Transcript
josh MacDonald: I'm Josh McDonald.
Miranda Materi: And I'm Miranda Materi, and we are Hand Therapy Academy.
josh MacDonald: Let's talk about what we do with patient gifts, as in like patients bring us gifts in. um It happens a lot around like the holidays, but we've had patients just on a random Tuesday come in with things. So what are you supposed to do with it and and how do you handle it?
Miranda Materi: Yeah, and how do you handle it? You know, from food to money, you know, to paintings.
josh MacDonald: Yeah.
Miranda Materi: I feel like we've been given a gamut of things in our careers. And so, when this is just one advice I got as a new grad when I was working at the Mayo Clinic and we had a limit of $50. So we couldn't accept anything that would be over 50. Like, so if it was a gift card, the gift card couldn't be over $50. And in that setting was very easy. You know, I would just be like, Oh, you know, legally Mayo Clinic doesn't allow me to accept this as over $50. And that was really nice of you.
Miranda Materi: in private practice where we are now, it's a little different, right? But I've always just tried to follow that same advice. So I oftentimes will say, oh, well, my partner who's an attorney tells me I can't accept those things and that I could get in trouble for that. So.
josh MacDonald: Yeah, yeah. It always helps to be able to, I'll say, blame it on someone else. But yeah, yeah.
Miranda Materi: ah
josh MacDonald: To kind of defer that. It does create a little bit of an awkward tension with that patient moving forwards. Like you can't, if that patient were to put $500 on the table for you and say, thank you so much for everything you do for me.
josh MacDonald: And they're still coming. Like it creates a tension. Certainly anyone else in the room that sees it. But yeah, it's ah it's a tense thing.
Miranda Materi: Yeah, it can be. And I don't think because I know patients are doing it to be generous and very kind.
josh MacDonald: Yes.
Miranda Materi: I think they just don't realize sometimes the position it'll put us in. So the other thing I've done, too, if so I've gotten a gift that's, you know, even like $50 or whatever, like, oh, do you mind if I use this to buy the clinic lunch or, you know, something or like something for the therapy office?
josh MacDonald: Yeah, yeah, that's good. i like that idea. like that idea. um I worked in the pediatric field long enough. I did home health visits often. So I have a general rule because I've seen what people's kitchens look like.
josh MacDonald: that I don't eat food that came from a kitchen I haven't seen or hasn't been certified by the health department. um I've seen some kitchens in homes of people who looked like, you know, high functioning professionals and I go into those homes to see their kids or, you know, I've done home visits for different situations.
josh MacDonald: Yeah, i'm I'm kind of sketched out by that. It is few and far between when I will eat homemade food. But there's times when that person says, you should try it. And it's clear they want you to eat it sitting in front of them.
Miranda Materi: Yeah. Do you take a bite then?
josh MacDonald: ah Yeah, yeah. Because that yeah at that point, I'm not much of a germaphobe.
Miranda Materi: Yeah. Yeah.
josh MacDonald: Like I really am not a germaphobe. um And I'm fine with you know drinking from a garden hose. But i'm I set that aside so it doesn't create an awkward tension with the patient. But yeah, if it's if there's, true you oh, we'll put these in back. We can't take a break and eat right now. So I'm gonna go put these in back for later or I'll leave them out for everyone to have some like patience and stuff.
josh MacDonald: And then I'll just kind of let it go. Yeah.
Miranda Materi: Yeah, I i had, um well, I will don't won't even say where it came from, but I had someone that made these like homemade, um they were like little fried things and brought in a bunch for both because I was inside a PT clinic.
Miranda Materi: So was a PT clinic myself and it was a lot of them and they were so good. Like these things were amazing.
josh MacDonald: Yeah.
Miranda Materi: i was like, going to take some home, you know, so I'm My daughter can try them. And then she sent me in a picture the next day of her taking a bite out of it. And you know what was in it?
Miranda Materi: A huge bug.
josh MacDonald: Oh, oh no.
Miranda Materi: It was like that. but And so I have never thought twice about eating clinic and the food that people brought in. I always like really enjoyed it And I'm like, yes, I can a chocolate chip cookie today. But since that time, I've been like, how does that even happen?
Miranda Materi: Like how do you end up with a big roach in your food?
josh MacDonald: Yes.
josh MacDonald: Yep. Yep. I have a dozen or more stories about home visit things that someday we'll do a podcast on those. I don't. Yeah. and And then so if it's store bought food, let's say it's a box of cookies from the local grocery store.
josh MacDonald: You know, that's fine. If you know, we i have a therapist who is very gluten intolerant and she's learned to be very discreet about saying like, I'm sorry, those things.
