Why It’s Not A Sign Of Weakness
How many times have you heard “it’s a sign of weakness?” This clever jab of an insult comes mostly from the surgery camp based on my experiences. This saying and a dollar will buy you a 20 oz. Coke, and here’s why.
Weakness Is A Product of the Creator
Weakness is nothing more than the opinion of the accuser. They think you are weak by participating in some action that they deem exemplifies weakness in you. However, to a “normal” person, your actions are seen as very common. Weakness never comes into the equation.
It is the training (or more accurately, brainwashing) that has led these people to feel this way. Molds are cast early in training, and to deviate from that mold is a “sign of weakness” in itself. That is what they would have you to believe.
The Inbreeding of Inaccurate Thoughts
These abnormal schools of thought are inbred within the various specialties of medicine. As the medical student is taught that taking time off is a “sign of weakness”, he begins to believe that this is in fact the case. As his training continues into residency, this misconception is further hammered into his head by frequent reminders from upper-level staff.
By the time he reaches attending status, he is a super-breeder of misinformation. Years of brainwashing has taken its toll, and he himself believes that false information is true. The process then goes full-circle, as the attending inseminates lower-level residents who in turn inseminate their juniors.
It’s an orgy of falsities.
Weakness In Action
Many of you may be wondering what all of the hoopla is about. Here’s a list of frequently cited “weak” actions on the part of residents and medical students:
- Working less than 80 hours per week
- Taking more than 2 days per month off
- Wanting to eat at least once during the day
- Being sleep deprived and showing it at work
- Putting your family before your work
- Taking a full Saturday off instead of rounding until noon
- Calling into work sick
If you take a close look at all of the above “weak” actions, you’ll see that they really don’t show any weakness whatsoever.
Dehydration and Rotations
While on my internal medicine rotation, we had a resident who was obviously sick and should have stayed at home. Every 3 or 4 hours he would receive a liter of fluids through a hep lock that he kept wrapped up in gauze. Wouldn’t any normal person stay home under these same conditions? I questioned him on why he wasn’t at home in the bed where he should have been. His reply? It’s a sign of weakness to stay home when you’re sick.
If this isn’t evidence of the mind conditioning that takes place during the medical training process, I challenge you to find what is.
The True Weak
Although any physician in any specialty is capable of spreading this false message through mind conditioning processes, surgeons are most likely the ones with the greatest amount of skill in this arena.
I’m here to set the record straight:
- It’s not a sign of weakness to work less than 80 hours per week. This is known as efficiency and budgeting your time wisely.
- It’s not a sign of weakness to take more than 2 days off per month. This is known as being human and having a life.
- It’s not a sign of weakness to want to eat three meals per day, on time. This is known as sustenance.
- It’s not a sign of weakness to show sleep deprivation at work. Sleep is known as a basic requirement for life.
- It’s not a sign of weakness to put your family before your work. This is known as being a good husband/wife/father/mother.
- It’s not a sign of weakness to want a full Saturday off every week. This is known as rest.
- It’s not a sign of weakness to call in sick to work. This is known as calling in sick to work.
The only true “sign of weakness” is when you actually buy what the man is selling. Resisting the purchase and going against the grain shows that you are strong, courageous, and looking after what’s most important in your life.
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UBCRedFox said
March 24 2007 @ 3:26 pm
Your statements are true, a job in medicine should be just like any other job. But realistically, is it possible to take those Saturdays off, spend time with the kids, get rest, in a job like medicine? What are the possible repercussions as a resident for having self-respect?
The Lone Coyote said
March 24 2007 @ 5:26 pm
Great post. It’s all so true. On one of my rotations one of my interns was so sleep deprived that he was literally hallucinating. We actually had a “nice” attending who told him to go home at like 10 am once she realized what was happening. He literally refused to sign out all day long and stayed and tried to work. I ended up bailing around 4 pm and he was still there and the attending was going to force him out of the hospital. Unbelievable. Why anyone would do that to themselves is beyond me. I guess the brainwashing was truly entrenched in this dude very early on in intern year.
Hoover said
March 24 2007 @ 8:39 pm
UBCRedFox - If there was work to be done and you didn’t show up, I’m pretty sure you would get in trouble. I may have not made this clear in my post, but the point I was trying to make was that I don’t want you guys to feel like it’s a sign of weakness if you request time off.
There are some specialties that will allow you to have weekends off during residency (such as pathology or maybe dermatology), but the more rigorous specialties such as surgery generally do not afford this luxury.
The Lone Coyote - That’s a perfect example of the type of behavior that I’m addressing in this post. That kind of stuff needs to stop along with conditioning medical students and residents to believe that it’s weak if they left the hospital.
The Peanut Gallery said
March 25 2007 @ 7:51 am
Great post. As a third year medical student, I quickly hit the wall of guilt many attendings will try to lay on you for wanting a life. On my first rotation, my attending explained it to my like this: “Medicine is a very demanding mistress.” This man works 70+ hours per week, rarely sees his family, and has never left the country to travel. He told me: “If you want a forty hour a week job, you shouldn’t be in medicine.”
Also, I was recently ill with a 102 degree fever and bedridden for a week. I had a note from my physician stating that I was ill. Of course, I panicked, thinking, “How can I miss so many days? Should I just go in?” I stayed home, but felt ridiculously guilty and had to eat a lot of shit from my clerkship director.
The attitudes that prevail in medical training are completely ridiculous. I am sure residency will be a blast.
