Doctor Karen Sibert Summary

Dr. Karen Sibert’s advice to the students who are thinking and working towards that final destination of one day becoming a doctor, especially women, was the following. . . “If having work-life balance is important to you, then don’t become a doctor. You can’t have it all, medical education is a privilege, not an entitlement, and it confers a real moral obligation to serve. If you want to work AND be a mother, then you can find a job in journalism or professional cooking or law. If you want to be a doctor, be a doctor. Patients need doctors to take care of them. Medicine shouldn’t be a part-time interest to be set aside if it becomes inconvenient; it deserves to be a life’s work.” Sibert’s comment has quite literally stirred the pot in the medical schools around the country. Most did not take kindly to her comment, and others might have ‘somewhat’ partially-agreed to what she had said towards the career choice of becoming a doctor. We will be using this as an introduction to whether or not a career in medicine would be a rewarding and most promising field in US at the moment. (Sibert)

The Mariam Webster dictionary defines stress as “a state of mental tension and

worry caused by problems in your life, work, etc… ” While psychology today defines it as “emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological and behavioral changes. . .” Indeed, stress has been witnessed and observed in many Americans daily career paths and has somewhat grown to an extent in multiple fields. It is of no surprise that high stress levels are witnessed in career fields such as medicine. But how much do we know about the stress levels, quality levels, and general ‘happiness’ levels.
To say a little about the origins of medicine, “The origins of medicine can be traced to cave paintings in France 27,000 years ago that show people using medicinal plants. Historians cite evidence of dentistry in India 9,000 years ago and of surgery in Egypt 5,000 years back. Babylonians may have written the first prescriptions 3,000 years ago, and the Greeks produced the Hippocratic Oath — adapted into some modern codes of physician conduct — in the fifth century B.C. The first medical schools appeared in Italy in the 12th century. But it wasn't until the great scientific advances of the 19th century that medicine began to resemble what is practiced today” (Price, 2015)
It is of no doubt that when one deals with the stressors of being the last line of defense when the body fails to do its job; one mistake or ‘corrective action’ could potentially stop the ticking clock for a human being; one mistake could take away someone’s loved one; one mistake could take away a little boy’s dad; it is of no doubt that it will potentially put the physician in somewhat of a stressful situation. Let’s take for instance the interesting case of Dr. R (name has been hidden due to privacy reasons). Dr. R is extremely fatigued and admits to thoughts of Suicide for the past few years, Dr. R has felt increasingly fatigued particularly during and after work, but also at home while performing her usual household chores. It is difficult for her to fall asleep. She wakes up several times per night, after which she has trouble going back to sleep. In the mornings she awakens feeling drained. Upon repeated questioning, she admits to suicidal thoughts, but denies having any definite plan or previous attempts.
Effort has been needed for her to communicate with patients and colleagues at work, as well as with family. She spends progressively less time with friends and attends fewer cultural events. These activities, which had previously been a source of pleasure, now require much greater effort and have ceased to provide satisfaction. On the contrary, they are exhausting for her.
These difficulties intensified three weeks ago after night call in the psychiatric emergency room, during which several patients were admitted in acute exacerbation. One of these patients had a known history of suicide attempts. Despite Dr. R’s conclusion, which she clearly communicated to her colleagues, that inpatient care was imperative, the patient was discharged the next morning by the ward team. The patient committed suicide right after leaving the hospital.
Dr.

R. was immediately told about the patient and that there would be a meeting to review the case. When Dr. R arrived home later that day, her strength was totally depleted. For two days thereafter she could not get out of bed, lost her appetite and could barely get 2 to 3 hours sleep per night. This is Dr. R’s second episode of severe exhaustion. The first occurred at the end of her psychiatry residency, while preparing for board certification. She has never smoked cigarettes and does not drink alcohol. She performs most of the household chores, entailing substantial physical exertion, but engages in no recreational physical activity. Her parents are retired physicians, in good health, and live in another town. She is an only child. Most members of her genetic family are healthy, to her

knowledge.
The above story was taken from the clinical trials portion of the research article titled “ Job Stressors And Mental Health ” authored by Belkić. He mentions that the trigger for the previous case was identified as a difficult night call with a patient fatality due to suicide. He further continues to mentions that the above case might not be a new occurrence in the medicine world. Physicians, especially training physicians (medical students) regularly surpass the tolerance limit of the total burden of work a single person can complete, which create a lot of work related burn outs?
In a 2015 poll done by Medscape, they found out that when compared with other American workers, US physicians suffer more burnout. Burnout is defined as loss of enthusiasm for work, feelings of cynicism, and a low sense of personal accomplishment. In Medscape's Physician Lifestyle Report 2013