1. Fire the difficult patients.
But who will take care of them? They're the ones that are always being left. How could I possibly be another one in a long line of people who abandon them?
2. Be more like Doc Marten. (If you haven't seen the TV series on Netflix yet, check it out.)
Doc Marten is a fantastic diagnostician but is an absolute ass. Patients don't want to be around him. He treats his staff, his patients, and his colleagues like they are subhuman. No. Just no.
3. Ask for help.
I have been asking for help for a year now. Occasionally these requests are masked as jokes. More often they are unofficial sit downs. I've asked colleagues, office managers, staff, nurses and therapists. Unfortunately, the culture of medicine dictate that docs don't need help. Ever. So I needed to make an ass of myself to be heard.
4. It gets better in 5 years.
Really. Brilliant. And until then, how do I keep myself from imploding? It's true that having a light at the end of the tunnel is helpful. However, as anyone who has ever been overwhelmed with anxiety knows, the future is something that happens to other people.
5. Don't get involved in your patients' lives and anything but their immediate health.
No. Just no. I refuse to pretend that my patients aren't people to make it easier when they die, make it easier to ignore their mental health problems and chronic pain. When I stop crying with and for my patients, it's time for me to quit.
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