The broken promise that has taken us away from our patients

Dr Hans Duvefelt

I wonder if there is a difference between older and younger physicians when it comes to how much time they spend, and would prefer to spend, with patients.

In 1984, fresh out of residency, I was the young man trying out a position in Livermore Falls, Maine. The two 50-something family doctors wrote their notes by hand, standing up at the counter in a shared area. There wasn’t a whole lot of other paperwork to do.