<p>When they say that doctors get to interact with people a lot, is this necessarily that great? The "interaction" seems kind of limited in a sense, and not very fulfilling. Correct me if I'm wrong, but do you consider most of these interactions to be more rote/mechanical rather than enjoyable?</p>
<p>I have gone to many families weddings, funerals, etc.</p>
<p>They tell you their most intimate secrets.</p>
<p>Why some docs are always “slow” in office is that they interact more</p>
<p>S01: Most are more rote and mechanical, it’s true. But every once in a while, you get a pretty special connection. The question is one of personal taste: is that okay with you? If so, great – if not, then that’s fine too.</p>
<p>I get to meet and interact with many patients as an anesthesiologist at a small hospital. I’ve met and taken care of multiple family members and single family members multiple times. After surgery, patients have stopped me in the supermarket to give me a hug. The hardest part is trying to remember what kind of surgery they had. Having meaningful interactions with people has little to do with your occupation and more to do with taking the time and making the effort to get to know people.</p>
<p>It is rare day that I don’t meet someone interesting. The staff in the pre-op area often tell my patients something about me before I even meet them; before I jump into an H & P, we talk story about surfing, food, music, math, technology, fishing, education or cooking. Taking this much time may not be possible at a fast moving medical center, but it is one the perks of working in a small town.</p>
<p>There’s all kinds of meaningful interaction. From clinic to the intensive care unit, if you want to have meaningful interactions, the opportunities are there.</p>
<p>I’m a pediatrics resident - and in general I’m not a fan of being in clinic - but one of my favorite parts is the chance to talk to new parents about their new baby, to get to know them and help them through the challenges, and prepare them for the successes in their future. I had a family just last week who I made a really strong connection with and they asked me to become their 2 month old’s primary care doctor for the next three years while I’m in residency. Considering how miserable I was about heading to clinic for 4 hours after working all night, that family totally made my day.</p>
<p>On the flipside, my end goal is to become a pediatric intensivist, working in the peds intensive care unit taking care of the sickest kids. There are lots of opportunities there as well, particularly in working with families where end of life care and the removal of life support are possibilities. The emotional needs of those families are a responsibility for the doctor just as much as the lab values of their child. Being a starting point for the grieving process for that family is vitally important and certainly has the potential to be one of the most meaningful, though horribly sad, interactions I can imagine. It’s not a role I’m looking forward to, but I recognize the importance.</p>
<p>I think nearly every specialty field in medicine has opportunities for fulfilling interaction. While they may be fewer and farther between in fields like radiology and pathology, I think there are chances even those fields (though they may not be recognized or taken advantage of by physicians in those fields). Further, if you enjoy talking to people, sometimes making small talk can be satisfying enough. Certainly the 10-15 minute discussions my $0.02 has with patients are different than those that a psychiatrist who spends hours upon hours talking with patients, but that doesn’t diminish their importance - .02 certainly can ease a lot of anxiety and nervousness for the patients about to go in for surgery, just by talking with them, and without a doubt that’s a satisfying part of his job.</p>
<p>BigRed
See if you can get one of the PICU docs to invite you to the critical care conf (Society of Critical Care Medicine). You would probably like it.</p>