More Time
I have a radio show about psychiatry, and one thing that I try to accomplish is to differentiate myself from other psychiatry practices in the area– as one purpose for the show is to market myself. By the way, you can find podcasts of the program under the links for ‘Dr. Junig’ here. One of the major differences in my practice is the amount of time that I spend with patients– at least compared to other psychiatrists in my local area. From the start, I decided that I would see at most two patients per hour– including patients who are being seen for ‘med checks.’ I was confident that providing some extra time would be helpful for patients, but even I was shocked by just HOW helpful it can be! I have no special, secret techniques, but I have had a number of patients who had been through multiple admissions and/or ECT, and just by spending a bit more time they have avoided such intensive treatments and in many cases reduced the number of medications they are taking.
I love the image of the old-fashioned psychiatry practice; the wooden floor, the leather couch, the corner office with high ceilings and bookshelves… and appointments that provide enough time for patients to talk about their issues without needing to write them down ahead of time and strategize how to get them al out in time. It is well known in psychiatric circles that the most important ‘content’ of a session comes up just as the patient is leaving the room– the ‘doorknob confessions’ where the patient says ‘by the way, I killed my husband last night’. Many times at the end of the day I will think about what patients told me today during the last bit of their appointments; the things I remember are always important enough that it is hard to imagine not having time for them.
It was gratifying to read an article in the NYT the other day about the importance of having TIME for patients– about doctor practices that have learned to come up with a different way of doing things. People who are interested can find the article here. If anyone is looking for a practice that provides a good 20-30 minutes, give me a call and we can meet in my telepsychiatry practice.
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