Are You a Fixer or A Healer? (And Why it Matters)

“I am a fixer,” says an orthopedic surgeon, when we first begin working together. “I am not a healer.”

He knows when he’s done a good job in surgery. Success is measurable.

In areas like non-surgical neurology and primary care, however, there may not be a “fix”.

But the combination of deep listening and patient education, can provide a key part of healing.

“In stroke,” says a neurologist, “you’re working on secondary prevention. The event has already happened. This is where knowledge is power and gives comfort. I empower patients to know the signs.”

But this sort of healing takes more time.

In today’s medical climate there’s precious little room to be a healer.

In a for-profit system that reduces healers to “providers,” and trains patients to expect quick fixes, the system is failing us all.

For the specialties where healing is called for, doctors may experience higher rates of moral injury.

Especially if they are not able to provide the healing part of their work.

“Sometimes you can’t fix anything,” says the neurologist. “But healing is always possible in any room — even with a mortal catastrophe.”

Of course, the fixing/healing choice is not always and either/or.

Several E.R. physicians remind me that their work often calls for both.

I would argue that all medicine, when practiced at it’s highest potential, does involve both; that the possibility and hope for healing has always been at the core of medical practice.

Even the orthopedic surgeon is changing his view of his work.

A good day, he tells me, is one when he’s able to fix the problem through surgery.

A deeply satisfying day, he says, is when he provides immeasurable things like hope and understanding to his patients.

As he finds more compassion for himself, he is finding it for his patients.

There are some places a scalpel or a pill can’t touch, after all.

“The saying is not ‘Fix Thyself,’” says the neurologist. “It is, ‘Physician Heal Thyself.’”

There is no surgery for unhappiness, after all.

There is no fix for stagnation.

There is no pill for loneliness.

How you see yourself as a physician — healer or fixer — reflects back to what you see is possible for your own life.