Isn't health such a depressing industry to work in?

[yanorglu]

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Dealing with sick or dying people some/all of the time, some of whom are guilty of nothing but bad luck.

Depends on the career path you take, of course, but there's always the clinical part of med school.

I dunno, it just feels like going through with becoming a doctor might take a serious toll on my own health. Emotional health, that is.

 

[45408]

Most of them are guilty of tons of bad habits though, and you tend to get a pretty thick skin. Occasionally there's a pretty heart-breaking moment.

 

[Planet Ocean]

Dealing with sick or dying people some/all of the time, some of whom are guilty of nothing but bad luck.

Depends on the career path you take, of course, but there's always the clinical part of med school.

I dunno, it just feels like going through with becoming a doctor might take a serious toll on my own health. Emotional health, that is.

Many people will die but you must also keep in mind that many do get better and go on to live relatively 'normal' lives. Its like what Beethoven said on his death bed about the world. Learn to see it for all its evil and darkness and still be able to love it. The same goes for medicine👍

 

[illegallysmooth]

I work at a city peds clinic and it has been the most depressing experience of my life. I cannot believe some of these people I see are in charge of childrens' lives. It's alarming.

Sometimes, it's motivating because I see how important the docs are in making sure the kids grow up healthy. Some of these parents wouldn't know anything was wrong with the kid if he was limping, drooling and pooping in his diaper at 6 yrs old. Many of them are determined to squeeze out every penny from the system as they can, with their flashy jewelry and cigarettes overflowing from the diaper bag while they push WIC forms at me, asking for Tylenol scripts and handing over their baby (with a 104 temp) whose temp they did not take because they can't afford a thermometer.

Sigh.

 

[christina30]

It sounds awful, but you just get used to it.

Four years working in a busy urban ER, and none of it phases me anymore unless it's particularly heinous/heartbreaking. You just have to develop a thick skin and a sort of defense mechanism - usually in the form of a dark/slightly sick sense of humor. It sounds horrible, but you have to find a way to cope.

 

[tremulousNeedle]

It is true that things can get stressful. However, it is not that black or white. With medical school and previous healthcare work, I have been in healthcare for nearly 9 years. Not every day is filled with sadness and stress. It’s all about how you learn to cope. For me, I can handle most situations with sick or dying adults; it is the kids with cancer that bother me. But then again, there are pediatric oncologists who learn to cope with these patients.

It’s the intrinsic reward that keeps me going. And the best part, I love my specialty and the icing on the cake is that I'll get paid a lot to do it.

 

[hector219]

sickness is a constant in life. You have to realize that its there whether you see it or not and that if you're there you are at least making it a little better.

 

[ILikeDrugs]

No, as long as I'm not dying.

 

[Danae00]

.

 

[jrou111]

Rule#4: The patient is the one with the disease.


There are plenty of sick folks you care about, but there's plenty of folks who are there because their meth lab blew up (that they paid for using taxpayer-funded entitlements)

 

[christina30]

Rule#4: The patient is the one with the disease.


There are plenty of sick folks you care about, but there's plenty of folks who are there because their meth lab blew up (that they paid for using taxpayer-funded entitlements)

At a cardiac arrest, the first procedure is to take your own pulse.

I love House of God 😀

 

[Doctorb2b]

I work in a level 1 trauma center in Norfolk, VA ... and I see plenty. Once every blue moon I see a patient who sticks with me. In all my time (two years), I've cried twice. Eventually the reality of the job sinks in and it really is just another part of it.

I work about 3-4 codes a week .... most don't make it. Those aren't too bad because most times they're brought in from the field in really bad shape. What's difficult to swallow sometimes are the patients who one minute are walking and talking and then the in next they tank because of a blown aneurysm that was undiscovered .... when that happens, the reality of life/death is never more relevant.

 

[Squeal]

I actually just worked my first code in the field a few hours ago. I was worried how I would handle it, but I surprisingly feel just fine.

This was a drug overdose though. I might feel different if it were a child I guess.

 

[mooshika]

...it is very funny to me how shocked some people can be that sick people show up at the emergency department on their shift.

 

[Law2Doc]

... You just have to develop a thick skin and a sort of defense mechanism - usually in the form of a dark/slightly sick sense of humor. It sounds horrible, but you have to find a way to cope.

Yeah, thick skin and a gallows humor are what gets you through. Most residents now find humor in some of the bleakest of situations. And when you spend your day laughing or amused at everything, you don't really feel the need to feel sad. And look forward to another day of joking. That, and the fact that when you are working 80 hour weeks, you don't really have the time to sit down and reflect, which might be depressing. Not having idle hands is helpful in this respect. You work through it.

 

[doctorperez]

No, as long as I'm not dying.

We're all dying!

 

[Slowpoke]

We're all dying!

This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time

-tyler durden

 

[DrArete]

.

 

[circulus vitios]

Uhhh....you win some, you lose some?

 

[DrArete]

Dealing with sick or dying people some/all of the time, some of whom are guilty of nothing but bad luck.

Depends on the career path you take, of course, but there's always the clinical part of med school.

I dunno, it just feels like going through with becoming a doctor might take a serious toll on my own health. Emotional health, that is.

read this -

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=154841