Hippocrates, the exemplary Greek physician who lived around 400 BC, left us the Hippocratic Oath, and also this verse about the practice of medicine:

• Life is short,
• The art is long,
• Opportunity fleeting,
• Experience treacherous,
• Judgment difficult.

Despite tremendous advanced in technology these somber words are just as true today. Like Hippocrates, modern doctors often make important decisions without all the information they’d like to have. At times like these — when potentially life-changing problems threaten a patient’s health — meticulous attention to detail is required to achieve the best outcomes. Of course merely wanting to be thorough isn’t enough; time and resources also are required.

That’s why we build enough time into each and every appointment to thoroughly consider the situation. And it’s why we only hire highly qualified Registered Nurses, cultivate relationships with top specialists, and subscribe to the most robust medical databases and journals.

And our doctors? Between them, Drs. Sheldon and Sowell have 50 years of medical experience. They started out logging many hours in hospitals and other settings, in urban, suburban and rural areas, caring for old and young, assisting with surgeries and delivering hundreds of babies. For nearly two decades they’ve been building a practice that lets them treat each patient like family.

When all is said and done, one of the most important resources that we bring to our work as diagnosticians is time: the time to ponder a problem, mull over all the bits of data we’ve collected, and let it all percolate until things come together and we find a way forward.

Life is short, the art is long…