How do doctors deal with having somebodies life in thier hands?

The fact that you are asking the question shows a comforting level of maturity. Because you understand the responsibility involved and apparently you also understand the preciousness of life, you would be one I would expect to pay attention in class and learn what to do well enough that it will be automatic. You will not be one that is just taking up space in a chair and waiting for a grade or certificate. That is a good thing.

Doctors and nurses also understand their responsibility and the value of life. They did not get to their positions by just skimming through classes doing as little as possible. And, sadly, they sometimes do lose patients. Their only antidote is knowing they did not shirk their responsibilities and that they did the best they could. At some point, they learn to separate the patient from the problem so they aren’t continually overwhelmed with guilt and loss, but that won’t work if they can’t also KNOW they did all they could. I wold suggest that you call a doctor and explain that you are thinking about becoming one, and ask him or her your questions. They are very good ones, and I am sure most doctors would be willing to give you a few minutes to talk about it, though it may take a bit to work around their schedule.

Please don’t be nervous. In the health profession you spend all day, every day helping people. Most of it is just routine for you and if you do it with a caring atitude to the best of your ability you can have the satisfaction of knowing that you have improved someone’s life, even by just a little bit. A health care professional also recognizes that death is inevetable, and sometimes even a blessing for some. There is the rare life and death crisis when you stop your emotional responses and just work as fast as you can to save someone; sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t. After all those times the staff debrief, either formally or just in their mind, going over the scenario, analyzing the event and asking what they could have done better. Sometimes the patient is dead but you can still tell yourself that you did a good job because he received the best. Doctors are not Gods-they can’t stop all deaths. There is usually a reason why people die and it can’t always be changed. I’m not saying it’s easy, because it’s not. We always question ourselves when we have a bad outcome, and sometimes blame ourselves, that is why the debriefing is important especially for newer staff. But you know, what you see on TV isn’t real. Most of health care is hum-drum routine, and the object is to use your training to watch for the signs and symptoms of a failing patient to prevent a “code” situation, or at least to prepare the family and yourself to the fact that death will occur. It’s okay-in health care you don’t work alone, you are trained for your job and you have the back-up of your colleagues and a whole host of resources to help you do it. Please pursue your dream. We need more doctors and I’m sure you’ll be a great one.

i agree with lydia. you actually Care enough to ask this question 🙂 at least i know there are some doctors or doctors to be that still care about their patients instead of being a doctor just for the status or money…

i would say that as long as you DID YOUR BEST in whatever situation you’re put in, you can have a clear conscience about it. if a person drowned and you weren’t there in time, it’s not your fault. you did your best but it was just fated that that person should die. same with being a doctor. if you did your best and the patient died, you shouldn’t blame yourself though it would be sad 😀 also, you could think this way: if no one helped the drowning person or the sick patient, he/she would have ultimately died whether you helped or not. correct? some things are totally not your fault, so just do your best and you’ll have a clear conscience. good luck and all the best! 😀

If you would not have been there would it be any better? That is the veiw I would take on it.

People die, there is never a good enough reason, you have to accept that. Many people turn to religion to help deal with the stress.

Even though most doctors care about their patience they still see it as numbers. You cant save every one but the better you are at your craft the higher the chances are of saving more people.

Carefully, they don’t want to get sued or be known for their failure (death) rate.