Best Thing About Medicine

I have taken time to complain about medicine, so it is only fair that I should take equal time to explain what is good about medicine. Because I particularly complain about the state of primary care, I must specifically cite the reasons that primary care is the best thing in the world, which it actually is in many ways.

The practice of medicine, and particularly primary care, is a huge privilege. People of every race, every religion, every sexuality, and every social circumstance will come to you and literally put their well being into your hands. That is a major responsibility and a true honor. It is great to get to know people over the course of their visits to your office.

Nothing can really beat the feeling of happiness when one of your patients does really well or when you save their life. It is so exciting to see an angry, hostile patient with lots of serious illnesses become happy and start feeling better. It is fun to see the successes that each person manages to find, from getting a new job to overcoming addiction. If you combine the “good parts of medicine” with complete avoidance of the news, television, and drama, you can have your own little world of positivity.

Of course it is not always positive, sometimes you find a cancer, or people do die. Sometimes you stay awake worrying about people. That is depressing of course, but the question was what is “best” about medicine.

The best thing about being a doctor is the patients, obviously.

Primary care gives you an opportunity to know all about a person and their lives, and every person is unique, as cliche as that may be. I am glad to have the privilege of trust with the patients I care for. I do understand very well that trust needs to be earned. So I try to earn it by going the extra mile. And it helps that I have a problem with perfectionism—not a great trait personality wise, but useful when you are a doctor. Where else can I be rewarded for something that most people find annoying?

Some people go into medicine looking for a field where they “don’t have to deal with people.” What the heck? Why would you go into medicine, then? Believe it or not, I am intensely introverted. So I get extremely exhausted after my day. So, it is mostly work and sleep for me. But from my patients, I get a lot of positivity in my life which makes me feel happier. Life is hard for everyone, and I am in the position to know just how hard. If I can improve that for some people, then I will. And that is the best thing about being a doctor.

-Amy Chai,MD-Internal Medicine,MS-Epidemiology