"Performing a physical exam is its own orchestration, a carefully arranged composition that starts at the head and works its way down to the toes. While books have been written about performing the exam, there is an intimacy to it that isn't captured by the written word or pictures," Mikkael Sekeres, MD, director of the leukemia program at Cleveland Clinic, wrote in The New York Times last Thursday.
Dr. Mikkael shared his patient rituals — his hand washing schedule, how he helps patients to the exam table, his physical exam ritual and how he says goodbye — as a tribute to the trusted habits that keep the "monsters at bay" just as he assures his 6-year-old son he checked for the monsters every night.
Physicians: What are your daily rituals? What do you do for every patient, every time, no matter what? Share your thoughts with us: erappleye@beckershealthcare.com.
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