Pranay Sinha, a first year medical resident, penned an extraordinary essay on a dark side of medical training and culture (NY Times, September 4, 2014). It exposes the self-doubt experienced by many young physicians and the toll that this can take.
“There is a strange machismo that pervades medicine. Doctors, especially fledgling doctors like me, feel pressure to project intellectual, emotional and physical prowess beyond what we truly possess…
We masquerade as strong and untroubled professionals even in our darkest and most self-doubting moments. How, then, are we supposed to identify colleagues in trouble — or admit that we may need help ourselves?"
Dr. Sinha’s article is an eloquent cry=from-the-heart. Well worth reading and pondering.
The Letters-to-the-Editors were also worth reading. One quoted S. Shem (House of God), “How can physicians care for others if no one cares for them?