Page 12 - CCPHP_Physician Guide

“A question I ask myself

is, ‘how have I changed

as a doctor?’”

“The answer isn’t straightforward and the
story is still being written.

On a basic level, I believe I approach patient care in a similar
way: with a mix of art and science and a style that is still
evolving as I enter my 19th year in practice. I continue to be
humbled by the responsibility and trust of people under my
care and have benefited from their wisdom and what they have
taught me in wellness and in sickness.

But there has been a shift. It is indisputable that having
more time to listen has led a shift in the way I see myself
professionally. I am aware of a new sense of freedom, of time
to think and to contemplate patient-related matters that wasn’t
available to me during the years that I was working within the
traditional framework that values volume.

I did the best I could under those circumstances but it is only
now, from this new vantage point, that I realize the limitations
imposed by that style of practice. I find this new pace to be a
welcome luxury that I hope benefits my patients. This sense of
space has led to a new level professional satisfaction that I was
not able to access with the constraints of the old model.”

- Paul Knoepflmacher, MD