Comments on: 10 Things Doctors Hate to Hear

By: CCFE

CCFE — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 03:46:31 +0000

As a nurse for many years working with doctors, residents, med students I have seen a lot. Most med students go in scared but eager to learn, please their attendings and actually help the patient. Residents start to become jaded and some pretty full of themselves but still just as nervous or almost as nervous as the med student, most of the staff doctors who are attendings are actually still happy with their choices and interested in teaching. I have to admit also “I don’t hear too many doctors whine about hating to see sick people.” Those one’s are usually shown the door quickly. While working with patients can be rewarding and frustrating at the same time, burn out rate is high. Joe sounds like he needs to move on, maybe try research where you have very little patient contact.

By: pariah

pariah — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 14:52:36 +0000

Joe, you sound like a very new doctor or not a very good one. Most experienced physicians intuitively know what’s wrong with someone within a few minutes of seeing them.

By: Beppy

Beppy — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 02:20:24 +0000

The most frustrating aspect of medical practice for me is that I feel I have been sold a very expensive bill of goods that has not lived up to its reputation. Becoming a doctor was an idealistic choice for many, myself included, based on the ideal of using what talents we had to improve health. In exchange, we would receive ample compensation (attractive) and the appreciation of society. For the most part, we came from scientific backgrounds and thought with logical minds to solve problems as they were presented. What I have found through my experience attempting to practice the science of medicine is that the business and politics of medicine has conspired to make that job very difficult. I leveraged several years, if not decades, of future earnings to afford my time in medical school and residency. Now I am out practicing general pediatrics and have found that I am still living paycheck to paycheck as I try to pay back all the loans. As I move from patient to patient, I find that, while parents tend to care deeply for their children, they do not seem to care that the doctor does so much more than simply give shots. I actually had the mother of a newborn say to me, “Why are you talking to me, I thought you were here to check the baby.” Add to this frustration issues with Medicaid reimbursement, disastrous social situations, and long days in clinic trying to do the best you can for each patient while seeing as many patients as possible so the clinic can remain open. i was not prepared to be a business person. I do not understand the influence insurance has on who can get what kind of healthcare. I am regularly frustrated by the lack of basic health literacy in my patients and parents. I am absolutely enraged by the fact that insurances reimburse more generously if I keep all of my chronically ill patients just a little bit sick so they have to come in more often than if I were to optimize their treatment so they could make fewer visits to the office. I stepped out of the ideal into a world of perverse financial incentives, parents who either don’t understand or don’t care, and an office that is run by people with business degrees and not by clinicians. I am bound to this scenario until I pay off my considerable educational debt. If i continue to pay my loans at the pace I am repaying now, that should happen not long after I turn 60.

By: Annie

Annie — Fri, 14 May 2010 20:37:09 +0000

I know I am sick of treating the sick. It’s been three years of being a doc for me.

By: whatever

whatever — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:42:09 +0000

What about doctors who instruct their students (who have a naturally great bedside manner) to become tactless and rude. my doctor always says, “so, what’s the matter this time?” and i don’t see him more than once a year. He’s instructed the student to state my mental condition loudly (OCD).

By: Mary High Blood Pressure Remedy

Mary High Blood Pressure Remedy — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:26:39 +0000

Oh oh oh, as a nurse here’s a favorite of mine “can I get that vicodin/ percocet/ oxycodone prescription refilled early? See I’m going out of town/ knocked them in the toilet/ the dog ate them and died and I just need a few”

By: Annie

Annie — Sat, 16 May 2009 00:34:10 +0000

Diana–if you’ve been a doctor for more than two years, you’re sick of treating the sick. We all are.

By: Diana

Diana — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:29:06 +0000

Joe, it sounds like you might want to change your profession. While I sympathize with your having to deal with “grandma’s aches and pains” type of patients, I don’t appreciate a doctor who is sick of treating the sick. Move on.

Oh wait, I forgot, you have all that time and money invested in your mishap. Sorry, what was I thinking!

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 03:59:42 +0000

I hate being a doctor more than you will ever know. Do you remember talking to your grandma about medical problems? How long could you hold conversation with her about her problems before being overwhelmed? high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes–oh even better how about fragility, can’t walk weak and dizzy and sudden pain all over? Now try to figuer her medical problem out but through 3 sets of lips of your relatives?How about doing that 24- 30 times per day? Not with same person but with 24-30 different person?
You get the picture.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:08:17 +0000

i have a quiz, pls advise

” Fishermen love me & doctors hate me, Kids want to eat me” it is 13 word letter
hint is “- H-T—Ior L–ME-”
Pls advise