Patients or patience?

I graduated from residency over a month ago and for various reasons that are both beyond the scope of this entry and boring to discuss, my first official day in my new clinic as a full time doctor was today.  There are a lot of perks to being a full time doc versus being in residency.  To name a few, I have a set schedule, I have my own office within my clinic with two computers and office supplies, a much quieter work environment, and so on and so forth.  In addition, graduating from an accredited residency program says that I have the skills necessary to be a competent doc.  I seem to have everything that I need to succeed, with one big exception: patients.  On my first day at my new clinic I only saw one patient, and technically it was another doctor’s patient who basically just needed a medicine refill.

I really didn’t anticipate being a real doctor would be like this.  I thought that as soon as I opened shop people would come.  Apparently my expectations were wrong.  Everyone I’ve talked to says it is normal to be slow when first starting and that things will pick up.  I hope they’re right.  Otherwise I am going to be a very bored real doctor.