Sir William Osler once wrote, 'Listen to the patient and he will tell you his diagnosis.' I would add the following: 'Listen to the patient and you will help him feel better.' This being the case, you might thnkd that giving your time and attention to what a patient has to say would merit a listing in ICD-9. Don't bother looking. 'Listening' is lost between liniment and listeria, which surely says something about the humanity of bureaucrats.

Dr. Arthur D. Silk, in ACP-ASIM Observer 9/99

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Life in Practice
Managing one's own stresses is the toughest part of practicing medicine. - Oscar London M.D., W.B.D.

"As I learned through hard experience, the practice of medicine is a black hole that can absorb every moment you will give. It's easy to become so devoted to your patients that you neglect the people who matter most to you." - Matthew D. Foster, MD in Medical Economics 10/23/95

Practicing medicine is hard. Consider this recent article:

TOP PHYSICIANS NOT ALWAYS BEST HUSBANDS AND DADS

   A major magazine annually lists top-rated physicians in the country. Generally, these are based on physician peer ratings and supplemented with information from patient surveys and physician-treatment patterns. While most physicians look forward to reading their names in the list..., those not impressed with the survey are the physicians' spouses.
   "We pay the price," said the nonphysician husband of a Midwestern winner. "We do the chores, plan family and social activities, and arrange most other activities of daily living. What most concerns us is that our physician-mates give so much emotional support to their patients and colleagues that there is often very little left to share with us." - from an article by Dr. Xenakis in the 6/97 issue of Cortlandt Forum
 

and this very old article:

"...my wife and I had come to realize one of the chief difficulties of the family doctor -- the constant drain upon the emotions. To stand helplessly while relentless organisms destroy a beautiful mother, a fine father, or a beloved child, creates terrible emotional distress; and this feeling is increased by the necessity of suppression. That is why the average lifetime of family doctors is 55 years, most of them succumbing to functional impairment"

Joseph A. Jerger, M.D., written in 1939

Here are some resources to help:

 

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