What is the most stressful part of being a doctor? i have to interview a doctor for a career report for school.

So, : So, this is supposed to be a forum about answering your health questions, but I do think this is a reasonable question to answer as long as the moderators don't object. Certainly, the death of a young patient is always very distressing. However, i can't say i enjoy telling an older person they have something deadly going on with them either. I enjoy taking care of families, which has set me up for a strange and uncomfortable situation that's occurred several times and has been really upsetting to me time after time. I've been faced with the odd situation in which one of the spouses has had an affair and hasn't wanted me to say anything to the other. Of course, privacy laws prevent me from doing as such, but if I am familiar with both of them, this is a really tough one for me to brush off.

Being : Being a physician is great. There are times when it is stressful. Probably the worse stress is caring about your patient, knowing the nature of their health problem , and knowing that they are going to suffer despite all the medical care they can and will receive. It is humbling and hurts. Thanks for your interest.

The : The daily grind is probably the most stressful part. There is always something that needs to be completed, whether it's calling a patient with test results, completing forms, completing medical records or doing staff reviews. The expectations of physician in 2011 are also pretty high. We have our own professional expectations, but we also have to deal with the expectations of our families, our patients and our staffs. Balancing the expectations (and keeping them in perspective) can be stressful. All in all, being a physician is a great job. And, despite the stresses, most of us are really good at "delivering the good" despite the stress. It's a skill set that allowed us to get to and through medical school and residency. Hope that helps!