It’s not easy being a physician. I won’t catalogue the challenges here. As Frank Sinatra once pined in “My Way”,
“Regrets, I’ve had a few.”
He continued,
“But then again, too few to mention.”
One of the main “perks” becomes obvious when you are sick. Or a loved one becomes sick. Or a friend or staff member.
Because you can talk shop, you can transmit a history. Quickly and effectively. Doesn’t mean you always will do so. But you are more skilled than most people in being able to do so. When seconds count, and the listener needs the most pertinent information distilled rapidly, little compares to the physician who delivers the important facts in nouns and verbs only. Bullet points. No meandering. No detours. Your train of thought does have a caboose.
In terms of receiving information FROM a treating doctor, you are also more likely to understand the impact of the illness/injury and treatment options more than most people. This allows the doctor delivering the information to be more efficient in delivering the important facts per unit of time. Time is the one commodity most physicians do not have. Removing noise from signal allows the message to get from point A to point B rapidly.
Finally, your colleagues know you are part of a tribe. You are one of them. They are one of you. They know you know the type of care you are receiving. They generally will bring their “A game.” Or at least try to bring their “A game.”
All of these are generalizations. I’m certain there are exceptions. I’m certain there have been exceptions. In fact, sometimes a physician with the deeper knowledge will defer to the physician patient. And sometimes, the physician will delay or avoid care precisely because he IS a physician, and does not want to “over-react.” There’s a fine line between believing you have most diseases you ever read about in first year medical school, and ignoring obvious signs and symptoms assuming, like many things, this too will pass.
On balance, if I’m sick, or a loved one is sick, I’m glad I’m a physician. You should be also.
What do you think?
Friends and family say that they feel safe knowing that I’m taking care of them. And being retired from doing surgery, my practice is limited to friends and family…and friends of friends and friends of family. I refer and suggest. And I review everyone’s images. Amazing that some fairly prominent things get missed, but for having one more pair of eyeballs aimed at an image set.
Yep–hardest part of the first year of med school was learning the language. The rest was kinda details.