Boutique Practice with High Rewards
For the last 20 years, each day at LG Pediatrics in Los Gatos started with a storm of in-person, email and voicemail questions from parents who wanted phone advice, needed a school or athletic form completed, or needed that their children be seen as soon as possible. It was also common to be greeted by patients without appointments looking for immediate care, and a fax machine full of test results and requests.
In a few hours, things settled back down to handling scheduled exams. As the day progressed, I had the great privilege of talking and playing with lots of fun children that seemed to like me even though I stick them with needles now and again. A typical day also included a late-afternoon arrival who needed to be seen for a sports injury, respiratory distress, or high fever. It's all just part of a normal day in a pediatric practice.
Our pediatric practice mixed traditional values with modern medicine. We had three pediatricians, a receptionist, a finance manager and myself—all of whom are parents. That common bond created a friendly, caring environment where patients felt secure and at home.
Being part of a small office gave me a broad range of opportunities to learn how to lead and manage a practice. I learned the value of multi-tasking, patience, clear communication and complete documentation.
Running the front office gave me a thorough understanding of all the things that must work properly to make a practice run smoothly and efficiently. And running the back office provided a rewarding clinical understanding of a broad spectrum of diseases, injuries, genetics and well-care issues that I can use for the rest of my career.
All that said, the relationships with children and their parents are the best part of my profession. Whether it's a smile, a hug or a thank you at the end of an appointment, or if it's running into a now-grown patient who I've known since birth, my friendship with those I meet and help every day makes everything worthwhile."
For the last 20 years, each day at LG Pediatrics in Los Gatos started with a storm of in-person, email and voicemail questions from parents who wanted phone advice, needed a school or athletic form completed, or needed that their children be seen as soon as possible. It was also common to be greeted by patients without appointments looking for immediate care, and a fax machine full of test results and requests.
In a few hours, things settled back down to handling scheduled exams. As the day progressed, I had the great privilege of talking and playing with lots of fun children that seemed to like me even though I stick them with needles now and again. A typical day also included a late-afternoon arrival who needed to be seen for a sports injury, respiratory distress, or high fever. It's all just part of a normal day in a pediatric practice.
Our pediatric practice mixed traditional values with modern medicine. We had three pediatricians, a receptionist, a finance manager and myself—all of whom are parents. That common bond created a friendly, caring environment where patients felt secure and at home.
Being part of a small office gave me a broad range of opportunities to learn how to lead and manage a practice. I learned the value of multi-tasking, patience, clear communication and complete documentation.
Running the front office gave me a thorough understanding of all the things that must work properly to make a practice run smoothly and efficiently. And running the back office provided a rewarding clinical understanding of a broad spectrum of diseases, injuries, genetics and well-care issues that I can use for the rest of my career.
All that said, the relationships with children and their parents are the best part of my profession. Whether it's a smile, a hug or a thank you at the end of an appointment, or if it's running into a now-grown patient who I've known since birth, my friendship with those I meet and help every day makes everything worthwhile.
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