User login
My secretary and I have a pact. I won’t sell her anything, and she won’t sell me anything. Sound strange? You must not have kids.
One of the most irritating rites of the school year is the fundraiser. Your kid goes to a mandatory assembly where a charismatic salesman shows them all kinds of stuff: video game consoles, air rifles, mountain bikes, etc., which they can earn simply by selling merchandise (usually foodstuffs) to raise money for the school.
This drives me (and many parents) nuts. The last thing I want is my kid going door-to-door to sell things. I won’t allow it. Of course, this triggers a riot at home because the kids have been brainwashed into thinking they’re going to be the ones winning the Playstation 17 by selling cookie dough orders.
This is so irritating that at a school meeting I once suggested they simply ask each family to chip in $100 per kid to a school fund once a year, then do away with the fundraisers. The majority of parents agreed with me, but the officials shot my idea down as being "impractical."
So what does this have to do with neurology? Recently, I had to see a doctor. Her office staff was actually trying to sell their kids’ school fundraiser items (candy bars) to patients waiting in the lobby! When I mentioned this to the doctor, she told me she does that once a year for her kids, too.
Does anyone else see this as unprofessional? As a patient, wouldn’t you be worried that not buying something would get you a lower quality of care? Or feel entitled to something more if you did make a purchase?
Likewise, I get letters/calls/faxes from patients asking me to buy things to support their kids’ band/team/whatever. I don’t do this either. No matter how good a cause, I think it’s a bad idea to start. It affects the doctor-patient relationship in ways that may not be tangible but are nonetheless quite real.
I can’t change the school budget issues, and, as much as I’d like to, won’t be able to stop these fundraising-by-brainwashing-kids schemes. But I don’t believe they have any place in a doctor’s office. Their presence changes the relationship between doctor, staff, and patients, but not in ways that are conducive to practicing good medicine.
Dr. Block has a solo neurology practice in Scottsdale, Ariz.
My secretary and I have a pact. I won’t sell her anything, and she won’t sell me anything. Sound strange? You must not have kids.
One of the most irritating rites of the school year is the fundraiser. Your kid goes to a mandatory assembly where a charismatic salesman shows them all kinds of stuff: video game consoles, air rifles, mountain bikes, etc., which they can earn simply by selling merchandise (usually foodstuffs) to raise money for the school.
This drives me (and many parents) nuts. The last thing I want is my kid going door-to-door to sell things. I won’t allow it. Of course, this triggers a riot at home because the kids have been brainwashed into thinking they’re going to be the ones winning the Playstation 17 by selling cookie dough orders.
This is so irritating that at a school meeting I once suggested they simply ask each family to chip in $100 per kid to a school fund once a year, then do away with the fundraisers. The majority of parents agreed with me, but the officials shot my idea down as being "impractical."
So what does this have to do with neurology? Recently, I had to see a doctor. Her office staff was actually trying to sell their kids’ school fundraiser items (candy bars) to patients waiting in the lobby! When I mentioned this to the doctor, she told me she does that once a year for her kids, too.
Does anyone else see this as unprofessional? As a patient, wouldn’t you be worried that not buying something would get you a lower quality of care? Or feel entitled to something more if you did make a purchase?
Likewise, I get letters/calls/faxes from patients asking me to buy things to support their kids’ band/team/whatever. I don’t do this either. No matter how good a cause, I think it’s a bad idea to start. It affects the doctor-patient relationship in ways that may not be tangible but are nonetheless quite real.
I can’t change the school budget issues, and, as much as I’d like to, won’t be able to stop these fundraising-by-brainwashing-kids schemes. But I don’t believe they have any place in a doctor’s office. Their presence changes the relationship between doctor, staff, and patients, but not in ways that are conducive to practicing good medicine.
Dr. Block has a solo neurology practice in Scottsdale, Ariz.
My secretary and I have a pact. I won’t sell her anything, and she won’t sell me anything. Sound strange? You must not have kids.
One of the most irritating rites of the school year is the fundraiser. Your kid goes to a mandatory assembly where a charismatic salesman shows them all kinds of stuff: video game consoles, air rifles, mountain bikes, etc., which they can earn simply by selling merchandise (usually foodstuffs) to raise money for the school.
This drives me (and many parents) nuts. The last thing I want is my kid going door-to-door to sell things. I won’t allow it. Of course, this triggers a riot at home because the kids have been brainwashed into thinking they’re going to be the ones winning the Playstation 17 by selling cookie dough orders.
This is so irritating that at a school meeting I once suggested they simply ask each family to chip in $100 per kid to a school fund once a year, then do away with the fundraisers. The majority of parents agreed with me, but the officials shot my idea down as being "impractical."
So what does this have to do with neurology? Recently, I had to see a doctor. Her office staff was actually trying to sell their kids’ school fundraiser items (candy bars) to patients waiting in the lobby! When I mentioned this to the doctor, she told me she does that once a year for her kids, too.
Does anyone else see this as unprofessional? As a patient, wouldn’t you be worried that not buying something would get you a lower quality of care? Or feel entitled to something more if you did make a purchase?
Likewise, I get letters/calls/faxes from patients asking me to buy things to support their kids’ band/team/whatever. I don’t do this either. No matter how good a cause, I think it’s a bad idea to start. It affects the doctor-patient relationship in ways that may not be tangible but are nonetheless quite real.
I can’t change the school budget issues, and, as much as I’d like to, won’t be able to stop these fundraising-by-brainwashing-kids schemes. But I don’t believe they have any place in a doctor’s office. Their presence changes the relationship between doctor, staff, and patients, but not in ways that are conducive to practicing good medicine.
Dr. Block has a solo neurology practice in Scottsdale, Ariz.
