WHY IS YOUR DOCTOR AN EMOTIONLESS BRUTE??

A patient’s body is a mystery to be solved. A doctor’s emotional state and their way of dealing with his own emotions play a critical role in solving this mystery. Emotions continuously express difficulties in revealing sensitive information to their patients, affecting decision making and ultimately affecting the whole outcome of the treatment.

If a doctor attaches himself emotionally with the patient, his feelings for the patient suffer from the resulting lack of judgment. If every medical professional gets emotional with the patients then there would just be doctors blabbering and walking around, not being able to make clear, conscious decisions. Doctors have to separate themselves emotionally from their patients in order to do their job. This is what keeps them sane. Besides, if they took on every emotional task with every patient that came to them for treatment, especially if the patient is dying, the doctor would not be able to maintain his sanity after some time. He would end up taking it home, messing up his personal life as well.

Feelings seem to add an important dimension of complexity to doctors. It has been seen that when doctors get emotionally attached while attending patients, they become more vulnerable to feelings of loss when these patients are not cured, or the worst case scenario being, they die.

Studies have shown that junior doctors may be more strongly affected by patient’s death than senior doctors and female doctors report more psychological distress than male doctors indicating that female doctors and interns may require more emotional support after patient’s death. This does not mean that doctors and other medical professionals should be cold and heartless, but they have to maintain a certain distance from their patients in order to keep going on a daily basis.

The medical profession is definitely not a walk in the park, even though it is really gratifying. But in addition to the miracles, doctors also see a lot of tragedy. When a patient is sick, the doctor should not be over emotional and panicky. He should be able to think instantly in order to give the best care possible, and also should put on a brave face for their patient. He must learn to control their emotions in order to do their job.

Doctors should be more serious about performing their work and saving the patient than being nice and emotional. It is very hard for anyone to make critical, time-sensitive decisions when he lets emotions get involved. Doctors must make an effort to keep from ever getting emotionally attached in order to make life-saving, split-second decisions.

A hospital is a gloomy place. If every doctor starts getting upset and starts crying over every distressing case, there would be no more doctors. If a patient is in his terminal stages and a doctor comes in to notify and instead starts crying, wouldn’t that seem a bit wide of the mark? Doctors are human beings just like everybody else. It would be deplorable if they do not learn to train themselves not to shed tears over every patient. It would seem quite awkward if a doctor studies a patient’s chart and starts crying himself.

Caring for ailing people is a part of every doctor’s clinical experience, both during training and in subsequent practice. In every case, benefit of the patient should be the highest priority, not the feelings of one’s own. To deliver the best care, doctors should not let emotions interfere with their decisions. They must be level-headed, detached and tough, but all the while caring. The best care comes from a doctor who regards a patient as a mathematician looking at a complicated equation.