Losing Their Marbles

I've always held to the opinion that a number of my colleagues are missing their marbles. More than a handful are eccentric enough to veer towards the near-psychotic.

So I'm glad to note that our ministry obviously thinks very much the same with our director commenting that at least five doctors fly over the cuckoo's nest every month. Supposedly housemanship is driving our doctors crazy.


I ain't crazy, I tell ya!
I'm just amused to hear a mild hue and cry over the matter from the general public. Shocked that most doctors have some odd idiosyncrasies? Don't be. Is it really that surprising that most doctors are a little... off-center? How could any normal human being with a sensible mind do what we do?

Cram through endless exams and tutorials just to work an unregulated 100-hour week ( if not more? ) of saving lives in the hospital? Add that to the head-pounding stress of dealing with shouting superiors, cranky colleagues and dying patients. All that just for for a tiny pittance of an allowance, a cranky automobile and a closet of an apartment?

Let me give you an example of what happens on our first day of work. Orientation? Don't dream of it. On the first day as a houseman, you'd get thrown into this.

Doctor : It's my first day. Hello.
Nurse : Doctor, these are the patients who need their blood to be taken and sent to the lab by 9, these are the summaries you'll have to complete at the end of the day, four procedures waiting for you in the rooms. And there are six new patients waiting to be clerked in the front cubicle.
Doctor : Uhh..
Nurse : Oh yeah, and a patient just arrested behind you.

So you'd better hit the ground running.

Trust me. Anyone who hasn't lost their marbles wouldn't even consider it.

The job's certainly not for the faint-hearted. Though sometimes the weak-minded manage to slip through the cracks hence the curious oddities that you find wandering the hallways of hospitals. But are we going to discriminate and kick them out of medical school? Where do we draw the line? Do we toss the incipient personality disorders out as well? Looking about the Gungho Ginnys, I can bet we have tons of obsessive-compulsive sorts all around.

More than a few anal-retentive folks as well.

I know doctors these days are all about preventive medicine. Sure, barring these students from the gates of medical school could be one way to stem the disease but maybe we should also treat the cause as well. Better working conditions in the hospital would certainly help alleviate some of the stress these sick doctors are feeling.

Then maybe they'd be able to hold on to their marbles.