Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Provider me not

Earl Stewart, Jr., MD
Physician
October 31, 2022
185 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share

I am not your provider.

There are days I loudly scream silently within the profundity of my soul, “Lord, please do not let them call me ‘provider’ one more time.”

I do not merely present to you to give you something you can use for your own personal subsistence.

Provider comes from the Latin verb “providere,” which means “to foresee.” Our beloved and storied profession’s effective and evidence-based practice does not merely imply seeing a thing before.  It means standing with, standing beside, and standing in front of, and sometimes running alongside each other and our patients to achieve a common goal of ultimate wellness through health and healing.

To denote me in the glory of my white coat — clean, crisp, and pristine in its innate form — as a provider is to, in essence, cheapen it.  It being the patient-physician relationship.  It being the multitudinous nights and days spent laboring over books, negotiating curricula, and the sweat, prayers, and tears to reach, with fervor, the remarkable achievement of attendinghood.

It being the act of doctoring.

It being the days of study and toil forever and always to prepare the most consistently reasonable list of differential diagnoses.

It being the tears offered up by, and the tissues offered to my patient at the very breakage of bad news.

It being the lectures provided to medical posterity, the research articles published, the committees on which I serve, and the consistent updates I receive, review, and read all to service consummately my patient and the nobility of the profession by which I call my name.

It being the sacrifices made to not be at a Christmas gathering, funeral, or wedding of one or more of my own, just to tend to the needs of a patient—a fellow human being who needed me more.

It being my humanity and debasing me to the level of the mindless entity who just gives a thing when a thing is needed to be given to a human being does not accurately delineate what I do or even how I work.

For I am a physician.  There is gravitas that is invoked by stating that word.  There is calling.

Dare not, even just one more time, call me merely one who gives a thing.  I do not just give.

The relationship I have with my patient is a beauteous partnership that is unparalleled.  It is formal.  It is holy.  It is reasonable.  It is acceptable.  It is a reasonable service.  It is almost like religion itself.  It is of God and through faith.  It is hard nights and long days.  It is advocacy for the greatest of the great remedies.  It is prayer at the bedside and holding hands.  It is goodness and mercy.  It is worthy to be called by a name so much greater than what has become the banal appellation deemed most apropos to our employ.  I and we are so much than … provider.  At times, it feels like priest.  At times, it feels like paternity.  At times, it feels like problem-solver.  At times, it feels like prayer partner.

I assure you this is many incandescent and copious things, but it is not, I equally assure you, merely provision.

Earl Stewart, Jr. is an internal medicine physician in Atlanta, Georgia, a 2023 Doximity Digital Health Fellow, and a 2023 Climate and Health Equity Fellow (CHEF) with the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health. He can be reached on E.S.J., M.D., LinkedIn, Twitter @EarlStewartJr, and Doximity.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

A Hungarian Jewish man's fight for freedom [PODCAST]

October 30, 2022 Kevin 0
…
Next

Punishing doctors for spreading misinformation

October 31, 2022 Kevin 1
…

Tagged as: Primary Care

Post navigation

< Previous Post
A Hungarian Jewish man's fight for freedom [PODCAST]
Next Post >
Punishing doctors for spreading misinformation

More by Earl Stewart, Jr., MD

  • EHRs must do more to help combat climate change

    Earl Stewart, Jr., MD
  • The why doesn’t matter: Highland Park

    Earl Stewart, Jr., MD
  • To the patient who left a negative physician review

    Earl Stewart, Jr., MD

Related Posts

  • A physician’s take on thoughts and prayers

    Earl Stewart, Jr., MD
  • Is the physician-patient relationship becoming a provider-client one?

    Rene Datta
  • A physician’s addiction to social media

    Amanda Xi, MD
  • What’s the future of the physician assistant?

    Dale J. Bingham, PA-C, MPH
  • Primary Care First: CMS develops a value-based primary care program for independent practices

    Robert Colton, MD
  • Language matters: the not-so-innocuous provider effect

    Torie S. Sepah, MD

More in Physician

  • Challenging the diagnosis: dehydration or bias?

    Sydney Lou Bonnick, MD
  • Practicing medicine with conviction

    Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA
  • The power of memory in shaping human identity

    Emily F. Peters and Sandeep Jauhar, MD, PhD
  • Physicians have no autonomy. Here’s how to change that.

    Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH
  • The erosion of patient care

    Laura de la Torre, MD
  • Navigating adulthood in the digital age

    Eleanor Menzin, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The erosion of patient care

      Laura de la Torre, MD | Physician
    • Challenging the diagnosis: dehydration or bias?

      Sydney Lou Bonnick, MD | Physician
    • COVID-19 unleashed an ongoing crisis of delirium in hospitals

      Christina Reppas-Rindlisbacher, MD, Nathan Stall, MD, and Paula Rochon, MD | Conditions
    • A teenager’s perspective: the pressing need for mental health days in schools

      Ruhi Saldanha | Conditions
    • A shop teacher’s daughter on transforming patient safety

      Barbara L. Olson, RN | Conditions
    • Physician autonomy and patient interactions in corporate health care

      Michele Luckenbaugh | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Medical gaslighting: a growing challenge in today’s medical landscape

      Tami Burdick | Conditions
    • I want to be a doctor who can provide care for women: What states must I rule out for my medical education?

      Nandini Erodula | Education
    • Balancing opioid medication in chronic pain

      L. Joseph Parker, MD | Conditions
    • The erosion of patient care

      Laura de la Torre, MD | Physician
    • Reigniting after burnout: 3 physician stories

      Kim Downey, PT | Physician
    • Mourning the silent epidemic: the physician suicide crisis and suggestions for change

      Amna Shabbir, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • A shop teacher’s daughter on transforming patient safety

      Barbara L. Olson, RN | Conditions
    • What happened to the chemical pathologist?

      Martin C. Young, MD | Conditions
    • Utilizing AI may reduce maternal and infant mortality

      Matt Eakins, MD | Tech
    • Unraveling the complex enigma of obesity [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Second chances and simple beauty in thrift stores

      Debbie Moore-Black, RN | Conditions
    • How to facilitate caregiver learning and support to improve clinical care outcomes

      Kerri Milyko, PhD | Tech

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 3 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

CME Spotlights

From MedPage Today

Latest News

  • The ED Is Not the Place to Refer Kids With Mental Health Concerns
  • What Percent of Kids Had Long COVID?
  • Primary Care Visits With NPs, PAs on the Rise; C. Diff in the Intensive Care Unit
  • Are Obesity Drugs for Adolescents Cost-Effective?
  • Lab Tests That Escape FDA Oversight May Come Under Agency Review

Meeting Coverage

  • Fezolinetant Benefits Women Not Suited for Hormone Therapy
  • Plant-Based Estrogen Improves Lipids in Postmenopausal Women
  • New Schizophrenia Treatments Are Coming: Don't Panic
  • Loneliness Needs to Be Treated Like Any Other Health Condition, Researcher Suggests
  • Stopping Medical Misinformation Requires Early Detection
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The erosion of patient care

      Laura de la Torre, MD | Physician
    • Challenging the diagnosis: dehydration or bias?

      Sydney Lou Bonnick, MD | Physician
    • COVID-19 unleashed an ongoing crisis of delirium in hospitals

      Christina Reppas-Rindlisbacher, MD, Nathan Stall, MD, and Paula Rochon, MD | Conditions
    • A teenager’s perspective: the pressing need for mental health days in schools

      Ruhi Saldanha | Conditions
    • A shop teacher’s daughter on transforming patient safety

      Barbara L. Olson, RN | Conditions
    • Physician autonomy and patient interactions in corporate health care

      Michele Luckenbaugh | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Medical gaslighting: a growing challenge in today’s medical landscape

      Tami Burdick | Conditions
    • I want to be a doctor who can provide care for women: What states must I rule out for my medical education?

      Nandini Erodula | Education
    • Balancing opioid medication in chronic pain

      L. Joseph Parker, MD | Conditions
    • The erosion of patient care

      Laura de la Torre, MD | Physician
    • Reigniting after burnout: 3 physician stories

      Kim Downey, PT | Physician
    • Mourning the silent epidemic: the physician suicide crisis and suggestions for change

      Amna Shabbir, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • A shop teacher’s daughter on transforming patient safety

      Barbara L. Olson, RN | Conditions
    • What happened to the chemical pathologist?

      Martin C. Young, MD | Conditions
    • Utilizing AI may reduce maternal and infant mortality

      Matt Eakins, MD | Tech
    • Unraveling the complex enigma of obesity [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Second chances and simple beauty in thrift stores

      Debbie Moore-Black, RN | Conditions
    • How to facilitate caregiver learning and support to improve clinical care outcomes

      Kerri Milyko, PhD | Tech

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Provider me not
3 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...