A calling? A job?

[Guest ral]

I'm an imposter in front of patients. 

[UGoLong]

From time to time, everyone feels that way. You try to project competence but inside you probably have doubts. That’s natural and true of many other professions as well.

 

A senior executive I knew used to have a recurring dream. He would be in his office and someone would come in with two police officers. She would point at the exec and say “There he is; take him away!”

 

 

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[mgriffiths]

My $0.02: do I enjoy my job...YES (generally), but it is a job.

As a Christian I do feel that I have a duty to serve others, and my job does provide that ability, BUT...this job pays my bills, provides for my family, etc. just as any job would do.  Also as a Christian, I believe that I am "called" to perform quality work, serve others, etc. whether my job is practicing medicine, digging ditches, selling furniture, etc.  Furthermore, my calling as a Christian is personal and has nothing to do with my employer - just as it is inappropriate for me to proselytize to patients in the exam room or my coworkers.

[Guest ral]

18 minutes ago, UGoLong said:

From time to time, everyone feels that way. You try to project competence but inside you probably have doubts. That’s natural and true of many other professions as well.

 

Didn't mean imposter in that sense.  I know what I'm doing.  Of course, everyone questions themselves about decision making and such, from time to time.

I mean it in the way that patients like me (for the most part), and have a genuine sense that I am completely engaged in taking care of them.  I am not.  As soon as I am out of a room, my brilliant smile fades, and I check the clock to see how many more hours and minutes are left before I can go home.  I would never burden a patient with my dislike for the job.  They deserve the best care I can give them.

[UGoLong]

Didn't mean imposter in that sense.  I know what I'm doing.  Of course, everyone questions themselves about decision making and such, from time to time.
I mean it in the way that patients like me (for the most part), and have a genuine sense that I am completely engaged in taking care of them.  I am not.  As soon as I am out of a room, my brilliant smile fades, and I check the clock to see how many more hours and minutes are left before I can go home.  I would never burden a patient with my dislike for the job.  They deserve the best care I can give them.

Most people have to put on a game face. If, however, you hate your job, life is too short to do something you don’t enjoy. Time to start looking.


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[UGoLong]

The quiz at the top is a problem for me. If whatever you do is just a job to pay your bills, more power to you. There is an almost infinite number of other things you could be doing. To me, you spend so much time on your job that you should at least try to find something that is meaningful to you. Otherwise you might be losing your soul one day at a time.

Edited July 6, 2018 by UGoLong

[EMEDPA]

I see emergency medicine, both domestic and international, as my calling. Becoming a PA was the easiest way to do this in my 20s already having a BS and a paramedic cert. The smart move would have been medschool, but I didn't realize that until my 30s and several efforts to apply to medschool were thwarted by life(wife lost job, issues with the kids, etc). I will be 50 next year and would still do a 2 year bridge and a 3 year residency if I could do it in my local community. Lecom is a great option, but I can't uproot my family to bounce around the country living on student loans for the next 5 years while paying for the kids college.

[GetMeOuttaThisMess]

7 hours ago, UGoLong said:

From time to time, everyone feels that way. You try to project competence but inside you probably have doubts. That’s natural and true of many other professions as well.

 

A senior executive I knew used to have a recurring dream. He would be in his office and someone would come in with two police officers. She would point at the exec and say “There he is; take him away!”

 

 

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You don’t have to worry about projecting confidence.  All the patients know what they have and what they need.  Now, are they right?  Uh, no; at least the majority of the tine in my setting.

[UGoLong]

You don’t have to worry about projecting confidence.  All the patients know what they have and what they need.  Now, are they right?  Uh, no; at least the majority of the tine in my setting.

Competence, not confidence.

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[GetMeOuttaThisMess]

7 minutes ago, UGoLong said:

Competence, not confidence.

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In many instances I think that the patients see it as being the same.  The sad part is when one projects confidence but in reality doesn’t have a clue as to what is going on.

Edited July 6, 2018 by GetMeOuttaThisMess

[UGoLong]

To me, competence means you can do your job well, even if if there are times when you know you need to look something up or get help. Knowing what you don’t know can be very important.

 

To me, confidence means you think and act like you know what you’re doing, even if maybe you don’t.

 

Can be a big difference, regardless of what the patient thinks.

 

 

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[BayPAC]

I don't know if it is a calling but I LOVE what I do.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

Medicine is my calling. The paperwork is not. I will take care of whatever. Drug seekers, criminally insane, Darwin Award winners, the hypochondriac, the whiny teen, the nursing home dump, whatever. I’ll do it with a smile on my face and a skip in my step. Then when the paperwork starts, I’d put a cigarette out on my arm if it would make it vanish.