Puryear said
March 25 2007 @ 8:25 am
great points. i hate this saying, but i guess i have to use it. “when i was a resident” there i was a pgy-2 in the ER at one of our community hospitals. i was in the ER doing a consult. as i got to sit down, i see DR. H. “what are you doing here?” i ask. he say, “i got called to see a patient.” i thought, i’m there resident why are you here. but, that was how he was, always helping out. before he left he said to me something that sticks, “if you need me call, IT IS NOT A SIGN OF WEAKNESS.” i, like others, had this driven into my head. don’t call, get it done.
all of these are great points:
* Working less than 80 hours per week
>>it is important that you put in enough time to get the job done. i think the hour number is irrelevant. i take 10 calls a month (2-3/week). in the winter, life is good, not much trauma. ~10 hr days and every forth weekend. in the summer, let’s just say i hate trampolines, jungle gyms, motorized scooters, and children riding in the back of trucks. longer hours, of course, but as a team we share the load. like a good WWE tag team.
* Taking more than 2 days per month off
>>This is a requirement. you need to reset.
* Wanting to eat at least once during the day
>>another requirement, 3 meals. what i do when we are in long cases (10-12 hr) is make my residents take a midway through. potty break, sustenance, hydration. then i take a break. makes these cases more doable.
* Being sleep deprived and showing it at work
>>not cool, we actually have a comfy couch that many residents sleep on in the office when they want a cat nap. (we do have a call room). if it is really bad, we seen them home.
* Putting your family before your work
>>if you don’t take care of your family, how good a physician are you going to be?
* Taking a full Saturday off instead of rounding until noon
>>ahh, this is a medicine thing. you know how ortho rounds. LGFD (looks good from door)
in the end a healthy resident and physician is better than a battered one. but, there is no weakness in ortho, ever our women bench over 200lbs. (smiley face) just jokes.
Hoover said
March 25 2007 @ 7:08 pm
Thanks for the comments guys.
TPG - The system makes you feel like you’ll be ridiculed and/or looked down upon if you take days off work sick. It’s really a ridiculous state of affairs at the moment. That attending is pretty close to the mark on his 40 hour per week comment. I think it can be done with some specialties, but those are few and far between.
Puryear - Haha, love the comment on the women in ortho. I’ve noticed that Ortho typically attracts the “meatier” people from both sexes. It must have something to do with the saws and drills.
It does sound like your program takes better care of residents than most. If only all programs would do this, we might end some of the abuse and indentured servitude that occurs all to frequently today.
For example on my surgery rotation as I student, my very first case lasted around 14 hours and I was in there straight through without any offer of a break. Being my first day, I didn’t have the balls to ask for a break at the time. I did grow a pair by the end of the rotation, though. =)
The Slacker’s Guide: Part the First : PANDA BEAR, MD said
April 1 2007 @ 5:18 pm
[…] own schedule, but it is an unwritten rule that to merely ask about leaving is considered a sign of weakness. In fact, to ask will challenge the philosophical underpinnings of much of medical training where […]
GAS BY DEFAULT said
April 4 2007 @ 2:03 pm
I’m an anesthesia resident and was in the SICU recently where call is q3 for 30 hours straight. I was sick for a week but still showed up for call. However, the night before one of my calls I got really sick, lost my voice, had a fever, and could not get out of bed. I called in sick and felt really guilty, but I literally was not able to walk down the stairs let alone do a 30 hour call taking care of 20 critically ill patients by myself. Of course, I was reported to my program director by the surgical attending in the SICU because I was not a “team player.” UNBELIEVABLE! This is the stuff that makes me want to quit medicine altogether…as physicians, we can take care of sick people and are supposed to be compassionate and understanding, but when we are sick we are looked at as weak, unprofessional, selfish, etc. Something has got to change.
alex said
April 11 2007 @ 11:58 pm
hi nice site.
Dr. Lam (and darn embarrassed to carry the title) said
October 30 2007 @ 7:31 pm
Man,
I almost collapsed from neuroleptic shock reading what you wrote because they are so to the point! Medical school is the biggest waste of my four years. It’s almost worst than prison. However, you did highlight some very good points that I coincidentally took from this whole nightmarish ordeal in your “letter to medicine.” I hope more people would see this truth and be man/woman enough to say so. I’ve been saying it for the past two years now in my wards and have been belittle and looked down upon as the “weaker” and “dumber” medical student. Thanks to medicine, I’ve learnt patience and humility that would make such envious commentators even more green with jealousy when I drive around town in my new luxe car going to my luxe house.
Goodbye med school. Goodbye hell.
- J
V Mitchell said
March 9 2008 @ 10:31 am
As the medical student is taught that taking time off is a “sign of weakness”, he begins to believe that this is in fact the case.
I love this site. I have been married to a Neurologist for 31 years. Went through Med School and Residency married. I was the laundry and cook bitch. But what did I know, I was in love. I still love the crazy geek, but I still get ‘must be nice’ when I take a day off work to catch up on housework, etc., LOL I wondered where the attitude came from–thanks for sharing. Those of us in medicine know what you are sacrificing. Save some time for yourself, and IT IS NOT A SIGN OF WEAKNESS. You should be the leading lady (man) in your own life (borrowed from a movie line). By the way, I am a nurse, and I LOVE medical students. They listen to me and we take care of people together–the way it is supposed to be.
littlemissmessy said
March 22 2008 @ 4:07 am
Haha…Thanks Hoover.
Now I know where my mom got this from. Yes, she’s a doctor. I always needed to “toughen up” and stop being so “weak.” “Life is hard.” “Nothing easy is worthwhile.” I never missed a day of school for being sick. In my mom’s eyes I was never sick…because I didn’t know what it meant to be sick. She had “seen real sickness.”
She went to medical school in the 70s. I heard they were worse then.
I think she has post-traumatic stress disorder or something. It’s not cute.
Med School Hell » Medicine Is Serious Business said
May 10 2008 @ 12:06 am
[…] You’ve been up for 36 hours on call and you still have a conference to attend in 4 hours. Hey, complaining is a sign of weakness. […]
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