decision making as a doctor?

[Sniperification100]

Hi guys,

 

Just wondering how many of you think really carefully about the smallest decision and take your time with it? is this a deal breaker in deciding whether to become a physician or not? Are we expected to make flash decisions about life and death matters as doctors? Please share any thoughts.

 

Thanks!

[masterb]

Depends on the speciality, psychiatry no life and death (except deciding if the patient is suicidal), family medicine office practice/nursing home no (call EMS if you suspect something is wrong or redirect patient to emergency department), physiatry no, dermatology mostly no

[Sniperification100]

So if you are the type of person who makes a big deal about deciding anything such as buying a laptop or a pair of shoes and it takes you for ever to decide the smallest things like that, are you medicine material? are you allowed to consider your decisions carefully as a physician? or are you allowed to go research and take your time with it? I know that once you have the experience and facts, any decision becomes easy.

[tberry3]

So if you are the type of person who makes a big deal about deciding anything such as buying a laptop or a pair of shoes and it takes you for ever to decide the smallest things like that, are you medicine material? are you allowed to consider your decisions carefully as a physician? or are you allowed to go research and take your time with it? I know that once you have the experience and facts, any decision becomes easy.

 

Yes, definitely. But it's worth considering that you're talking about really different situations, generally. Let's take your laptop example: it takes you a long time to decide which laptop to buy at least in part because you generally don’t start researching and comparing laptops until you want to buy one, which happens *maybe* every few years. Now suppose you spent 3-4 years studying laptops in school, then did a 5-year laptop residency where you spent every day around laptops, possibly a laptop fellowship to get even more familiar with laptops, and then worked full-time around laptops for the rest of your life. At that point, if somebody asked you what laptop to buy, it would probably take a lot less time to decide, right?

[ellorie]

I personally like to have time to think over decisions. I don't think incredibly well on my feet or under pressure. I think I will do just fine in medicine - I will just choose to do something that gives me more time to react.

[juliusc]

Yes, definitely. But it's worth considering that you're talking about really different situations, generally. Let's take your laptop example: it takes you a long time to decide which laptop to buy at least in part because you generally don’t start researching and comparing laptops until you want to buy one, which happens *maybe* every few years. Now suppose you spent 3-4 years studying laptops in school, then did a 5-year laptop residency where you spent every day around laptops, possibly a laptop fellowship to get even more familiar with laptops, and then worked full-time around laptops for the rest of your life. At that point, if somebody asked you what laptop to buy, it would probably take a lot less time to decide, right?

 

This is actually an amazing way of explaining it. Good job.

[Sniperification100]

This is actually an amazing way of explaining it. Good job.

 

Thanks everyone for your insights. I especially like the laptop analogy

[Orcamute]

What kind of doctor are we talking about?

 

ER? - nope.

Surgery? - nope.

FP? - slightly, in Ontario FP's get paid the same if they are with a client for 15min or 30min.

Rad? - more radiographs they read..more money but generally speaking they are perfectionists and can take their time if need be.

Path? - same deal as rads just slides.

Etc..

 

It's all dependent on what kind of specialty you are thinking of.

 

The higher chance of craziness pursuing (let's say your a card and patient has a heart attack) -- the less chance for decision making. You can't just press the pause button and analyze every detail down to the last straw. That's why we do the hard schooling..so we are trained well enough t make these decisions instantly.

[shady]

Yes, definitely. But it's worth considering that you're talking about really different situations, generally. Let's take your laptop example: it takes you a long time to decide which laptop to buy at least in part because you generally don’t start researching and comparing laptops until you want to buy one, which happens *maybe* every few years. Now suppose you spent 3-4 years studying laptops in school, then did a 5-year laptop residency where you spent every day around laptops, possibly a laptop fellowship to get even more familiar with laptops, and then worked full-time around laptops for the rest of your life. At that point, if somebody asked you what laptop to buy, it would probably take a lot less time to decide, right?

 

I love this answer. Makes me want to do a laptop residency followed by a laptop fellowship