Tag: Primary care

San Juan County Park sunset

Career Lifespan of a Millennial Doctor: 10-15 years MAX

by M, posted in Burnout, Student Loans

Millennial doctors are declaring our career lifespans to be shorter than our predecessors. At first I assumed it was selection bias due to reading all the physician FIRE blogs when starting my burnout journey.  But, among my cohort of millennial doctors comprised of Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics and Med/Peds physicians at this unofficial reunion, NONE of us are planning on having a lengthy career in medicine. 4 years of pre-med.  4 years of med school.  3-4 years of residency. All that training for us to then make enough to pay off the 6 figure loans, stockpile our money and GET OUT in just about the same amount of time it took for us to get through training to begin with.

Boracay beach, Philippines

Why is Love So Hard To Take?

by M, posted in Burnout

What happened? Sitting back in my chair, I studied her.  The buoyant, excitable 9 year old I had met when H's family first started coming to see me had been replaced by this sullen teenager in bedazzled Converses who now had the telltale signs of cutting on her non-dominant forearm. "How are you sleeping?" "Fine." "Tell me about the things you're eating." "All junk food." H stuck her chin out defiantly as she declared this, almost as if to say, I dare you to tell me I'm fat.

Hurricane Ridge, Olympic Peninsula, WA

What is Life When It’s No Longer Defined By Work?

by M, posted in Burnout

We have allowed work to become this all consuming part of our lives, and not just in medicine. It's too easy to become married to our jobs, forgetting there are people at home who are more deserving of our time and attention. When will I allow myself to say doctoring needs to be just a job and not my life - and when will I actually believe it? What is life when it's no longer defined by work?

Just another waterfall you can walk behind at Silver State Falls

When Your Best Isn’t Good Enough: Just Be Better

by M, posted in Burnout

"I'll see you in 6 months, ok?" I said as I exited the patient room. Flashing a smile, I waved goodbye and turned to see my 4 medical assistants huddled around the closest workstation. All staring at me.  Imagery of hunters circling their felled prey before they delivered the final death blow flashed in my mind.  Sympathy intermixed with indecision as to when exactly was the right moment to strike. "What.... ?" I asked, a little disconcerted. After what felt like an eternity, one of them spoke up. "C just called to let us know his wife, R, just died from a stroke.  He wanted to thank you for everything, but he doesn't need her appointment now." "Oh.  Okay." Silence punctuated with shocked faces by my curt reply. "Are you ok, Dr. M?" Was I OK?

Stained glass dove

Saying Goodbye is the Hardest Part

by M, posted in Doctoring

Now as I am looking forward to what the next step in my journey will be and the guilt that ensues with the thought of leaving my current practice, I have to remember - there will be patients who will remember our relationship fondly.  There will be patients who would be willing to follow me.  There is far more gratitude and grace that I've somehow forgotten along the way.

Falls Creek Falls, WA in the Spring

A Primary Care Doctor’s Husband’s Solution to Burnout: Just Care Less

by M, posted in Burnout

When I went into primary care, I had dreams of being able to prevent disease.  I had dreams of doing my part to help this broken, expensive healthcare system - chronic diseases directly attributable to obesity make up 80% of healthcare spending in the US.  If I could just catch deadly habits before they caused harm and set people on a better course, I could do so much good, I told myself. What I didn't take into account was for this to work, the people I took care of would need to also buy into this dream.