Comments on: How emotional stress affects physician training http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/10/emotional-stress-affects-physician-training.html Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:27:00 +0000 hourly 1 By: Mike Blackmerhttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/10/emotional-stress-affects-physician-training.html#comment-115857 Mike Blackmer Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:28:47 +0000 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/?p=40654#comment-115857 Thanks for your comments Doc Stone! I will be in your situation very soon and am thankful for all of the insight and pointers. Thanks for your comments Doc Stone! I will be in your situation very soon and am thankful for all of the insight and pointers.

]]> By: Doc Stonehttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/10/emotional-stress-affects-physician-training.html#comment-114309 Doc Stone Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:13:07 +0000 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/?p=40654#comment-114309 My wife bore two children while I was in residency and I must say that it was not an added stress at all for me but a much appreciated joy. Thanks to her frugality and household management, we managed to live off my earnings which eventually included some moonlighting. It was pre-work hour limitation days so I really was rarely at home for more than a few hours in the early years; but when I was it was 100% Daddy and baby playtime. I would come in, lay on the floor and fall asleep with babies romping on me. I loved it of course. She took care of everything from moving to major purchases to sick babies.If I had to do over, I would wait though to have more time to spend with them at that age and to make things easier for her. For me, the stress was the work itself, and the lack of rest with moonlighting. Actually if I had it to do over, I wouldn't go into medicine. The stress of residency left it's mark. My wife bore two children while I was in residency and I must say that it was not an added stress at all for me but a much appreciated joy. Thanks to her frugality and household management, we managed to live off my earnings which eventually included some moonlighting. It was pre-work hour limitation days so I really was rarely at home for more than a few hours in the early years; but when I was it was 100% Daddy and baby playtime. I would come in, lay on the floor and fall asleep with babies romping on me. I loved it of course. She took care of everything from moving to major purchases to sick babies.

If I had to do over, I would wait though to have more time to spend with them at that age and to make things easier for her. For me, the stress was the work itself, and the lack of rest with moonlighting. Actually if I had it to do over, I wouldn’t go into medicine. The stress of residency left it’s mark.

]]> By: Beahttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/10/emotional-stress-affects-physician-training.html#comment-114308 Bea Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:44:25 +0000 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/?p=40654#comment-114308 Amen. My husband is a surgery resident and we recently had a baby. While he loves being with his daughter, taking care of her is an added responsibility and this emotional stress affects him at work. It's ridiculous to put all the family related responsibility on the non-physician in a household, and I don't think a physician spouse wants to be so disconnected from his family. Residency programs need to recognize this and give some support. I'm not talking huge changes here, but even recognizing that a physician needs to spend time with his family would be a positive change. Amen. My husband is a surgery resident and we recently had a baby. While he loves being with his daughter, taking care of her is an added responsibility and this emotional stress affects him at work. It’s ridiculous to put all the family related responsibility on the non-physician in a household, and I don’t think a physician spouse wants to be so disconnected from his family. Residency programs need to recognize this and give some support. I’m not talking huge changes here, but even recognizing that a physician needs to spend time with his family would be a positive change.

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