Biggest challenge to overcome as a physician?

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osumc2014

osumc2014

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I see this question come up in interviews a lot, but I'm not sure exactly what it is asking?
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I think the biggest challenge is to be able to think critically for yourself instead of shotgun soliciting a bunch of random replies from other people on SDN.

What do you think?
 
ChemEngSoonMD said:
I think the biggest challenge is to be able to think critically for yourself instead of shotgun soliciting a bunch of random replies from other people on SDN.

What do you think?
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I think someone just got pwnd.
 
ChemEngSoonMD said:
I think the biggest challenge is to be able to think critically for yourself instead of shotgun soliciting a bunch of random replies from other people on SDN.

What do you think?
Click to expand...

thanks...really appreciate your response
 
ReptarBar said:
why bother even going to school then? we should learn everything from wikipedia if advice, insight, and guidance are frowned upon.


ps http://cw-multimedia.mobi/ivr/axe/overgelled.html
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/agree

SDN isn't here to be informative. You must know everything to post here.

Also, to the OP, that question is a personal one. IMO, "health care" would be a horrible response. What aspect of being a physician is personally challenging for you, that you would have to overcome?
 
for me, my biggest challenge is gonna be trying to not get too attached to my patients and trying to create an emotional barrier. I worked in the ER, and whenever a person would die, especially a teenager in a car wreck, my stomach would knot up for hours and I wouldn't stop thinking about that patient for days after.
 
osumc2014 said:
I see this question come up in interviews a lot, but I'm not sure exactly what it is asking?
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One approach is to imagine going through a day as a physician and seeing where you would start to trip and falter. Would you start snapping at people after working for 30 hours? Would you start making patients feel ignored because you are an hour behind and are rushing through things? Maybe it is giving up a lot of things you used to enjoy because you're working 80 hours a week. That's why this question is personal. I think what this question is really asking is "Do you know what it takes to be a physician? If so, prove it to me."

If you start shadowing physicians, you'll start to see some of the problems that come up and things you'll have to overcome (provided you have the guts to ask honest questions). I once shadowed a neurosurgeon and his resident: the resident was quitting after 3 years because it was too much and the attending neurosurgeon looked like his spirit was crushed because of lawsuits. When you see stuff like that, it becomes easier to see the challenges and then you can come up with a thoughtful response.
 
mirrorpair said:
One approach is to imagine going through a day as a physician and seeing where you would start to trip and falter. Would you start snapping at people after working for 30 hours? Would you start making patients feel ignored because you are an hour behind and are rushing through things? Maybe it is giving up a lot of things you used to enjoy because you're working 80 hours a week. That's why this question is personal. I think what this question is really asking is "Do you know what it takes to be a physician? If so, prove it to me."

If you start shadowing physicians, you'll start to see some of the problems that come up and things you'll have to overcome (provided you have the guts to ask honest questions). I once shadowed a neurosurgeon and his resident: the resident was quitting after 3 years because it was too much and the attending neurosurgeon looked like his spirit was crushed because of lawsuits. When you see stuff like that, it becomes easier to see the challenges and then you can come up with a thoughtful response.
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This is where the shadowing experience becomes very useful. This question is designed to weed out those who have limited time with doctors.
 
ReptarBar said:
why bother even going to school then? we should learn everything from wikipedia if advice, insight, and guidance are frowned upon.
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Its simply because not everything can be learned from Wikipedia.
 
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ok thanks for the responses! I was just trying to gauge what the questions getting at
 
are you filling out a secondary?
 
osumc2014 said:
thanks...really appreciate your response
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Not many do, I have yet to see one bit of helpful advice by this guy. My response would be an explanation of the increasing population of litigious patients, the difficulty of wanting to help as many people as possible (if working in a hospital setting) and not being able to due to imposed constraints by administration due to lack of insurance, resources, etc. You could go into the difficult of balancing a relationship with a work schedule, your own health due to lack of time to go to the gym or get enough sleep, and plenty of other things you can think up.
 
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osumc2014 said:
ok thanks for the responses! I was just trying to gauge what the questions getting at
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they're trying to see if you understand the profession and challenges that face physicians.

it's not all just "helping people" and making a ton of money. there are a lot of ethical and social/economic issues that will challenge you. you will be in a lot of debt. you will be very busy and will probably miss out on a lot of sleep. you will lose friends. you may lose relationships.

they want to know that you're aware of those issues and that you've thought about it.
 
I can see at least 20 things that bother me about becoming a doctor. If you think becoming a doctor is "ALL THAT" with no negatives, you haven't been thinking enough.
 
I think its one of those questions that each person will answer differently, based on experiences they have had.
 
My candidates:

1. Motivating patients to comply with your advice without scaring the hell out of them thereby inducing extra stress in them.

2. Getting sued.

3. Getting the patient to understand their health challenges sufficiently, i.e. not talking over their heads, or down to them, in a highly limited span of time. This was actually stated by a pharmacy student regarding counseling for new scripts, but I would assume it applies to physicians?
 
Go volunteer at hospice to get over the knot feeling. It was be of great benefit to you...

makeshift123 said:
for me, my biggest challenge is gonna be trying to not get too attached to my patients and trying to create an emotional barrier. I worked in the ER, and whenever a person would die, especially a teenager in a car wreck, my stomach would knot up for hours and I wouldn't stop thinking about that patient for days after.
Click to expand...
 
armybound said:
Seems to me like the OP is asking what the question means, not what the answer is.
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Yeah and I really don't think it's the same question as the "disadvantages" of going into medicine, as another suggested, though they may overlap some. Challenges aren't necessarily bad, they're just "not easy" for you...
 
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