HOW TO SUCCEED AS A PHYSICIAN.
By William Warren, M. D.
William Warren, M. D., in Success. COMPARATIVELY few young men or women are adapted in every respect for the medical profession, and only here and there is one fitted by nature and education to succeed in it. To be successful, a student must have a natural aptitude for medicine; he must love it; his whole heart must be in it. If he has a distaste or dislike for it; if even the dry details of medical studies are disagreeable to him or bore him, he is not cut out for a successful physician. The second requisite is a natural honesty of purpose. If he lack this, no matter what other qualifications he may possess, he will not become eminent in the healing art; for confidence must be the corner-stone of his profession. The third desideratum is a sound, healthy, vigorous physique. Medicine is a very trying profession, and its disciples are often obliged to forego that regularity of living which is, as a rule, essential to good health. A physician is constantly robbed of his sleep, and allowed but little leisure for recreation. He is liable to be called upon at any hour of the day or night, and, especially in the country, is exposed to all sorts of weather. The youth of delicate physique can never hope to attain any great reputation in a profession, the exigencies of which often demand that he eat and sleep not according to his needs, but when he can get an opportunity. It is essential to success in medicine that one have a bright, normal, cheerful mind. No gloomy melancholic has any place in the sick-room. The physician should have a sanguine, sunny disposition. He should be an optimist, radiating sweetness and good cheer. Johnson says: “Every man is a rascal when he is sick;” and it is true that persons who are cheerful and hopeful when in health are often despondent, melancholy, and irritable when ill. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that a physician should have a surplus of animal spirits, a buoyant, hopeful temperament. The writer has often noticed the effect of cheerfulness upon the sick, especially in hospitals. When a physician full of animal spirits, with a healthy, optimistic nature, goes from bed to bed with a smile and a pleasant word for each, the effect upon the patients is magical. The parched, feverish tongue moistens, the look of morbid fear and anxiety vanishes, the secretions approach the normal; in fact, the occupants of an entire ward are suddenly transformed by the sunshine of a cheerful doctor’s presence. A great many boys who aspire to the study of medicine have very little conception of what it means. They see a practitioner driving about in his carriage, or sitting in his office, and think he must have an easy time; but in reality doctors are very hard-working men, and if conscientious, their lives are filled with anxiety and perplexity. One with a large practice nearly always has critical cases on hand, and, if he is sympathetic, it is impossible for him to free his mind entirely from care and the weight of great responsibility. It is because so little is known of the real life of a doctor that so many light-headed, flippant, unworthy young men enter this profession. Another necessary qualification is a good level head. A physician must have a well-balanced brain. Above all other things, he must have an accurate judgment, for life often hangs upon a correct diagnosis. He must be thorough and painstaking. A slight mistake in a prescription or in an operation may cause death. Many a life has been sacrificed by a blundering surgeon who did not know the exact location of an artery, and did not realize that, if the knife should slip but a hair’s breadth, the result might be fatal. Promptness is another absolutely indispensable quality. Lives have often been lost because a physician thought there was “time enough,” or was not quick in answering an emergency call. The aspirant for medical honors must be a hard worker, and one who can not be daunted by obstacles. Only the stout-hearted and determined can hope to reach eminence in this work to-day. A wholesome, clean character is indispensable. No smirched youth, no one with blunted morals, or of questionable integrity, has any right to enter the profession; but instead his life should be pure, and above suspicion. The necessary confidences, the sacred relations between patient and physician, absolutely demand this. Everything considered, perhaps medicine is the most sacred of all professions. A clergyman may be a poor scholar; he may be dull; he may not be a man of the highest integrity, and yet do no specific harm; but a physician holds our very lives in his hands. The youth who intends to study medicine should cultivate the social side of his nature. People like a sociable medical attendant, a man of easy manners. Many college boys, especially if working for class honors, fall into unsociable habits by secluding themselves from all society, and burying themselves in their studies. As a rule, bookworms do not make good doctors. He should be full of resources, especially if he practice in the country, where there are few, if any, specialists. He will be called upon to meet all sorts of cases; and, if he is ingenious and “handy,” he will be able to make a needed instrument for a special occasion in a blacksmith’s shop, as many a great man has done. Medical men who have had manual training in their youth find it of great advantage in enabling them to meet emergencies quickly and effectively. He should be a keen observer; for life may sometimes depend upon a quick eye, an eye that will notice sudden changes and the coming of the crisis in critical cases. The study of nature is a wonderful help to the physician’s power of observation. He should have steady nerves, a well-balanced nervous system, and a firm, but not stubborn mind. While he should have a kindly nature, he should have great resolution to prevent his being too easily influenced by his sympathy for the patient. Many a man possessing all the other necessary qualifications has failed because he allowed his sympathy to overbalance his judgment. Such a one can not always do the best thing for his patient. The temptation to prevent suffering often keeps him from doing what would be best. The successful physician must always be a student of human nature. He must study carefully different types of character and people under all sorts of conditions and environment. He must also have great tact. There is, perhaps, no other profession in which this quality is so necessary. He is obliged to deal with all kinds of dispositions under the most trying circumstances, as a great many persons who are amiable when well, are made crabbed and irritable by sickness. He will often be abused and severely criticised; but, if he has a serene, well-balanced mind, and realizes that his patients do not mean what they say, he will not be disturbed.