Rheumatologists say the same thing over-and-over again to different patients.
Over the last 14 years, I would have given my spiel about various medications many hundreds of times, delivered my blurb about various diseases thousands of times, and explained the pros and cons before I inject a joint hundreds of times.
We see so many people to try and help them, and sometimes, we just go on autopilot.
It’s also easy to become quite jaded.
This post is a reminder-to-self.
Don’t become a jaded middle-aged rheumatologist!
The spiel might be similar for a whole bunch of different patients.
However, for that individual person in front of us, at that particular time we deliver the rheumatology spiel, it’s their experience of it that matters.
It’s only right that I deliver it with gusto and convey a tailored message.