Miranda Materi: Thank you.
josh MacDonald: I can't eat those things. I don't feel well, but I really appreciate and She's very sweet about it. Um, it's, it's a personal preference at that point, but, but then restaurant made food. I have a pad, a patient who has brought in for three different staff members in the clinic, each their own bag full of store, like a restaurant purchased food. And I know what food goes for in like an ethnic restaurant. This is not an inexpensive purchase. This guy did. And,
josh MacDonald: None of us really cared for it, but he wanted to know how it tasted. And so there's this awkward, like, I don't want to lie to him. Right. So I tasted it and like, that was definitely Vietnamese food. i love that was great. Yeah.
Miranda Materi: i
josh MacDonald: Yeah.
Miranda Materi: Yeah, I do love Vietnamese food, but I'm, it does make it uncomfortable, right? If it's a large amount, like I had a patient that would bring us lunch, like every day, it should come three times a week. And I was like, it's just too, it's too much. And then you're cleaning up dishes and then your clinic becomes more of a food place. And it's just, yeah, I don't, I love that people are so thoughtful, but that's a, that's a hard one.
josh MacDonald: Yeah, yeah. We had a tech that we worked with a while ago that would very jokingly, very like playfully, when a patient would come in with a cup of coffee, say, oh, you didn't buy coffee for all of us.
josh MacDonald: Like when someone comes in with their lunch and you say, did you bring enough to share? But then it kind of put on these patients the onus that's like, oh, I should have brought coffee for everybody.
Miranda Materi: Uh-huh. Mm-hmm.
josh MacDonald: And I don't drink coffee. And so this person would have spent a couple bucks or six bucks on coffee for me. And now, like, it's this awkward tension thing. So I had to talk to her and say, like, can you please not say that? Because I really don't like coffee. And they shouldn't have to spend 20 bucks on coffee for the three of us.
josh MacDonald: Yeah.
Miranda Materi: Right. Yeah. It's super kind. I think for me, one of the best and gifts that I can receive, and I i will tell this to patients if they're like, can I get you something? It's always like a nice thank you card or a nice handwritten message.
Miranda Materi: i think those are like, great.
josh MacDonald: Yeah.
Miranda Materi: We put them on our wall and we're like, that's all the thing or a review, right? Those things are what really mean a lot to us. And, you know, don't make people feel awkward. And it's something that everybody can do if they want to.
Miranda Materi: And those are really good to me.
josh MacDonald: i I agree. I think I've got on my desk here a card from a kid that I saw. He was five when I saw him and he just graduated high school. And I haven't seen this kid in that many years.
josh MacDonald: And I got a letter dropped off at the clinic from his mom saying he's graduating and he's going to um ASU in the mechanical engineering department. And thank you so much for helping him figure out his autism.
josh MacDonald: And it was just like, I could not have asked for a better gift from a patient to say like, you had a positive impact on that person's life.
Miranda Materi: Wow.
josh MacDonald: Yeah.
Miranda Materi: Yeah, that's meaningful. and that's something you can look back on throughout your entire life, right?
josh MacDonald: Yeah. Yeah. yeah
Miranda Materi: Yeah. Wow. That's really special.
josh MacDonald: And similarly, I've had another patient who was an old guy and he was a tinkerer and he saw some of the little things we had patients do. So he made this little wooden platform and it had a threaded post and it was a nut and a washer and a nut and a washer. And it was this whole, and he made like two or three different versions of this thing saying, I think your patients would really really love this.
josh MacDonald: I put this together. Here you go. And we've used it with patients and it's kind of a fun, like, Hey, a patient made this.
Miranda Materi: Yeah, that's really cool.
josh MacDonald: This'll be fun. Go try this. Yeah.
Miranda Materi: Yeah, I had a patient, um he's since passed, but the sweetest man, and he would 3D print us therapy equipment. You know, so if we made the intrinsic taco, we'd make it out of thermoplastic.
josh MacDonald: Oh, that's cool.
Miranda Materi: He, you know, 3D printed like three or four of those. And then he did um different like pinching ones and different thumb plungers, which were really cool. And then he'd put like this cute little message on all of them.
Miranda Materi: And it was just, that was a really sweet gift as well.
josh MacDonald: That's cool.
Miranda Materi: Yeah.
josh MacDonald: That's cool. That's awesome. Yeah. Those personal things are fantastic. Those are the things that like, whether it's a useful thing or a letter or like a clinic tool or whatever, those are the things that like you can look back on later and say that patient valued what we did. Not that the person who brings food in doesn't, but it's just like that sticks with us for a long time.
Miranda Materi: Yeah, that's very true.
josh MacDonald: Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, maybe you have some other suggestions on how to handle patient gifts. Sometimes it's a value issue. Sometimes it's a food issue. But if you have any thoughts on it, reach out to us, send us a message on our social media platforms at Hand Therapy Academy.
Miranda Materi: All right. Thank you.
