Saying Good-Bye to Patients

By Dena Rifkin, MD

Next month I’ll be finishing the final year of my fellowship in kidney disease and transitioning into my new role as attending physician, with mainly in-hospital rather than outpatient responsibilities. So I’m saying good-bye to some patients I’ve been seeing in clinic for the past two years.

These patients won’t be left scrambling to find a new doctor. The attending physician who followed them for years before I showed up, and who supervised me, will see them from here on, albeit with another fellow. This pattern repeats itself every two or three years in our clinic. Read More