III Journal 1

Journal 1 – June 13, 2006

I came here with a sort of romantic idea about the rural clinic being continuity of care heaven. So far it’s been even better. During my first two days we saw maybe two patients the doctor didn’t know personally. Some had been coming to the same clinic for decades. So Dr. Goldstein wasn’t making all this up.

Dr. Wright and I had lunch at a local café and he noticed that everyone there was a patient of the clinic. He seemed to know everyone we met by name. As I was mulling this over this evening I realized that, although this makes for more effective care in the clinic, it also puts a lot more pressure on the doctor to perform well and to be professional even when “off the clock”. A doctor in Seattle could walk around their neighborhood for hours and not run into a single person they recognized. Even so, I still think I’d choose the intimacy I see here over anonymity. I could always drive to another town if I wanted to stir up trouble.