Stressed out Doctors

Among Doctors, An Epidemic of Stress

“But whenever one of us experienced additional stress apart from our work, the house of cards in which we functioned would start to collapse.”

“While a lot of attention has been given to the long work hours of residents and medical errors, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., found that distress, and not only fatigue, contributed to errors by doctors-in-training.”

“We need to figure out what is the right amount of stress to develop outstanding physicians, but not so much that it decays their humanity.”

“Most of us got into this profession because of passion for medicine, for taking care of people,” Dr. West said. “But somewhere along the way, it gets drummed out.”