title: The physician-administrator as patient: distinctive aspects of medical care.
abstract: This article examines distinctive aspects of medical care experienced by a 55-year-old hospitalized for quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery who was also a senior physician-administrator (chief of gastroenterology) at the same hospital. The article describes eight distinctive aspects of administrator-physicians as patients, including special patient treatment; exalted patient expectations by hospital personnel; patient suppression of emotions; patient denial; self-doctoring; job stress contributing to disease; self-sacrifice to achieve better health; and rational medical decisions when not under stress. Health-care workers should recognize how these distinctive aspects of medical care and behavior affect administrator-physicians as patients, in order to mitigate their negative effects, potentiate their positive effects, and optimize the care of these patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, MOB 233,William Beaumont Hospital, 3535 W.Thirteen Mile Road, Royal Oak, MI 48073, USA. mitchell.cappell@beaumont.edu
authors.forename: Mitchell S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Cappell
mesh_terms: D000288:Administrative Personnel / Q000523:psychology; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002404:Catheterization; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000534:rehabilitation; D003422:Critical Care; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000150:complications; D004452:Echocardiography; D006801:Humans; D056989:Inferior Wall Myocardial Infarction / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000534:rehabilitation*