Wear and tear.....

In medical school we are taught how the body works, how the body can break down after diseases, and how we can treat the body. In a completely different class and mind frame, we are also (supposedly) taught how to deal with the patients soul-- asking open ended questions, bringing up end of life issues, and offer anything that will make them more comfortable while at the hospital (within reason, of course).



Meanwhile we, as physicians, as medical students, are to check our own lives at the door. Any situations that may be going on at home---emotional, financial, even our own sickness---is just not acceptable. In any other job, this would be irrational, but for some reason, in ours, its not even thought over twice. So I guess that it's not surprising that at this point in our short career---as third year medical students---we are all feeling the wear and tear of this process. The process being, weighing the importance of taking care of ourselves vs taking care of our patients.



I think we all started this year eager to learn, ready to go the extra mile. Now we're exhausted and are finally hitting the repercussions of letting everything else besides the hospital go--we're paying bills late, forgetting relatives birthdays, and letting the stress build. Conversations now start with "back before med school" or "a couple of years ago, you know, when I had a life". I look at some doctors now and think it might just get worse. I am not sure what the answer is to fixing this situation.