Ugh, Patient Care

Alright, let's settle this right now. We could jump right to feeling like terrible people for feeling overwhelmed and resentful by the work that we do providing care to other humans. We're going to skip that.

It's really NOT about the patients.

All humans need medical care at some point, and we have chosen to provide said care. 

And yet, few of us realize the COST of doing this until we are in the thick of it. And for most of us, it isn't that we don't like or value the work that we do.

But, every time we see a patient we:
1.) Need to be "on," thoughtful and focused, even if we were up all night
2.) Have to write an essay describing the encounter
3.) Are greeted by at least one other human who has some feelings and some expectations and usually some distress about being there needing care
4.) Might get bombarded with messages, chats, knocks on the door and "urgent paperwork" so Tommy can go to camp

In this episode, I show you the reasons why you feel the way that you do if you both love taking care of patients AND dread going to work as a physician. And, let's talk about how to make this better.