4 answers
Emilio
Student
Yuma, Arizona
1
Question
Asked
2838 views
I am a student in middle school ?
I have questions about nursing/ being a doctor my I have three questions my first one is What are the potential consequences for surgeons if a mistake is made during surgery, and how do hospitals support surgeons in preventing and managing these risks?, my second question is What are the biggest challenges doctors and nurses face in their daily work, and how do these challenges affect their well-being and job satisfaction? my last question is How do salaries for doctors vary based on their specialty, experience, and location, and what other factors can influence a physician’s overall compensation and benefits package?
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4 answers
William Stueve
Medical doctor
4
Answers
Lawrence, Kansas
Updated
William’s Answer
I would feel qualified to answer your excellent question about the challenges confronted by doctors in their work. There are many ways to answer this and my answer will be incomplete and reflect my own experience.
The initial challenges are during training. The medical profession has a long tradition of abuse of young people in training. That tradition is responsible for a great deal of trauma for many physicians. The individuals who are the worst offenders are usually people who are extremely insecure and feel threatened by smart people who are avid learners. Excellent questions are the primary triggers for those individuals. The best way to inoculate yourself against that is to remember that they usually do not have the courage to harm your progress or reputation and to persist with your questions and robust pursuit of your education.
Once you complete your education and training the next challenge is the on-the-job training to learn the most important things about clinical medicine that you didn't learn in your training. Make close relationships with trusted colleagues who can be nonjudgmental mentors. You will learn much of what you need to know from them. Listen to the ancillary members of your care team who can share perspectives about the practice of medicine that you will never learn from clinicians. Learn from your patients. They have much to teach you about how to be an effective clinician.
If you spend any amount of time in clinical practice you will make mistakes. Sometimes you will make a big mistake with serious consequences. It is a challenge to deal with that experience. How you respond determines whether or not it will have negative consequences for you. First of you must realize that a mistake does not make you a bad doctor or a bad person. It makes you human. That understanding is the source of most resilience. Do not hide the mistake or lie about it. Apologize to anyone who is impacted by your mistake. Learn from the mistakes. You will never forget those lessons.
The other thing you will quickly learn is that financial incentives do not align with what is best for the patient. This is true no matter what model you practice medicine in or what your specialty is. This is a serious dilemma and the source of much moral injury among those of us in the medical field. My recommendation is to always do what is best for the patient first. There will inevitably be stakeholders who push back when your decisions are not the most financially lucrative. I do not have an answer that can be applied generally. My best advice is to use this situation to reflect on your values. Once you are clear about that, you will know how to proceed. Sometimes that means you are comfortable with the limitations put on you and other times you will be certain that you must leave your practice and find another situation that aligns with your values.
(This reply was completed without assistance from AI)
My reply only covered a few examples. Please reply and let me know if you have any specific questions about challenges I did not address or if you have deeper questions about what I addressed.
The initial challenges are during training. The medical profession has a long tradition of abuse of young people in training. That tradition is responsible for a great deal of trauma for many physicians. The individuals who are the worst offenders are usually people who are extremely insecure and feel threatened by smart people who are avid learners. Excellent questions are the primary triggers for those individuals. The best way to inoculate yourself against that is to remember that they usually do not have the courage to harm your progress or reputation and to persist with your questions and robust pursuit of your education.
Once you complete your education and training the next challenge is the on-the-job training to learn the most important things about clinical medicine that you didn't learn in your training. Make close relationships with trusted colleagues who can be nonjudgmental mentors. You will learn much of what you need to know from them. Listen to the ancillary members of your care team who can share perspectives about the practice of medicine that you will never learn from clinicians. Learn from your patients. They have much to teach you about how to be an effective clinician.
If you spend any amount of time in clinical practice you will make mistakes. Sometimes you will make a big mistake with serious consequences. It is a challenge to deal with that experience. How you respond determines whether or not it will have negative consequences for you. First of you must realize that a mistake does not make you a bad doctor or a bad person. It makes you human. That understanding is the source of most resilience. Do not hide the mistake or lie about it. Apologize to anyone who is impacted by your mistake. Learn from the mistakes. You will never forget those lessons.
The other thing you will quickly learn is that financial incentives do not align with what is best for the patient. This is true no matter what model you practice medicine in or what your specialty is. This is a serious dilemma and the source of much moral injury among those of us in the medical field. My recommendation is to always do what is best for the patient first. There will inevitably be stakeholders who push back when your decisions are not the most financially lucrative. I do not have an answer that can be applied generally. My best advice is to use this situation to reflect on your values. Once you are clear about that, you will know how to proceed. Sometimes that means you are comfortable with the limitations put on you and other times you will be certain that you must leave your practice and find another situation that aligns with your values.
(This reply was completed without assistance from AI)
William recommends the following next steps:
James Hanson
Pediatric Intensive Care Physician; Consultant
158
Answers
Oakland, California
Updated
James’s Answer
Wow, are you thinking ahead! Please note that things are changing very fast, so the answers today may not be correct in several years when you are finishing college and deciding what to do for your career.
