Hyderabad: A work schedule of almost 18 hours where they have to attend to over 100 patients a day, is the normal schedule for every doctor. Just back from a late night shift in the hospital, the doctor still patiently answers your call and gives you a remedy for a headache or a stomach ache. Stressful as it may seem, that is the life of a doctor.
A recent research shows that, while an estimated 300 physicians might commit suicide every year, 9 out of 10 doctors discourage others from taking up the profession. While the numbers speak about US-based doctors, we talk to city-based doctors and know more about the stress of their job and how for them there is no bigger happiness than serving their patients.
Dr Jagdish Jyothi, consultant plastic surgeon, Apollo Hospital, says, “I take care of trauma and burn patients and in most of the cases, the situation is totally unpredictable. They are mostly accidental injuries and involve multiple surgeries and the occurrence of infections. More than stressful, it is a very tight schedule. I work from 8 am to 9 pm every day but at the end of the day, you know, we have to be there for our patients.”
Dr G.S. Rao, Managing Director, Yashoda Hospitals, who recently stopped seeing patients says, “We used to work for 18 hours a day. The problem is that with the ever-increasing technology the expectations of patients also keep growing. When we as doctors knew that there was no hope for a patient, there would be a lot of stress, as the family wouldn’t accept it. When you are responsible for over 1,000 patients, you are definitely under stress.”
And has the stress level decreased after he stopped seeing patients and is only looking at the business aspect of the hospitals? “Definitely not. When you have to look after a complete hospital, the stress level is higher. At every point you have to ensure that the patients are getting the best consultants, the best machines available for the doctors and also keep the finances of the hospital running. It’s not just about the treatment but also about the accommodation of the patients which should be nothing less when compared to a hotel,” says Dr Rao, who still believes that the gratitude of a cured patient cannot be measured by any yardstick.
Doctors don’t have a fixed work schedule and that bothers many. “Being a doctor is stressful. First of all, we see over 100 patients a day. And then, even after we have prescribed the medicines, patients keep calling us irrespective of the time in emergency. For paediatricians, the stress is even more as you are dealing with children who are a lot of times intolerant towards medicines. While we attend to children throughout the day, we see our own children only once a day when they are sleeping,” says Dr. Altaf Naseem, Consultant Paediatrician, Candy Children Hospital.
According to Dr Bevin D’silva, Head of the emergency department, Care Hospital, suicide cases in the medical field are mostly seen in the field of anaesthesia, emergency medicine, psychiatry, critical care and sometimes surgeons. Talking about how stress levels are always running high in an emergency room, he says, “Irrespective of your personal situation, you have to perform. Patients come in with various minor issues or even issues that can result in death. The difficult part is that regardless of your own personal situation, you have to deliver the best performance.”
But it’s not just the medical tension in an ER. “Working in the emergency department, you are subject to a lot of emotional load every day,” he says giving an instance, “Along with the patient, a lot of well wishers come in. In an accident case, where you know you can’t do anything much, you still have to go and confront the visitors. And I’m saying this as a general scene for every emergency department in the world, the stressful situation arises when you are helpless and the crowd turns violent. This is why we make sure that emergency physicians are given a long off every 3-4 months to be relieved of the emotional stress build up.”
Eighteen hours workshift followed by extensive travel for seminars and talks around the world is how Dr D. Nageshwar Reddy’s schedule looks like, yet he says that the stress is nothing when put against the satisfaction a doctor gets from patient care. The Chairman and chief of gastroenterology, Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and the Secretary General for World Endoscopy Organisation, he says, “The stress builds up when you don’t enjoy your work. For me, it’s more like an 18-hour of fun get-away. Competing against the stress, additional endorphins are secreted because of the happiness we get after helping our patients. It is a stressful atmosphere attending to so many sick patients, but there is nothing that beats patient care.”
