Health Care's Newest Dirty Word

As a child, I loved games of strategy. Whether it was Monopoly, Stratego, or Risk, certain themes pervaded. One had to learn how to think multiple maneuvers into the future and form beneficial partnerships to survive the onslaught. The goal, of course, was total world domination. The game was over when one side was economically or physically manipulated into full capitulation.

I have carried these strategies with me on my long voyage through medical education and doctorhood. Disease, the great evil adversary, is wily and deft.  The ability to foresee her courageous moves, plan and prepare for the future, and meet her on the battlefield is a skill that every physician must obtain.

The political maneuvering and manipulating, however, was something that I was always grateful to be able to avoid in this laudable profession. Unlike my friends in the fields of business, law, and accounting, there were minimal office politics. My relationships were formed out of mutual respect and admiration, rarely out of a strategic need to protect myself. My naiveté, it turns out, was short lived.

Read the rest of my post at The Medical Bag.