We knew what being a HCP would be like. That’s why we chose this field, right?

                 As we worked our way through higher education, this became part of our HCP-worldview. Of course we would have to learn all these strange things and procedures. That was part of what being a HCP was all about.

                 We learned it all. We were now in the lives we envisioned.

                 And then, a few years later, while studying to re-certify, a cold realization sprang up – when did all this change? It was supposed to stay this way forever!

                 Who could have envisioned that ulcers were mostly due to bacterial infection? That CPR and defibrillation could and should be done by bystanders on the scene?

                 Or even that the immediate death sentence that was HIV would be untrue.

                 One can sympathize with our HCP forefathers from a few centuries back. “Leeches unsound? Great heavens, man! What could cause you to question sound medical knowledge? How the devil are we to bleed our patients without leeches?” Of course, what goes around comes around. Leeches and maggots are used by plastic surgeons, and we routinely bleed folks with hemochromatosis and polycythemia vera. Our knowledge is fluid, going and coming out of vogue and current scientific proofs.

                 But, of course, that is merely the knowledge side of things. Our whole profession has changed. Many of us watched Drs. Kildare and Welby, and even the great Hawkeye Pierce, and thought that would be what our practices would be like. Time to care, time to interact, and the diagnosis made before the half hour or hour had passed, as the case might be. After diminished staffs, reductions of services, uncaring insurance companies, and belligerent patients, we learned how different life could be.

                 Does anything remain true?

                 Our world swirls about us, but we are the hub upon which it turns. We are the only constant. Our identities come from ourselves, not our jobs, environment, or circumstances. It is too easy these days to lose ourselves in the change until we are no longer certain what is true.

THE EXERCISE:

                 Something caused you to become a HCP. Something drew you here. It might have been the respect of the community, the idealization of your role as a healer, or (in all honesty) the money.

                 But now you doubt your decision and your life (the book currently in your hands lends truth to that). You are hoping for a way out of the craziness, or a simple balm for your soul.

                 So try this.

                 Get quiet for a moment and think back over your life. What steered you onto this path? Was it the kindness of a doctor who set your broken arm? Was it the crisp efficiency and dedication of a hospital? Was it the TV show “Emergency”? All of us have some reason for being in this profession. Take a moment to rediscover it.

                 What excited you or drove you on this path? Why are you here with us?

                 Review the following positive affirmations.  One of them is likely close to what you had wished for when you entered into this profession…your truth.

I fearlessly and joyfully do what I can to heal others without strings attached.

I am in my perfect career now. I am being myself.

I always have a great source of energy for my work, because I am doing work that I love.

My work and skill bring money for my needs; my love of what I do brings me success.

Any work before me is a golden opportunity to learn, explore, develop, understand, contribute, achieve, build, promote, help, and BECOME anything I desire.

I treat all problems as opportunities to be creative, knowing that my qualities of leadership are determined by the creativity I use in every part of my life.

Because of my great warmth, self-assurance, enthusiasm, and knowledge, I am a success, motivating other people to accomplish their best.

                 Now adapt one of the affirmations to your needs…the one you wish with your heart was the most true. Write it below. Write it as a positive affirmation, as a current thought and not a nebulous future goal.             

                 Write it down on a scrap of paper or a 3x5 card. Put it in your coat pocket.  Now you have your mantra. You have your reason for life, the universe, and everything.

                 The next step is to pick five distinct times each day when you will bring this thought out and say your mantra. These should be times that are distinct and clearly defined. “The moment I get out of bed.” “At the traffic light at Orange and Princeton.” “In the parking lot, the moment I turn off my car.” “Before I walk in to see my first patient.”

                 Write these locations or events down.

You may wish to print your mantra on labels and post it as a visual cue. For a period of time, I had my mantra on cards in my bathroom (for twice a day toothbrushing, although I stopped saying it out loud when I kept getting toothpaste on the mirror), near the toilet, on the computer monitor, and in the car.

This reinforcement of you should buttress your soul against the world. It should work to remind you of the struggles you faced to get where you are, and the fact that you made it. It will make you become the truth of what you are saying.

It is the meaning that you ascribed to at some point early on. And now you’ve found it once again.

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