• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

33 Charts

  • About
    • What is 33 Charts?
    • Bryan Vartabedian MD
  • Blog
  • 33mail
  • Foci
    • Social/Public Media
    • Physicians
    • Patients
    • Hospitals
    • Information
    • Process/Flow
    • Technology
    • Digital culture
    • Future Medicine
  • The Public Physician
Patient experience, Physicians

Big Shot Doctors – Patients Don’t Talk About Your Title

January 23, 2017 By Bryan Vartabedian · Reading Time: 2 minutes

big shot doctors of the Mayo ClinicSo many doctors are desperate to claim a title. Some want to be big shot doctors.

I know a pediatrician who owns his own practice. Every 18 months or so a medical student follows him around for an afternoon. He bills himself a clinical assistant professor at the local medical school. This label is at the root of his professional identity.

Everybody wants to be a big shot. But that’s not what patients are looking for.

Years ago I referred my wife’s grandmother to Dr Charles Brunicardi for cholecystectomy. He was the Chairman of Surgery at Baylor College of medicine and early pioneer of laproscopic surgery. A simple woman from a small town in central Texas, Poi (as we called her) didn’t know anything about professors, promotion or academic hierarchy. And despite actually qualifying as a big shot, Chuck Brunicardi made an impact on her. One of the best doctors she had ever seen in her 80 years, she reported. Beyond his remarkable capacity to connect with her she was out of the hospital in a day. A miracle at the time.

Every time I saw Poi after that she would say, “Tell Dr. Brunicardi I said hi.” Or, “I love that Dr. Brunicardi. What a doctor.”

Patients don’t talk about your title, they talk about what you do. If all you have to pull people in the door is a label, you’ve got work to do.

If you liked this post you’ll definitely like the 33 charts Patient Experience Archives. They capture all 33 charts writing that deals with patient experience and satisfaction. From the practical application to the challenges health professionals face, patient experience has evolved as one of medicine’s most important quality metrics. 

Cast of one of the Mayo Brother’s hands | Image taken during a recent trip to The Mayo Clinic

Related Articles

  • Physician Anesthesiologist
  • Beware Invisible Doctors
  • Should We Screen Doctors for Social Judgment?

Tagged With: Doctoring 101, Patient experience, Physician Identity, Surgeons

Related Articles

  • Physician Anesthesiologist
  • Beware Invisible Doctors
  • Should We Screen Doctors for Social Judgment?

Primary Sidebar

Bryan Vartabedian, MD

Bryan Vartabedian, MD
Bryan Vartabedian is the Chief Pediatrics Officer at Texas Children’s Hospital North Austin and one of health care’s influential
voices on technology & medicine.
Learn More

Popular Articles

  • The Fate of Fired Cleveland Clinic Resident Lara Kollab
  • Cures Act Final Rule – How It Will Change Medicine
  • 12 Things About Doximity You Probably Didn’t Know
  • Should Physicians Give Their Cell Phone Number to Patients?
  • Doximity Dialer Video – Telemedicine’s Latest Power Player

Sign up for 33mail newsletter

Featured Articles

Reactive and Creative Spaces

The Case for New Physician Literacies in the Digital Age

Yes, Doctor

Doctors and the Endemic Culture of Permission

100,000 Connected Lemmings

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Footer

What is 33 Charts?

With a mashup of curated and original content that crosses the spaces of digital health, media, communication, technology, patient experience, digital culture, and the humanities, 33 charts offers unique insight and analysis on the changing face of medicine.

Founded in 2009 as a center of community and thought leadership for the issues doctors face in a digital world, 33 charts was included in the National Library of Medicine permanent web archive in 2014.
Learn More

Foci

  • Digital culture
  • Digital Health
  • EHR/Health IT
  • Future Medicine
  • Hospitals
  • Information
  • Patients
  • Physicians
  • Process/Flow
  • Quality
  • Social/Public Media
  • Technology

Copyright © 2023 · 33 Charts · Privacy Policy