Being a doctor is really more tricky than most may imagine. Many professions are exposed to difficult and stressful environments. However being a doctor has an added complication – peoples expectations.
The path to become a “doctor” is complicated. We go to school, strangely manage to do well enough to get into medicine, then spend a few years at university, a few further years in hospitals as a student and as a junior doctor. Then we finally emerge as the “Doctor”and begin our “Practice”. – and “practice” we do.
The problem is we learn so much knowledge which is needed to pass the exams, that when we end up in the “practice”, we discover that the most important aspect of medicine is the relationship we have with our patients. Knowledge seems to account for very little. Don’t get me wrong, however, the knowledge is vital. But what is more important is that along the way we have learnt HOW to learn, and HOW to apply that knowledge in a helpful way, using the doctor-patient relationship as a tool. I wish that we were taught that at university!
So being a doctor suddenly becomes like being a parent. People come to have with their woes; we take on their problems; try to understand what is going on; try to detoxify their anxiety; translate our medical knowledge into a common language; and give them a blessing as they go. For the “good” patient, this is all too easy and straightforward, but the “bad” patient dumps way too much on us as soon as we open the flood gates and it is easy to get overwhelmed.
We can get help for the clinical problem – maybe this was the diagnosis, did you try that medication? But how do we deal with the emotional load? It may be a matter of just having a quick chat and the right person saying “Yeah, that is really very shitty” to help put things back into perspective, but sometimes we need more, and sometimes we just let things build up.
Doctors need doctors too. Not just to check out our blood pressure and keep us medically on track, but for someone who knows what it is really like on the battlefront. We may need a therapist too, but most of the time we just need someone who just understands.
Being a Doctor is stressfull and draining. Our reward is certainly not here in this world and we rarely getting any thanks. However the gratitidue I do gain from some of my patients does make the exercise worthwhile. But for now I must leave medicine to regain a sense of my true self before I am no longer capable of learning to just be me. I now wish to thank all those who have given me gratitude for my efforts and hope you all stay safe and well.
So long folks, and thanks for all the fish!