What is the hardest thing about being a med student and/or physician?

[QuinnTheEskimo]

What do you think is the hardest thing about being a med student or physician? I am curious to hear your thoughts.

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[Boolean]

Figuring out the optimal delivery route of C8H10N4O2

 

[PleaseCallMeDoc]

Telling someone that they are going to die and that there is nothing you can do to change that

 

[QuinnTheEskimo]

Telling someone that they are going to die and that there is nothing you can do to change that

What is their usual reaction to this information, and how do you handle it?

 

[mehc012]

Figuring out the optimal delivery route of C8H10N4O2

Caffeine pills. Done. You enjoy coffee? Fine. But keep the pills around anyway...only cost effective way to have it readily available whenever you don't anticipate needing it.

 

[Boolean]

What is their usual reaction to this information, and how do you handle it?

From what I've seen there honestly isn't a "usual" reaction to such a thing. Sure, it's typically grieving, but many internalise it, and many simply have no emotion towards it at all. The best way I feel you can handle it is by providing the best care you possibly can until the very end.

 

[Boolean]

Caffeine pills. Done. You enjoy coffee? Fine. But keep the pills around anyway...only cost effective way to have it readily available whenever you don't anticipate needing it.

I was thinking of an IV drip...
Not that I drink too much coffee or anything absurd like that...

 

[Catalystik]

What do you think is the hardest thing about being a med student or physician? I am curious to hear your thoughts.

Having to function up to standard with less-than-optimal sleep.

 

[mehc012]

I was thinking of an IV drip...
Not that I drink too much coffee or anything absurd like that...

Too inconvenient...can't keep it in your pocket, your backpack, your car, your purse, and your locker. Expensive, difficult to stay in stock.
Not that I have spent too much time looking for non-beverage ways to ingest caffeine or anything...
(coffee is nasty, energy drinks are gross, and both are too expensive, so I branched out).

 

[Boolean]

Too inconvenient...can't keep it in your pocket, your backpack, your car, your purse, and your locker. Expensive, difficult to stay in stock.
Not that I have spent too much time looking for non-beverage ways to ingest caffeine or anything...
(coffee is nasty, energy drinks are gross, and both are too expensive, so I branched out).

I'm sure one can macgyver an insulin pump into dispensing caffeine...

 

[mehc012]

I'm sure one can macgyver an insulin pump into dispensing caffeine...

For less than $5? I bow to you, master
Also, what would it trigger on? You get tired and clumsy, start bumping into tables, the impact triggers a caffeine jolt?
Then all of the tired doctors start ramming their hips into corners just to get their fix, lol!

 

[TheShaker]

Figuring out the optimal delivery route of C8H10N4O2

Accompanied with ephedrine. Dat heart rate.

 

[darkjedi]

avoiding med student syndrome

 

[Boolean]

avoiding med student syndrome

Can you clarify as to what you mean by this?

 

[Bacchus]

Having to function up to standard with less-than-optimal sleep.

Very true. Telling a patient and their family you made an error because you weren't well rested isn't well received.

 

[QuinnTheEskimo]

avoiding med student syndrome

you mean like hypochondria?

i work in a hospital and i have never experienced this myself, BUT I work with a resident who diagnoses himself with a new disease literally every week. It's terrible, and everyone gives him so much crap for it lol. Hope I never get this.

 

[darkjedi]

Can you clarify as to what you mean by this?

you mean like hypochondria?
i work in a hospital and i have never experienced this myself, BUT I work with a resident who diagnoses himself with a new disease literally every week. It's terrible, and everyone gives him so much crap for it lol. Hope I never get this.

There are a few facets to med student syndrome. First is that when you are learning about diseases, you start to worry if you actually have symptoms to it. Second is that when you start seeing patients with a huge variety of diseases, you begin to recognize how fragile life is.

It affects some more than others of course. And I'm only half kidding.

 

[Boolean]

you mean like hypochondria?

i work in a hospital and i have never experienced this myself, BUT I work with a resident who diagnoses himself with a new disease literally every week. It's terrible, and everyone gives him so much crap for it lol. Hope I never get this.

In all fairness, their concern isn't unwarranted. I think the best description of such is in a blog post I found off of Reddit:

"This week, my ninety-nine classmates and I are about to take the final exam for our second block. It’s called Microbes and Immunity, and can be briefly described as “how your body fights off infection, and by the way here are some examples of the thousands and thousands of different ways you can get sick and/or die.”

(Not sure if this was the medical student syndrome that was implied!)

 

[QuinnTheEskimo]

In all fairness, their concern isn't unwarranted. I think the best description of such is in a blog post I found off of Reddit: "This week, my ninety-nine classmates and I are about to take the final exam for our second block. It’s called Microbes and Immunity, and can be briefly described as “how your body fights off infection, and by the way here are some examples of the thousands and thousands of different ways you can get sick and/or die.”"(Not sure if this was the medical student syndrome that was implied!)

No...this guy thinks he has congenital heart disease one week, and some kind of rare cancer the next. Things that are very rare in the general population, and practically unheard of in a 20something! I want to tell him to calm the f down.

 

[darkjedi]

(Not sure if this was the medical student syndrome that was implied!)

Yup, thats one part of it.

 

[Life Sucks]

Yup, thats one part of it.

I have the really hypochondria, and it sucks really bad.

 

[sobored]

Worst thing about being a med student - having to kiss everyone's @ss and pretend you like it. The amount of brown nosing in medicine is unreal. Even worse if you are older than the people whose butt you're kissing!

 

[TooMuchResearch]

There are a few facets to med student syndrome. First is that when you are learning about diseases, you start to worry if you actually have symptoms to it. Second is that when you start seeing patients with a huge variety of diseases, you begin to recognize how fragile life is.

It affects some more than others of course. And I'm only half kidding.

And once you realize life's fragility, do you care more or less about it? Either way, you're probably going to get cancer at a young age then get hit by a truck on your way to chemo then get healthcare-associated pneumonia then get toxic megacolon then get a massive PE then hypoperfuse your brain then rot in a nursing home getting your food through a tube unable to kill yourself but don't worry the cancer will end it all soon except oops the cancer was an incidentaloma found on an unnecessary CT scan misdiagnosed because someone didn't get enough sleep.

 

[darkjedi]

And once you realize life's fragility, do you care more or less about it? Either way, you're probably going to get cancer at a young age then get hit by a truck on your way to chemo then get healthcare-associated pneumonia then get toxic megacolon then get a massive PE then hypoperfuse your brain then rot in a nursing home getting your food through a tube unable to kill yourself but don't worry the cancer will end it all soon except oops the cancer was an incidentaloma found on an unnecessary CT scan misdiagnosed because someone didn't get enough sleep.

its pretty scary to think about how many things can go wrong, especially when you are seeing it first hand

 

[Bacchus]

There are a few facets to med student syndrome. First is that when you are learning about diseases, you start to worry if you actually have symptoms to it. Second is that when you start seeing patients with a huge variety of diseases, you begin to recognize how fragile life is.

It affects some more than others of course. And I'm only half kidding.

Recently got done with neurology. It sounds simple enough, but the amount of people I saw with Parkinson disease makes me never, never, never be diagnosed with it. Another example would be the multiple patients I've seen with GBM (glioblastoma multiformes) who regressed so quickly they can't perform ADLs. I can't imagine knowing you have a ca. that will more than likely return if it is resected or if you receive chemo to make it go away. I also know I don't want diabetes, granted unless I develop a later onset of Type I, that will at least be preventable.