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So you think you're ready?

Medical school prepares you for being a doctor by teaching you separate elements of knowledge needed to function within the medical community. Pharmacology, physiology, pathophysiology, anatomy... a language and a theoretical frame of reference to "be a doctor." The people skills needed to function as a doctor are developed during your intern year and residency. Well, my first day of actual work with an MD behind my name was a baptism by fire.

The first day: Dr. Weisz was my attending and before we go into a see this patient he says, "We got a CT scan on this lady yesterday and it turns out she has cancer which has already spread to her spine. You are her doctor and you get to tell her that she has cancer." Are you kidding me??? I think. No, he wasn't kidding. We sit down for several minutes before going into the room and he kind of runs me through the technique of telling someone a grave diagnosis like this... then we head off to the room. I do it... she doesn't seem to hear me, well she hears me, but she doesn't allow the words to compute in her head. She ended up being a severe challenge and Dr. Weisz later admits that she was one of the most difficult patients he can remember. She had a lot of issues, and cancer wasn't the only one. One of the social workers working on her case with us had nightmares for about 3 months after she had been discharged.... Welcome to the fraternity of medical doctors.


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