Each year, physicians who complete the CMA's Physician Resource Questionnaire are invited to comment on their jobs and their lives. The following are a few of the comments offered in 2003.
· “It's a privilege to look after people — I love my job.”
· “The regular fee for an office visit has been steadily declining. It is now about half of what a vet gets to see my cat!”
· “No wonder medical students are deciding, in large numbers, not to enter general practice. We are a dying breed and no one seems to be able to do anything about it.”
· “Am I sick of health care, with its finite resources and infinite demands? You bet I am!”
· “I feel there is an invisible whip on me to work faster and faster.”
· “Patients think we can cure everything, and they don't understand that we are also human beings.”
· “I truly love my work and feel like I do make a difference in my patients' lives.”
· “I strive to appear patient and enthusiastic to patients and colleagues and put their needs ahead of my own, but I'm silently burning out inside and finding work less rewarding. I would quit but I'm trapped by lack of qualifications for alternative work.”
· “I have wonderful patients — the mutual respect we share makes up for minor stresses that occur during the day.” — CMAJ