asimplecleanlife
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2021
- Messages
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- 5
I have been practicing outpatient FM for 5 years since residency (made it through med school and residency by the skin of my teeth, especially since there was so much pressure coming from a family of doctors and I was pretty much told when I was young that I couldn't do anything else with my life.) I don't think I'm good at it.
I started out the first couple of years after residency doing ok, patients said they liked me, then over the past year things gradually, subtly got worse. I got a couple of negative Yelp reviews that basically said I wasn't able to help them the way they wanted or answer their questions, but they didn't say what exactly the problem was, and a bunch of patients switched over to other providers in the same group. They didn't give information as to why. There are still some patients that say they like me. I am the youngest person in my practice and the other doctors in our group are all old enough to be my parents, so obviously there is a gap between their level of experience and mine. Some of them manage to see 30+ patients almost every day (how they do it, I can't imagine.) Part of it is my fault. I am very introverted ( I was tested for Asperger's but told I don't have it, tested for ADHD and told I have very mild symptoms but stimulant meds just made me jittery and anxious) and also it turns out I have mild dyspraxia which means I lose money by avoiding hands-on procedures that other doctors find easy for fear of screwing up on a live patient (had some bad experiences early in my training.) The EHR alone is exhausting me every night.
Even so, I realized that deep down I don't like constantly interacting with people without getting a break, and I have no idea how to find a job that I could do well that doesn't involve direct patient care. I don't actually like health care or clinical medicine. I haven't kept up on my clinical knowledge as much as I should though I still pay for subscriptions for UpToDate and JAMA, and even though I tell myself I'm going to read more journals and update my knowledge on weekends I can't make myself do it. I have no idea how to do anything else and I really relate to large parts of some other anonymous physician's rant (just search reddit for "I hate being a doctor") and look for the one on offmychest from a few years ago- it won't let me link to it.)
I have no idea what to do or how to keep going in this job for the next 30 years. I cannot see myself in this profession for much longer, though I haven't gotten in any legal trouble and I do my best to perform my job and document to the best of my ability. I do have a history of depression and also lost 2 of my grandparents this year, so that isn't helping. I have no idea what to do about my future.
I started out the first couple of years after residency doing ok, patients said they liked me, then over the past year things gradually, subtly got worse. I got a couple of negative Yelp reviews that basically said I wasn't able to help them the way they wanted or answer their questions, but they didn't say what exactly the problem was, and a bunch of patients switched over to other providers in the same group. They didn't give information as to why. There are still some patients that say they like me. I am the youngest person in my practice and the other doctors in our group are all old enough to be my parents, so obviously there is a gap between their level of experience and mine. Some of them manage to see 30+ patients almost every day (how they do it, I can't imagine.) Part of it is my fault. I am very introverted ( I was tested for Asperger's but told I don't have it, tested for ADHD and told I have very mild symptoms but stimulant meds just made me jittery and anxious) and also it turns out I have mild dyspraxia which means I lose money by avoiding hands-on procedures that other doctors find easy for fear of screwing up on a live patient (had some bad experiences early in my training.) The EHR alone is exhausting me every night.
Even so, I realized that deep down I don't like constantly interacting with people without getting a break, and I have no idea how to find a job that I could do well that doesn't involve direct patient care. I don't actually like health care or clinical medicine. I haven't kept up on my clinical knowledge as much as I should though I still pay for subscriptions for UpToDate and JAMA, and even though I tell myself I'm going to read more journals and update my knowledge on weekends I can't make myself do it. I have no idea how to do anything else and I really relate to large parts of some other anonymous physician's rant (just search reddit for "I hate being a doctor") and look for the one on offmychest from a few years ago- it won't let me link to it.)
I have no idea what to do or how to keep going in this job for the next 30 years. I cannot see myself in this profession for much longer, though I haven't gotten in any legal trouble and I do my best to perform my job and document to the best of my ability. I do have a history of depression and also lost 2 of my grandparents this year, so that isn't helping. I have no idea what to do about my future.