One of the patients hands you a basket of baked goods and wine for the holidays as a gift. What would you do?
The first thing I would do is acknowledge their kindness and express my gratitude. The second thing I would do is ensure them that I will try my level best in providing them with the same level of care and service that the family physician had provided them before me because it is clear to me that they really value the service that was provided to them.
Third I would going to explaining why I cannot accept your gifts in a polite manner. So I would say that as family physicians we cannot accept gifts because it may seem like we might have done them a favor in the past or are doing a favor to them in the present or in the future and because we want to be fair to everyone we cannot do so.
And lastly, I would give her alternates to what we could do it again. So for example with the wine, we can donate it to a restaurant that is struggling especially during the pandemic. You know that it's going to be useful to many people and we have to be good we can give it to children or even homeless people and just by spreading joy, that would be a gift for me and about your position that the it was the gift was.
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