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Summer 2014 • Kentucky
Physician Health and Well Being
Enjoying patients for over
30 years
By John A. Patterson
MD, MSPH, FAAFP
Adrienne “Boo” Millett
has been an ophthalmologist in private practice in
Richmond Kentucky for over 30 years.
She likes her patients and enjoys talking
with them, which sometimes makes other
patients wait. She also takes calls from other
physicians during office hours, discussing
referrals or providing phone consultation
- something I appreciated when we shared
mutual patients. She suspects that she and
her office staff could do a better job of communicating about office wait times.
Favorite leisure activities include playing
piano and attending Broadway plays. She
is in awe of great singers and actors. Her
mother, a child welfare worker, was her main
counselor and confidant as she raised her
three sons.
Every mammogram she has is accompanied
by anxiety. As she approaches the age of her
own Medicare eligibility, she admits, “I do
worry about personal illness.” Even though
she admits medicine can be all consuming,
she enjoys befriending her patients and
listening to their stories. Barring personal
illness, she plans to continue practicing
because she wants to, not because she has to.
Greg Cooper has been a family physician in
private practice in Cynthiana Kentucky for
over 30 years. He thinks it’s hard for physicians to admit to burnout but says his wife
would say he was close when he was losing
sleep every third night on call in the years
before ER physician coverage.
He says, “A sense of humor is absolutely
crucial. When the patient and I can walk out
of the exam room laughing, it means a lot.
I can practice for a long time like that. We
shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously but
accept our own limitations and recognize
we are all human. Otherwise we run the risk
of missing out on important, simply human
parts of life.”
Adrienne “Boo” Millett
She feels most stressed when she gets
behind in the office and patients fuss at her
or get downright rude when they have to
wait. She wonders why they don’t understand that she is trying to provide good care
to all her patients, some of whom are complicated and take more time than expected.
“That feels unfair to me. I try to take time
for everybody,” she says.
His choice of family practice reflects his
wide range of interests, including playing
guitar, creating art, hunting and fishing. He
tells medical students that our pastimes are
more important as we get into our careers.
Being in nature and losing track of time
doing art are both especially rejuvenating.
He teaches Sunday school and considers his
faith the most important thing in life. Still,
he wasn’t comfortable praying with patients
until recent years, responding initially to
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