Abstract
Many family physicians have written about how they influence, nurture, and empower people in their communities of practice. In this essay, the author writes of the personal joys that family medicine has brought him. An expression of his appreciation for his work as a family doctor, it touches on 6 themes that continue to rejuvenate his practice: love, faith, mystery, place, dance, and medicine. By examining the emotional and psychological dimensions of these themes, he offers a path by which other family physicians may be able to find sustenance and joy in their daily work.
- attitude of health personnel
- clinical medicine
- ethics
- medical
- family practice
- humans
- interprofessional relations
- medical education
- graduate
- medical education
- undergraduate
- philosophy
- medical
- physician-patient relations
- physician’s practice patterns
- physician’s role
- practice
- professional practice
- Received for publication June 29, 2011.
- Revision received August 23, 2011.
- Accepted for publication October 10, 2011.
- © 2012 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.