Letter to the Editor: Editorial: What Do You Say When a Patient Says Thank You?

To the Editor,

I would like to say thank you to Seth Leopold MD for his recent editorial on making a concerted effort to acknowledge our patients’ gratitude [1].

I fully agree that acknowledging the gratitude of our patients in the right way is an important part of the healing process both for the patient and for the healthcare provider. Acknowledging a patient’s gratitude is a valuable moment of personal connection and should not be spoiled with an eluding response like the A, B, or C versions of the “pop quiz” at the top of the editorial [1].

Showing a genuine and deep response while accepting the gratitude of our patients is an important aspect of our interpersonal relations skills, and a great way to nurture our own professional satisfaction. There is nothing more refreshing and reinvigorating than an appreciative patient at the end of a long follow-up session in the office.

At my practice, I treat patients from many different ethnic groups, and I would like to share with you a special trait that is common in our Polynesian patient population. When they say thank you (and they do it often and candidly) and one accepts their gratitude genuinely, one can anticipate a big and sincere hug, an even-more-evident manifestation of what the editorial described as “professional intimacy” [1]. When I receive one of those hugs, it is a great day in the office, and it is in those moments that I feel especially fortunate to work in this environment