[Toshi]

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/theres-more-to-life-than-being-happy/266805/

What sets human beings apart from animals is not the pursuit of happiness, which occurs all across the natural world, but the pursuit of meaning, which is unique to humans […]

Worth the read. I grappled with this issue myself in choosing to pursue medicine instead of continuing on the well laid-out path to being a programmer. I didn't find any meaning in the latter.

 

[Pesqueeb]

Hippie.

 

[eric strt6]

and why I left high tech for EMS

on a side note, the comment section makes me want to track some of them down for a major head slap.

 

[stevew]

channeling SS...fvck work....

 

[stevew]

head slap.

for whatever reason...ncis cracks me up..

 

[Westy]

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/theres-more-to-life-than-being-happy/266805/



Worth the read. I grappled with this issue myself in choosing to pursue medicine instead of continuing on the well laid-out path to being a programmer. I didn't find any meaning in the latter.

So what you are really saying is being a doctor makes you happy.

 

[Toshi]

The being a doctor part is nice (slap me if I ever get an MD plate, please!), sure. The meaning doesn't come from that itself but rather in knowing that what I do actually helps people, and not in some convoluted, indirect way.

They have a CT scan. I read it and call it appendicitis. Surgeons take my word for it and take out said appendix. Patient feels better and goes home. Win all around, except for the health care system that pays for the whole shebang, I suppose.

 

[worship_mud]

Win all around, except for the health care system that pays for the whole shebang, I suppose.

health care systems are happy when they can pay for health care.

 

[kidwoo]

They have a CT scan. I read it and call it appendicitis. Surgeons take my word for it and take out said appendix. Patient feels better and goes home. Win all around, except for the health care system that pays for the whole shebang, I suppose.

That was a fart bubble you fool!!!!!!!

 

[stevew]

That was a fart bubble you fool!!!!!!!

i've had days like that....it's fun to leave the smell of death in a room..

 

[Westy]

patient comes in with fever and abdominal pain. Er doctor thinks appendicitis and calls for a ct scan. They have a ct scan. I read it and call it appendicitis. Surgeons take my word for it and take out said appendix. Patient feels better and goes home. Patient gets billed for er doc, ct scan, imaging specialist, surgeon. Win all around

ftfy.

Edit: Just bitter as I have been pushed through an MRI twice and in retrospect one was clearly done for profit purposes only and the other I consider rather suspect.

Have insurance? Give'em the works.

 

[eric strt6]

EMS in the field. I've come upon some really bad crashes, we got them to the medical helicopter still breathing for the flight to the trauma center. Without us they had no shot, with us, we gave them a fighting chance of survival. Having a parent come up and hug you and saying "thank you for giving me my child back, makes all those 3 am calls, all the gore, the deaths, the stresses of the job well worth it. I'm glad to say that in over ten years I only lost a dozen or so patients in the field out of the 1000's of calls we rolled on.

Like Toshi said. There is something about being able to positively affect other peoples lives every day that you go to work that is amazing. I've found that it has carried over into my daily life in how I view and treat others. I'd like to think that it has made me a much better Human being than I ever imagined I could be.

 

[Toshi]

ftfy.

Edit: Just bitter as I have been pushed through an MRI twice and in retrospect one was clearly done for profit purposes only and the other I consider rather suspect.

Have insurance? Give'em the works.

Sadly, there's definitely some truth to this.

I'm glad I'm not on the ordering end, stuck between subconscious (?) impulses to over-test (that also have the benefit of reducing their legal liability) and one's sense of ethics. Imaging is definitely overused, but when used appropriately it gives a definitive answer, something uncommon in life and in medicine alike.

 

[Westy]

Sadly, there's definitely some truth to this.

I'm glad I'm not on the ordering end, stuck between subconscious (?) impulses to over-test (that also have the benefit of reducing their legal liability) and one's sense of ethics. Imaging is definitely overused, but when used appropriately it gives a definitive answer, something uncommon in life and in medicine alike.

Not just imaging. Been getting my psoriatic arthritis successfully treated with extremely low doses of methotrexate with no noticeable side effects. Cost, about $15/month. Every doctor I have had has suggested moving to enbrel, cost $1100/week.

When my doc here at UW suggested it I asked if it would help with my muffler bearings, he turned bright red and changed the subject.

 

[Toshi]

That'd be $1100/wk out of your pocket, or that of the insurance? Having the docs and the patients alike insulated from the cost of care doesn't help anything.

 

[Westy]

That'd be $1100/wk out of your pocket, or that of the insurance? Having the docs and the patients alike insulated from the cost of care doesn't help anything.

$1100 is the "canadian pharmacy" price. No idea what my out of pocket would have been but a coworker of mine who was on it said insurance was billed about $10K/month, he paid a few hundred.

Before even considering the cost I rejected the treatment due to possible side effects. Currently suffering no side effects vs likely flu like symptoms.