Do Drs get ill?

wexhun

Hi, I was sitting in my GPs waiting room today. It was packed with people coughing, sneezing and wheezing, probably the weather and time of year for it. I was thinking to myself I am going to come out of here sicker than when I came in. My Dr. doesn't take appointments so its a wait and see game you could be waiting for up to two hours to be seen in a small room with all these germ laden people ARRGGHHH!
Anyway my question is, How is it my Dr. has never had a sick day surrounded by all these sick people? Does he build an immunity? Or does he spray himself in some secret barrier spray before going to work? Yes really these are the things that go through my brain while waiting! Right I'm off to shower in bleach!!

Traumadoc

Yes doctors get sick - but many are reluctant to take days off as it was seen as "bad form" and especially junior doctors who were afraid to either dump the work on their already overstretched colleagues or been seen as a bit of awimp to the boss- all crap in my opinion and things are changing so more doctors will take off time for illnesses now.

DrIndy

Yes we do.

We still human!

tuxy

I think a better question is do doctors become ill more often then other people from all the contact with germs? And if not, why not?

GuanYin

DrIndy wrote:

Yes we do.

We still human!

Thats right, don't let them know the secret

wexhun

Yes tuxy, thank you, you phrased it so much better, you see all those germs have already gone to my brain! I guess I want to know the SECRET, how do you stay healthy considering the majority of the population that surround you are unwell?
ok. now for me to go off on one.......
Why is it that when you in close proximity to someone that they cough in the style of "Computer says no" woman from little Britain? Is it like "I'm miserable so you will be too?" Next time I go to the Drs I'm wearing a mask with a breathing apparatus!
(I actually think I'm coming down with something now, I'm beginning to rave and I only went into the Doctors for a bloomin checkup!!!cough,ssniff):rolleyes:

tallaght01

I get sick all the time doing paediatrics. But, as me and my colleagues stay behind catching up on work for about 3-4 hours a day after we're supposed to finish, none of us have the heart to take a day off unless we're really dying. I got whooping cough off a kid a while ago. The kid gets admitted to hospital, I didnt even get an afternoon off :P

wexhun

Whooping cough, Is that still around? I thought that once you were immunised that you wouldn't get it and if you are working with all these risk factors should you not have all your jabs or do you have to get these when a baba?So many questions!:rolleyes:

On a different subject I would say working in paediatrics is a tough job, emotionally, heart wrenching. I really admire anyone who works caring for others especially children, you can't put a price on your health or that of your child.I've only ever been in hospital once with my lo and it turned out not to be that serious but it was a really tough time it turned our lives upsidedown and in that time I would have given up everything I had ever possesed to make her better. The care staff, nurses and Doctors were just brilliant. I really believe that a job like that is not just a career its a vocation. So keep up the good work and stay healthy cos we need you!!!;)

tallaght01

whooping cough is still kicking around. Immunity only lasts you a few years. The vaccine gets u through the susceptible times when ur a kid, and we're boosting kids in the UK when they're 5 years old now. Dunno what they're doing over in ireland. Plus it was a kid from the travelling community who gave it to me. In some areas, the travelling community have very good vaccine uptake rates, whereas elsewhere its very very low. This kid and his siblings never had a single vaccine because of the MMR scare. Really shows how influential the media and urban myth are. Many thanks for the kind words in the previous post. We take a lot of abuse in acute paeds in deprived Glasgow, so it's nice to hear something nice.

GuanYin

wexhun wrote:

I really believe that a job like that is not just a career its a vocation. So keep up the good work and stay healthy cos we need you!!!;)

I'll preface this by saying I'm not having a go at you but I honestly believe that sentiments like this, while well meaning, give a very wrong public perception of medicine.

It is true that a certain personality is required for medicine, paeds especially, but suggesting that it is a vocation over a career is silly for a couple of reasons. The first one being that I've never met a good physician who wasn't ambitious. Personally, I believe career ambition is a very important trait - if not for monetary reasons, certainly for academic or prestige reasons. My point being. I don't honestlt believe that altruism plays a part.

The other reason I disagree is that it paints a stereotype of medical workers that often makes pubic support for better working conditions ambiguous. People seems to accept that a doctor is "always on duty" or that they may work exceptionally long hours and be expected to function at 100%. Can you imagine a bus driver or train driver working those hours with that little sleep or rest? Would you get on a train or bus? I'm pretty sure there would be public objection to pharmacists working those shifts and dispensing drugs. Its my opinion that the "vocation" tag is one of the reasons the public accept the conditions doctors have to work in.

tallaght01

I agree with psi to some extent, although I disagree that altruism doesn't "play a part". I think most of us got into medicine for altruistic reasons. If I wanted money, I'd have gone into law or accounting or pharmacy or optometry. Less hours, shorter or equal training, and better remuneration. I certainly care less about my patients now than when I started, agreed. I agree that the shift in my life has moved form wanting to care for the whole world when I started, to the current situation where medicine is a job. BUt it's a priveleged job. And it's a job where most of us care. You're right though to say it's been something that's been used to impose awful working conditions on us too. However, if we were't altruistic and didn't care, then it would have been a hell of a lot more difficult to impose those conditions on us. Try treating lawyers and accountants the way we get treated, and you'd see what I'm talking about. Having said that, I dont care enough to stay. I'm going to leave clinical medicine in the next couple of years. I love the kids, but the poor conditions and the lack of a life outside medicine aren't worth it. I'm off to oz for a few years next summer to work 40 hour weeks, then I'm coming back to ireland for a career in public health. Happy days

Victor

My dentist cried off my last appointment - she had winter vomiting bug. I was happy to wait.

the Guru

Yes they do, My wife gave me a Flu shot a few months back so that I didnt get the flu though her from one of her patients

Capt'n Midnight

When the doctors-in-waiting start learning about all the diseases out there they see lots of symptoms and may start ascribing little aches and pains and over tiredness to those various diseases. It's called "medical students disease".