1st place winner in the resident/fellow category in the 2015 STFM Blog Competition.
Megan Chock, MD
One year ago (read: before intern year), pretty much the most exciting part of my fourth-year emergency medicine rotation was having my pager go off. BZZZZ!!!!!! I leapt into action, excitingly reading the text page: “Leg lac in E9.” I was on it.
Suture kit in hand, I burst through E9’s thin emergency department curtains with abandon—I was going to fix this. The “leg lac” turned out to be a wonderful 95 years old, Mrs F, who had fallen onto her wheelchair. The skin on her lateral lower leg was pushed aside, leaving exposed subcutaneous fat (of which she did not have much) and the fascia of the muscle below. Accompanying Mrs F was her daughter and her husband and Mrs F’s other daughter’s daughter—suffice it to say, it was a crowded curtain-room. Two hours and 30 sutures later, I knew the family’s story: how Mrs F, great-grandmother of four, had been living independently but recently was hospitalized due to difficult to control hypertension, how Mrs F’s daughter and son-in-law wanted Mrs F to live with them, but she fiercely wanted her independence—“I can get around!” and how the same stubbornness that had gotten her through 95 bitterly cold Minnesota winters had now come to this, a crossroads.
The fact that I can still remember this family’s story, 16 months later, exemplifies what family medicine means to me: the chance to be a part of the lives of patients and their loved ones. I was drawn to medicine because I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to be in the best health they can at whatever stage of life they are. As a family physician, I see myself effecting individual change by being part of patients’ lives rather than thinking that I will save them.
Lest doctors get too big for their britches, let us be humbled that on average, health care accounts for only 10% of a person’s overall health. As a pre-med undergraduate majoring in economics, I struggled with the fact that merely becoming a physician would not help me change the world. Policies and environment played a much larger role, yet medical care focused on diagnosis and treatment of an individual’s signs and symptoms. How, I wondered, could this gap be bridged?
When I first read Family Medicine for America’s Health’s mission statement, I had to read Dr Glen Stream’s long, compound sentence a few times: “The goal of FMAHealth is ambitious: to transform from our current poorly integrated, disease-focused, expensive, fee-for-service funded non-system to a highly integrated, patient-centered, primary care team-based, health promoting, disparity eliminating, professionally satisfying, and cost-efficient true system.” Dr Stream covers a lot of ground with these words, but the ones that really resonated were ambitious, health promoting, and disparity eliminating. This is a call for family medicine to get involved with policies and innovation that will shape the entire health care environment.
In family medicine, I can do more than suture complex lacerations. During those 2 hours, I understood Mrs F’s and her family’s struggles and sought to find them better resources. When I saw that Mrs F had been readmitted to the hospital a few days later, I visited her. The recognition that lit up her and her daughter’s faces when I entered the room made an impression on me that ultimately convinced me to submit my residency applications into family medicine.
Family medicine isn’t about saving the crashing patient, administering miracle drugs, or restoring someone’s sight. It is about being a part of the lives of our patients, ideally growing with them but also seeing them through their struggles. Primary care has a dual meaning: we are the first people that patients see and the main interface between patients and the health care system. As Dr Stream points out, we have the opportunity to promote health and eliminate disparities by treating patients equally, before they get sick—and, by affecting that other 90% of health by getting involved in our communities and in policy. Mrs F was not, and never will be, a “leg lac”—she is a great-grandmother and the family matriarch, and I will always consider her and her family my first family medicine patients.
STFM Blog 
Tremendous blog! So proud of our baby intern Dr. Chock!
Dr Chock exudes so much passion for all things family med. Very blessed to have her in our program!
Dr. Chock is so genuine in her heart and passion to help people. She’s one ot the most caring and smart person i know!!
What a bright, refreshing perspective on what moves medical students to choose Family Medicine. Dr. Chock’s benevolent spirit shines through to each family member involved in their care. May we have many more physicians with such heart!
Thank you for the post! Indeed, being given the chance to be a part of a patient’s life is the most rewarding and fulfilling part of being in the healthcare profession! Cheers!
To all those considering work in this field, study your books, your human anatomical models, and don’t party too hard!
Thank you to all who commented and read the blog 🙂 very honored to be featured on this site!
Great job! You have a good soul.
Megan, you are going to do the most wonderful things with your life. I so enjoyed your essay. You make everyone who knows you, very proud!
Great post!
Dr Chock is amazing! Her passion and love of medicine is beautifully expressed!
Inspiring & refreshing! Love this blog!
I am so encouraged by Megan’s description of Family Medicine: “It is about being a part of the lives of our patients, ideally growing with them but also seeing them through their struggles.” May be we all be so fortunate to have this quality of health care and doctors who see us as human beings.
You go, Girl! Hope you come home to be our doc! IMUA! Much aloha, aunty c
We love you, Megan!
Regardless of what happens, you’re a winner in our eyes! Great job by all 3 of you!
What a heartfelt story. Dr. Chock goes far beyond treating the patient physically. She also addresses the emotional and spiritual well-being of her patient and her patient’s family. The world is a better place because of Dr. Chock and other family physicians like her who take a much broader, all encompassing approach to the needs of their patients. Thank you, Dr. Chock for choosing Family Medicine.
Inspiring, Megan.
Inspiring, Megan
Good luck and go make a dent in the universe! I was pre-med undergrad majoring in accounting!
What a great explanation of why to be in family medicine, and well written. Great job, Dr. Chock!
This is inspiring, to me as an old family doctor and educator. This is the attitude we need to have — in medicine, in family medicine, in our nation, and the world — the bring us into the future!
What a beautifully written piece. Truly inspiring. I will share with our students
Megan, a great blog. It reflects who you are from the conversations I have had with you. Your patients are lucky to have you taking care of them.