keeping up morale

[rhiannon777]

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It's not like I went into medical school unprepared for the realities of modern medicine. I did the research and the shadowing and all that stuff you're supposed to do in order to understand a doctor's lifestyle. The doctors I talked to were inspired by their jobs, lived comfortable lifestyles, had great relationships with their families, and were overall quite happy. Sure, they stressed that it was a lot of hard work but it seemed that with some effort, you could have a good balance in your life.

Now that I'm into my second year of medical school, I'm very discouraged. Pretty much every physician I've talked to in the last year and a half has been miserable. They are over-worked and under-paid, plagued by red tape and fear of lawsuits, they never see their families, and they don't even like their patients. I'm starting to think that I'm in for a lifetime of misery. I don't want to quit, but I would like to see SOME light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[MrBurns10]

Were the "happy" doctors you initially talked to private practice or in small community hospitals and the ones you've talked to recently residents or attendings at your med school's medical center?

I ask because people's experiences are going to differ greatly depending on how they shape their practice, either private or at busy medical centers, and of course how much they like what they do. There is the capacity to work a ****load in medicine, but that's not all there is. It depends on what field you go into and, as I mentioned, what type of practice you're in. It's not all awful.

As far as the lawsuits and red tape go, they're an unfortunate part of medicine that are impossible to avoid completely. Some states are better than others, though...sadly, I don't think I'd recommend practicing in Florida, for example (sadly because I love my home state).

 

[soeagerun2or]

Medical education is way different than medical practice (and medical research has nothing to do with medical practice). Unfortuneately, admissions committees tell applicants to dance so much the dark side of medicine is hard to pick up on until it's too late.

 

[njbmd]

It's not like I went into medical school unprepared for the realities of modern medicine. I did the research and the shadowing and all that stuff you're supposed to do in order to understand a doctor's lifestyle. The doctors I talked to were inspired by their jobs, lived comfortable lifestyles, had great relationships with their families, and were overall quite happy. Sure, they stressed that it was a lot of hard work but it seemed that with some effort, you could have a good balance in your life.

Now that I'm into my second year of medical school, I'm very discouraged. Pretty much every physician I've talked to in the last year and a half has been miserable. They are over-worked and under-paid, plagued by red tape and fear of lawsuits, they never see their families, and they don't even like their patients. I'm starting to think that I'm in for a lifetime of misery. I don't want to quit, but I would like to see SOME light at the end of the tunnel.

I am a very happy physician. My lifestyle is exactly as I envisioned it. I work in a very high risk specialty that frequently deals with salvage of life and limbs and thus lawsuits are out there and my malpractice is pretty significant. Do I "fear" a lawsuit? No, because I do not practice outside of standard of care.

I live indoors and even get to fly my little Skyhawk on a regular basis. I drive a Toyota (gets 38 mpg) and I enjoy every aspect of my job (including the paperwork). My family sees more of me than they would like most times. 😉 My colleagues are great to work with. I also enjoy the teaching aspect of my academic practice.

I worked very hard in medical school and even harder in surgery residency and fellowship. At this point, I still work hard but enjoy what I do especially the challenge and art. My belief is that most of the unhappy folks choose something because they think it will give them a great lifestyle rather than something that "gets their juices flowing". Lifestyle is garbage if you hate what you do. I would rather operate 10 hours than spend 1 hour doing something that I hate.

 

[rhiannon777]

Were the "happy" doctors you initially talked to private practice or in small community hospitals and the ones you've talked to recently residents or attendings at your med school's medical center?

Yes, in fact that is the case. I'm hoping that's the major component of the difference. Since that's my only exposure to practicing physicians right now, it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

 

[rhiannon777]

I am a very happy physician. My lifestyle is exactly as I envisioned it.

Thank you. It's good to hear from someone who's happy!

 

[Jccripe]

I think that many people begin medical school for all the wrong reasons and they dont really have any pasion, it is just a "good" job. Not surprisingly is that if you want tons of money or some other superficial item, you will never have enough. Thus, people will inevitably become miserable and hate their job.

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

I think that many people begin medical school for all the wrong reasons and they dont really have any pasion, it is just a "good" job. Not surprisingly is that if you want tons of money or some other superficial item, you will never have enough. Thus, people will inevitably become miserable and hate their job.

I disagree. Most people have "passion" but it's not passion for medicine. It's passion for this idealized job that RESEMBLES medicine but all the patients are nice and polite and good people and they get paid lots of money to do it. They acknowledge the debt and the hours but minimize it.

These are the people who crash and burn real hard when they find out what medicine is really about.

 

[nocebo]

Forget the idealization of medicine and a doctor's job. There are some good moments but there's a lot of crap too. I personally don't mind difficult patients nearly as much as doing their paperwork. As an M3, on one of my rotations I spend at least 10x more time writing admission reports, progress notes, and discharge notes than I do seeing the patients themselves. It gets even worse as an intern, when you have the authority to write even more types of stuff. I imagine it slowly gets better as a resident and an attending, when you can start rolling it downhill to the intern, student, etc.

Also, a quick FYI: electronic records, in my experience, don't make the paperwork easier; they just make more of it. A paper SOAP note that would rarely go beyond a page or two (of fairly-wide-ruled lines no less, and this would be a student's note, which is always way longer than the longcoats) now goes on for pages. Not to mention deleting your whole note if you accidentally click a wrong button or forget to save before going back to check on a lab result or something.

Addendum: after seeing what a surgery note looks like, compared to a medicine one (IM, peds), I wanted to tear my hair out. Or start my surgery rotation and just let nature take its course on my scalp.

 

[DrJosephKim]

You'll always find people complaining. There are many happy people out there. Plus, you'll have many different options (depending on the path you take) - so the options are endless.

 

[bcat85]

It really isn't that bad. You have to think about it relative to other stuff. Think about all the suck that there is in any other career and compare it to the suck of medicine. Sure you have to do paperwork, but when your patients leave, they're generally healthy(er.. hopefully) and you've improved their life at least a little.

There are complaints in every profession. Construction workers get sore backs and they get worn out. Teachers have to deal with standards and students and parents who don't care. Every profession has its downside, and the thought that medicine is like s*itting rose petals every day is unrealistic.