who has a more stressful life, an emergency doctor, or a general surgeon?

Question

and which specialist has the least stressful life among all doctors?
just curious :)

Answer 1

Hmm.... difficult to generalise this answer; it depends on so many variables, such as the type of surgery our generalist performs, where the hospital is located, personality types, nagging wife, etc.

General surgeons are usually more stressed the emergency physicians, at least the ones I know. The ER ward is not at all like the television series. For most hospitals the job is characterised by long periods of boredom, interspaced by the occassional emergency.

In surgery so many complications can develop for which the surgeon is normally responsible and this can add considerable level of stress to the job. The surgical training lasts much longer and is considerably tougher than emergency medicine. ER doctors are often the first at the scene. If the case is serious they will do the basic assessment on the patient, such as blood tests, X-rays, before calling in a specialised unit to take over. e.g. neurosurgery, orthopeadics, etc


So for complicated emergency cases the hardest part is done by the surgeons anyway. An ER doctors basically acts like a conductor of an orchestra.

Answer 2

The answer to this question is variable. Most larger cities have emergency room staffed with doctors that work only those schedules they are signed up for. When they leave the job, no phone calls, no office overhead, no duties until their next shift. They burn out at a very high rate, but it is not the stress of the medical decisions, it is the demanding and mentally ill patients that try their patience. (Compassion fatigue is a term actually used for such situations). In smaller towns, the general surgeon may actually end up staffing the ER and getting called in quite frequently.

General surgeons are generally on a rotation to take calls and operate on those whom the ER doc has determined need surgical intervention. They get called out in the middle of their sleep, in the middle of a trip to the grocery or the middle of church, or their nephew's wedding. Things can and do go wrong in the middle of surgical procedures.

The least stressful of specialties in my opinion would be dermatology. Acne and wrinkles can always wait. A dermatologist can work half time and still not lose patients and have a nice healthy income. No life or death situations, there.

Answer 3

Well, as you know, everything in world has some pros and cons.
In medicine we strongly suggest to stick to the speciality you like to be in without considering pay and workload. Reason, in medicine no matter what speciality we are in the difference in our pay is usually 1:2. Considering everybody makes at least 6 figures therefore nobody starves in this field. As far as stress is concern almost all specialities have it. However, if you love what you do then even odd hours or stress won't feel bad. Contrary, if you don't like your field then even moderate stress will terrible.

To answer your question, traditionally, specialities with less night calls are considered less stressful ( which is not entirely true).
Dermatology, psychiatry, endocrinology, rheumatology, ohpthalmology docs will rarely be called during night. Now for me psychiatry itself can really be stressful because I do not like it. But those who like it , its a different story. Almost all surgical field have call issues, but Urology, ENT, eye, plastic surgeons, vascular surgeons would have rare night calls.

ER works in shift, so while you are there, you are understress, but once the shift over, you pack and get out. On the other hand Gerneral surgery can be stresses only when a case goes back or if you have to come in the middle of night to take out an appendix. My impression ER is more stressful.

Answer 4

Emergency doctor because he never knows what kind of emergency he will face. Also there can be more than 1 emergency at a time that he has to handle. Example, a multiple car accident

A general surgeon knows in advance what kind of surgery he will be preforming. He has time to prepare and analysis the situation. Chances are he specializes in one area and preforms the same kind of surgery over and over again

Answer 5

In my opinion, an emergency doctor has a more stressful life.

Answer 6

I would say the emergency doctor. He/she is always put on the spot. The general surgeon has time to prepare for the surgery.

Answer 7

I'm guessing that stress levels depend far more on the individual than on what they do for a living. I know a guy that works part-time in a junkyard and he's the most stressed out person I know.

Frankly, the most stressful part for all of them is medical school.

Answer 8

i would say an emergency doctor cuz they have to be on the look out 24/7. they've got a new patient every few minutes.

a chiropractor probably has the least stressfull job lol

Answer 9

Its obvious. the stress level in an emergency doctor is much higher... and i think the rehabilitation physicians and dermatologists have the least level of stress

Answer 10

Well all doctors take on tremendous responsibility. They all have to take turns being on call and they all have to be careful not to get sued. They all have to have a business sense. They all could run into emergencies.