Thursday, March 22, 2007

Separating Medicine and Personal Life

I wrote a post a few days ago about treating family members. That got me thinking, should a doctor separate what he does in the hospital from what he does at home? This wouldn't be easy. Some jobs may be different in this respect than others. If you code for a software company or crunch numbers in a cubicle or work as a cashier, it seems like there is a definite demarcation between the things you do at work and the things you do at home. But a doctor deals with things of such emotional weight. There must be events - saving someone's life, watching someone die - that you can't just leave behind at work and forget at home. I guess things are a little different for me right now; being a student is my life. The distinction between school and non-school is pretty blurry; when I go home, I have to study or read or prepare. Is this going to be the same when I become a doctor? I wonder. On the other hand, doctors have to have some emotional distance; after some time dealing with issues of health and disability, life and death, it seems like doctors must develop desensitization to the emotional impact of what they do. This is necessary for the physician's well-being as well as the physician's objectivity. I'm just wondering how and when I can come to terms with the emotional events of a doctor's day-to-day life.

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