Editor’s Note
By Kristen Wilson, PT, DPT
Just your average Wednesday morning in Glen Mills. Woke up, checked my email, showered, got dressed, now I’m off to meet my grade-school crush for coffee to plan a high school girls’ community event. I’m sure all you readers can relate.
Ha! One of the beautiful and challenging elements of living in the town you grew up in is the constant reintegration with your past. Most of the time, this provides an incredible opportunity to reminisce, which, for a sentimentalist like me, is second to none. But sometimes, it can really catch you off guard and leave one feeling quite embarrassed. For example, the catalyst for today’s meeting? Running head on into aforementioned crush while grocery shopping after just returning into town from a trip, exhausted, dirty hair, in a non-flattering outfit, and probably with a scowl on my face. Needless to say, my cheeks were the shade of this month’s issue — a nice rosy mortified.
Being the face of a private practice has many ups and downs, all which come with varying related emotions. Pride when your practice makes a local newspaper headline, anger when you read a Google review that missed the mark completely, sadness when representing your clinic at the funeral of a beloved patient, and embarrassment, when you get caught by a patient while running to Home Depot in your “painting clothes.” But regardless of the emotion, the fact remains that you get the privilege of being the face of your clinic, flesh representation of the good work your team provides for the community. And that privilege comes with duty. No matter the occasion, we don our cheery demeanors and put our best face forward for the sake of those we serve.
This month’s issue of Impact really rose to the occasion (I know, I can’t help myself!). I can’t get enough of Darrin Ye’s article “Overlooked Threats: Practice Encroachment or Powerful Allies” about reframing our view of competition. Here he takes an alternative approach to the common “mine, mine, mine” phenomenon we often succumb to. Considering a change for your lifestyle? Check out Christine Taylor’s Member Perspectives piece on transitioning from being an owner to an employee. And please don’t leave the issue without reading “Guns and Roses’ ‘Welcome to the Jungle’”, Jane Oeffner and Megan Schaefer’s incredible article about teaching soft skills to new clinicians. The content this year keeps getting better thanks to our phenomenal editorial board and our volunteer writers.
We as private practice members are continually faced with challenges which will likely increase over the next few years. Inflation, reimbursement, staffing — pick your scapegoat or culprit. We’ll need to do our best to keep our face as cheery as possible for the teams we lead and the clients we serve, no matter what emotions may be bubbling below the surface. Certainly, this is not a call for naivety or insincerity, but rather a challenge to my fellow private practice members to take an alternate approach to the negativity. Lean on the good work of the team members around you, read feedback from the clients who love you, and remember above all, what matters most is that we serve our communities, one client at a time, to help them achieve their potential.
Happy May, my friends. (Now off to that coffee)
