Going into Medicine?

 

"Do you think any of your kids will be doctors some day?"

I looked over at the lady who asked me the question.  I knew she was just curious about the personalities of my children and if any seemed to have an interest in medical things.  "I don't really know," I replied.

"Would you want them to go into medicine?"  She asked me.

It was and is a tough question to answer.  I have found life as a family doctor in a small town to be stressful.  The hours are long.  There are deliveries to be done, nursing home work, hospital patients to see, and full clinic schedules to work through.

Then, as I read Facebook posts and talk to physicians in other areas of the country, I find myself believing that many have lost confidence in and respect for their doctors.  What is the real point of even seeing a family doctor when you can google your symptoms and write down a list of the tests you want done and specialists you want to see?

If your only reason for being in medicine is financial, you will burn out pretty quickly.

Family Medicine, at least in a small town, is different.  What keeps me going is not the detective work of finding the next unusual disease, it is the people.  Old and young people who I get to walk beside as they go through valleys and up mountains.  Over that time, there is a trust that develops that is hard to explain.

My patients know I'm not God and that I don't know everything.  They also know that when I don't know an answer, I will work with them until we find something.  When they come back from the specialists with the worst possible answers, we will sit together and talk and cry and then pray for strength.

It may not be as easy as it used to be to struggle out of bed at 3 o'clock in the morning to welcome a new life into this world, but it is just as rewarding as ever when you hear the infant's first cries and see the love the mom has for her child.

Life is a journey and I get to walk beside people through the best and the worst parts of their journeys.  That is a blessing.

And so, I come back to the question, would I want my children to go into medicine? 

I suppose this is all a rambling way of saying that I would, if they feel called to do it.  For medicine is more than an occupation, it is a calling.  It is one with high rates of burn out but also one with some of the highest rewards I know.  If God calls them to that, I know He'll also give them the grace to succeed.

He's surely done that for me.