Reward: something given or received in return or recompense for service, merit, hardship, etc.
I am fortunate to have been awarded listing in Fort Worth, Texas magazine’s Top Docs list numerous times and Texas Monthly magazine’s Texas Super Doctors list for five consecutive years. These lists are created by physicians voting for doctors they think represent the best in their respective fields of medicine. To me these awards recognize not just the surgical outcomes achieved but also the complete patient experience accomplished in our office. This includes the level of care patients receive by the entire office staff, from how they are handled when they call the office to the caring attitudes they encounter during their postoperative visits. Being voted to these lists is an honor that recognizes complete team involvement, and I am grateful to be part of a great team in the office.
Perhaps more rewarding, however, are the relationships we develop with our patients. Having just completed another holiday season, I am humbled every year by the number of patients who bring candy, tamales, popcorn tins and other thoughtful items to the office. This illustrates, in a way, the relationships developed over time not just with our cosmetic clients but with our breast and skin cancer patients as well. Awards like being named to Top Docs and Super Doctors lists are gratifying, but the rewards of developing unique relationships with our patients are truly meaningful and drive us in our practice. Thank you to the doctors who have nominated me to these lists and to the patients who make this practice so remarkable.
(Here is a video of the Top Docs recognition event for 2011; I am briefly shown at the 2:05 mark: Top Docs video )