[EMEDPA]

10 hours ago, LT_Oneal_PAC said:

Medicine is my calling. The paperwork is not. I will take care of whatever. Drug seekers, criminally insane, Darwin Award winners, the hypochondriac, the whiny teen, the nursing home dump, whatever. I’ll do it with a smile on my face and a skip in my step. Then when the paperwork starts, I’d put a cigarette out on my arm if it would make it vanish.

sounds like you need to go on a medical mission trip. 1 page paper charts that you can write in less than a minute. I saw 100 pts in 6 hrs a few years ago in Haiti. The WHO trauma forms are even better. circle the injury on the body diagram and write a brief description. 

[Guest HanSolo]

It's much more of a spectrum than the options presented in the poll. I like medicine and find it interesting. I wouldn't say I am necessarily passionate about it, though. If it was truly a passion of mine, then I would have become a physician. However, I have worked a lot of jobs in the past, and this one certainly checked off most of the boxes. 

[beattie228]

Agree with HanSolo. There's more gray than black & white for me. Most days I don't dread what I do for a living, but I'm not bright eyed and bushy tailed about the career as I was when I was pursuing becoming a PA. I've had much tougher jobs that paid a hell of a lot less (roofing on summer, Army medic for a number of years). 

Edited July 7, 2018 by beattie228

[lkth487]

Calling.  I had a job.   It was good money.  I would do this for free if someone gave me food and a place to sleep.

[EMEDPA]

3 hours ago, lkth487 said:

Calling.  I had a job.   It was good money.  I would do this for free if someone gave me food and a place to sleep.

yup. agree. I will pretty much volunteer anywhere/anytime if someone pays my way and feeds me. (Haiti/Nepal/Iraq so far)

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

11 hours ago, EMEDPA said:

sounds like you need to go on a medical mission trip. 1 page paper charts that you can write in less than a minute. I saw 100 pts in 6 hrs a few years ago in Haiti. The WHO trauma forms are even better. circle the injury on the body diagram and write a brief description. 

I’ve loved doing them in the past and had a great time helping in PR after Maria. Unfortunately no time to do it in residency. 

[EMEDPA]

6 minutes ago, LT_Oneal_PAC said:

I’ve loved doing them in the past and had a great time helping in PR after Maria. Unfortunately no time to do it in residency. 

folks have worked international disaster rotations in as electives before....

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

55 minutes ago, EMEDPA said:

folks have worked international disaster rotations in as electives before....

We have that option, but I’ve already decided on wilderness med and MICU. I would love an international elective, but I’ve already practiced overseas in austere in environments as well as disaster areas, so it wouldn’t be as educational, which is the reason I’m doing the residency. Plus I’d have to pay for the travel, which I could better do after the residency.

[thinkertdm]

You can't simply just put it as either/or.  I've had numerous jobs...but I am called in this.  I have given a very particular set of skills. Skills I have aquired over a very long career. 

Simply put, when my brother is troubled, I reach out a hand to him, cuz that's what it's there for.

[EMEDPA]

2 hours ago, thinkertdm said:

You can't simply just put it as either/or.  I've had numerous jobs...but I am called in this.  I have given a very particular set of skills. Skills I have aquired over a very long career. 

Simply put, when my brother is troubled, I reach out a hand to him, cuz that's what it's there for.

made me think of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzsitQ76bYQ

[GetMeOuttaThisMess]

I would have to say that I started out viewing it as a calling and subsequently over the decades it became a job.  I still enjoy helping folks IF they're willing to be helped and therein lies the problem.  Many that I have seen are more interested in trying to sell you on what they want instead of listening to the opinion of someone who in this setting probably knows more than you do and taking advantage of their recommendations to get better.  Since I've dealt with all the population groups available here in the U.S., aside from Native American reservation medical care, I think that it's a problem inherent to our population base.  I agree with others that when you get outside our borders and care for those who have to make an effort to get to you then you see what our profession/calling is supposed to be all about.

Edited July 8, 2018 by GetMeOuttaThisMess

[EMEDPA]

8 minutes ago, GetMeOuttaThisMess said:

 I agree with others that when you get outside our borders and care for those who have to make an effort to get to you then you see what our profession/calling is supposed to be all about.

My first trip to Haiti in 2009 was very eye opening and the reason I keep going back. When folks walk 11 HOURS to see you for 30 tylenol for their chronic back pain from working in the fields 12 hrs/day, 6-7 days/week for 70 years and they THANK YOU for them and say they will pray for you and your family for your caring, you get an idea about what medicine is really about...