I learned something interesting about Vietnamese culture recently. [View all]

I have two new patients in clinic, a sweet middle-aged married couple from Da Nang, Vietnam. They were both nervous about coming in to the clinic to get established and undergo care for their medical concerns. But their daughter made them. We just finished our second clinic visit, and their daughter told me they like me very much. She says they were nervous because in Vietnam, evidently, doctors are very authoritative and paternalistic, and often resort to shouting and bullying in order to get their patients to adhere to their treatment plans.

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They like that I'm soft-spoken and attentive, use humor in my clinic visits, and offer them options to choose from when organizing treatment plans. I was sorry to hear this about Vietnamese culture; but I have to say, nearly every Vietnamese national I have ever met has been sweet and warm and kind. And spoken Vietnamese is lovely, almost like music. So I'm glad they like and trust me. I'm already looking forward to their next visit.