A Note from Dr. Rohal: I welcomed Hannah to CovenantMD last week (see her bio on our About page.) She has jumped in with enthusiasm and determination, and has already begun to put her stamp on the practice. I invited her to contribute a blog post. Enjoy!
Nursing is my calling. I don’t remember the day that I decided I wanted to be a nurse. I just always have. I started working in my local hospital my senior year of high school, and have been working in patient care ever since. I love taking care of people, comforting them, caring for them, advocating for them, investing my time, energy, knowledge, experience, and emotions into helping them feel better and live more fully. I have spent countless hours listening to my patients concerns and carrying their burdens. I’ve lost sleep thinking about them, and felt deep pangs of grief at their suffering. All of those hours, relationships, and investments don’t feel like a sacrifice because I love doing it. It is my calling.
In my over 10 years of experience, I rarely felt this calling reciprocated in the physicians with whom I worked. Of no fault of their own, the demands of the health care system simply didn’t allow these practitioners to invest themselves into the lives of their patients the way that I could. I believe many of them wanted to, but simply couldn’t.
The result: frustration!
I was frustrated that I, the one who knew these patients and their stories, hopes and fears was powerless to order the test or call in the medication that would have made a dramatic difference in their lives. The physician was frustrated when I called to advocate on the patient’s behalf. While this patient’s care may have been very important to him, I was interrupting his already overbooked appointment schedule and taking him away from another patient who also needed him to be invested.
As a heath care consumer, it doesn’t take long to figure out that CovenantMD is different. The cost structure, the access to services, the appointment times, even the name itself. It’s all very different. I like these differences. I like that direct primary care provides VALUE, offering superior health services at a lower cost by removing insurance providers as the middlemen. I like that direct primary care improves ACCESS to physicians so that patients receive excellent continuity of care. I like that direct primary care promotes physicians taking TIME to listen and collaborate with their patients to together develop a plan that integrates evidence based practice with each individual’s needs, goals, and preferences.
These are all reasons that I LIKE Direct Primary Care and would recommend it as a method of health care delivery. But these reasons are not why I LOVE CovenantMD, and why I am ecstatic to be joining the practice.
I love CovenantMD because it is a calling. A calling requires pouring yourself out in service of others. A calling requires a constant striving to offer your best. One conversation with Dr. Rohal, and it is obvious that CovenantMD is his calling to deliver excellent, comprehensive, personalized medical care to patients and their families. I am honored to be a part of CovenantMD and to share in this calling.