother can relate; he is a member of a huge model railroad club. His desk at work has railroad memorabilia, his coffee cup has a train, and on casual-dress days, he wears T-shirts with railway logos on them.

                 Late one afternoon, his manager had a question for him yet couldn’t locate him.

                 “He’s gone,” a coworker informed the manager. “It’s Wednesday, the day he always arrives and leaves early for his model train club.”

                 “He likes railroads?” the manager blinked.

                 Some HCPs don’t see a value to knowing who their coworkers are. After all, they don’t pay us to be friends, do they?

                 Then again, if you know your coworkers, it will become natural to respect them and treat them in an ethical manner. If you are honest in your interest in them, it is likely they will return the favor. Our clinics will run smoother and our staffs will be happier. Everyone benefits.

                 Otherwise, we might as well leave our names at home and address each other by our employee numbers.

THE EXERCISE:

                 Today we go on Safari.

                 First, we need to figure out what we are hunting. Our game will be people in the office we work in.

                 The first rule: no guns. Not even darts. And no tagging.

                 The second rule: you need to hunt something uncommon. Not many hunters hunt house-cats and poodles. We will not hunt work people we interact socially with. We will hunt anything socially uncommon to us: the flightily, elusive file clerk or the proud, mighty doctor. If you are rather friendly with everyone, expand your game preserve beyond work: your minister, the waitress who takes your lunch order, or your lawn-maintenance guy.

                 List the names in the “Quarry” column.

SAFARI LIST

Quarry	Trophy

                 Got the names? Okay, here’s how it works. Tomorrow, you need to stalk these people. You score if you can find out some interest of theirs that you didn’t know about. When you find out what it is, record it under “Trophy.” A really clean kill is if you get a double (that is, TWO major interests).

                 Like true hunters, you can’t go in blasting. If word gets out that you are “interviewing” people, you will scare off the game (i.e., people will clam up). Be natural and polite. Come in downwind and get close. Take the clean shot.

                 We’ll give you three days for this. Let’s see what sort of hunter you are. Good luck.

Patricia Raymond MD FACP FACG is a Virginia gastroenterologist who takes the personnel hemorrhage in medicine seriously, and herself lightly. Formerly fried by compassion fatigue, and a frankly cranky caregiver, Dr.Raymond writes and speaks on helping physicians and nurses to play nicely in the sandbox of medicine.

Her books, “Don’t Jettison Medicine” and the cult comedy anthology “Colonoscopy: It’ll Crack u Up” are available at www.RxForSanity.com, or you can hear her on streaming audio each Friday from 12-1 EST as she hosts NPR’s Housecalls challenging patients to step up and accept responsibility for their own health.

Contact her at PLRaymond@RxForSanity.com.

Get more on booking Dr. Raymond’s presentations for your hospital  at  Rx For Sanity

Pre and Post Colonoscopy Humor can be found at the quirky Colonoscopy: It’ll Crack u Up

Listen and call in to live streaming audio as Dr. Raymond teaches the public to accept responsibility for their own health Fridays 12-1 EST on NPR’s Housecalls with Dr. Pat Raymond

Dr Raymond’s patient-centered gastro practice