How NOT to Retain a Doctor During National Physician’s Week

Here is a lesson on how NOT to retain your doctors. This week is National Physician’s Week but this really revolves around Doctor’s Day, which is a real thing.

You may think this is a bogus holiday or occasion but it isn’t. For those who don’t know how it started, here goes:

On March 30th, 1933 Eudora Brown Almond, wife of a Dr. Cha Almond, commemorated the anniversary of the first use of anesthesia back in 1842. From 1933 to 1958, the Women’s Auxiliary of the Southern Medical Association kept the tradition of Doctor’s Day alive by mailing cards to physicians and by placing flowers on the graves of the deceased doctors every March 30th. In 1958 the United States House of Representatives adopted a resolution to commemorate March 30th as Doctor’s Day. In 1991, President George Bush signed a resolution proclaiming March 30th as the first National Doctor’s Day.

On average, over 50% of hospitals do not recognize this day. This is from surveys on this the Authentic Medicine site for the last 20 years. How easy would it be to send an email or a simple token of appreciation? It’s the simple things in life that keep physicians engaged. But, unfortunately, people forget about us.

So, what would be a way NOT to recognize doctors? See the images above. Cari and Mary are both NPs. They are not physicians, yet their employers recognize them as such. There is a Nurses’ Week. There are many other opportunities to recognize the NPs that work for you but to do it on Doctor’s Day is inappropriate.

Are doctors being immature about this complaint? Maybe, but does it matter? These are the things doctors think about when they look for other jobs. It’s your choice and this is a simple one. Don’t devalue physicians by mixing non-doctors with them on Doctor’s Day. Eleven to fifteen years of post-high school education, hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans, loss of their youthful years are all reasons they deserve this modicum of respect. I do explain this all in my book and on my website.