A Day in the Life - Primary Care Physician, Dr. Robin Motter-Mast

For Dr. Robin Motter, being a doctor is all about helping people and caring about the community.

“You really take pride in the community you’re able to serve. It’s a privilege,” Motter said.

When she was in middle school, Motter developed a keen interest in science as well as the desire to help people. Her mother was a nurse who worked at a center for the developmentally disabled in Pennsylvania and Motter was able to help at the facility as a girl. The experience inspired her to pursue a career in the medical field.

Motter said her patients confide in her and trust her to treat not just themselves, but also their loved ones.

“I feel very lucky every day to be that person that people can count on and share those things with,” Motter said.

Motter works out of the GBMC Hunt Manor office located in Phoenix. The office has five doctors, one nurse practitioner and one physician assistant. It’s one of 10 primary care offices within the GBMC network and serves about 10,000 patients.

Her day consists of seeing patients (about 15-20 patients a day), fielding patient phone calls, reviewing patients’ medical tests from the previous week, answering questions from staff and answering emails. It’s a job that involves popping in and out of exam rooms and sitting in front of the computer.

“There’s really no moment to sit and process, you’re lucky if you can find time to use the restroom,” Motter said.

While most office visits take about 15 to 30 minutes, that time can vary depending on a patient’s need.

“A good day in primary care looks like what is on your schedule, so if somebody’s coming in for a certain type of visit, that’s the visit that you actually are confronted with when you walk through the door as a physician,” Motter explained. “What is a bad day is when that visit becomes unexpected.”

Motter said she and others in her position take meeting a patient’s needs very seriously and on days when it’s a challenge to meet every need, it can be very discouraging.

On the other hand, a bad day on the job can actually turn into a good day, Motter said.

“A good day can kind of look like a bad day. Often in those crisis situations, those are the days where you might leave feeling like you were really trained to do what you’re here to do, that you really were able to make a difference in somebody’s life that day,” Motter said.

For her, those are the days that make it all worth it.

A Day in the Life is produced by WMAR - ABC2