Hospitals try hard to put systems into place to minimize risk. The entire surgical team stops whenever any safety concerns are raised. Most bad outcomes are not due to human error, but because bad results can happen when everything is done based on the best practices of the day. Doctors almost invariably have malpractice insurance to pay for most damages that might result from a bad outcome, and this insurance may be covered by the hospital or medical school - or may be a large out of pocket expense. Frivolous lawsuits are still too common, and hurt many people, including the doctors, hospitals, and others who are dedicating their lives to helping others.
Medical staffs "police" themselves, and require that all physicians are reviewed routinely (and for special cause) to assure their care is meeting standards. Physicians support one another, but also hold one another accountable for good care.
As for biggest challenges for physicians and nurses? Most are asked to do more than is reasonable. If it takes a half an hour to do a high-quality history and physical exam, "they" ask you to see 3-4 patients/hour. If you have been up all night doing emergency surgery or supporting a critically ill patient in the ICU, you don't get the next day off. So, fatigue is the rule, and exhaustion is not rare. For most of us, we can tolerate this except when burdened by non-value-added work related to documentation and paperwork demanded by insurance companies that only increase the cost of care while taking valuable time away from care providers. This documentation overload is one of the most common complaints. Sadly, there are far too many people now who challenge the health care team and their years of training and experience with unscientific publications, direct-to-consumer drug advertising, and such. This feels disrespectful and slows down the provision of care.
The American Medical Association and others have developed programs to help reduce some of the burdens on physicians, and carefully instituted artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to help with some documentation tasks.
Generally speaking, physicians are well-paid - but most have a lot of school debt, and have not been able to begin saving for retirement until many years after others (note that interest compounds, so this becomes a huge amount of lost money). Current governmental actions to reduce research grants are causing a lot of pain for physicians - most of whom do some research, at least during training, and for medical schools who need that funding to offer the training and services they provide. cuts to Medicaid and feared cuts to Medicare will cause irreparable harm. Most doctors want to care for all people, but they cannot offer free care, so many have to turn away patients when the costs of care exceed the payments. This is part of the "moral injury" faced in our profession.
Guess what? Despite what I have written, I think healthcare is a fantastic career choice. Caring for others and being a lifelong learner are wonderful things.
Hospitals try hard to put systems into place to minimize risk. The entire surgical team stops whenever any safety concerns are raised. Most bad outcomes are not due to human error, but because bad results can happen when everything is done based on the best practices of the day. Doctors almost invariably have malpractice insurance to pay for most damages that might result from a bad outcome, and this insurance may be covered by the hospital or medical school - or may be a large out of pocket expense. Frivolous lawsuits are still too common, and hurt many people, including the doctors, hospitals, and others who are dedicating their lives to helping others.
Medical staffs "police" themselves, and require that all physicians are reviewed routinely (and for special cause) to assure their care is meeting standards. Physicians support one another, but also hold one another accountable for good care.
As for biggest challenges for physicians and nurses? Most are asked to do more than is reasonable. If it takes a half an hour to do a high-quality history and physical exam, "they" ask you to see 3-4 patients/hour. If you have been up all night doing emergency surgery or supporting a critically ill patient in the ICU, you don't get the next day off. So, fatigue is the rule, and exhaustion is not rare. For most of us, we can tolerate this except when burdened by non-value-added work related to documentation and paperwork demanded by insurance companies that only increase the cost of care while taking valuable time away from care providers. This documentation overload is one of the most common complaints. Sadly, there are far too many people now who challenge the health care team and their years of training and experience with unscientific publications, direct-to-consumer drug advertising, and such. This feels disrespectful and slows down the provision of care.
The American Medical Association and others have developed programs to help reduce some of the burdens on physicians, and carefully instituted artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to help with some documentation tasks.
Generally speaking, physicians are well-paid - but most have a lot of school debt, and have not been able to begin saving for retirement until many years after others (note that interest compounds, so this becomes a huge amount of lost money). Current governmental actions to reduce research grants are causing a lot of pain for physicians - most of whom do some research, at least during training, and for medical schools who need that funding to offer the training and services they provide. cuts to Medicaid and feared cuts to Medicare will cause irreparable harm. Most doctors want to care for all people, but they cannot offer free care, so many have to turn away patients when the costs of care exceed the payments. This is part of the "moral injury" faced in our profession.
Guess what? Despite what I have written, I think healthcare is a fantastic career choice. Caring for others and being a lifelong learner are wonderful things.
James Constantine Frangos
SOFTWARE ENGINEER SINCE 1972; NUTRITIONIST SINCE 1976.
7094
Answers
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Updated
James Constantine’s Answer
Good Day Emilio! Legally, it depends on who the surgeon works for. Themselves, or the health care authority. Privatization has meant that many practitioners are independent contractors, so they are different financial entities from the health care authority. In these scenarios the specialist must furnish their own indemnity insurance to protect them in the event of litigation. The biggest challenges that doctors and nurses face are primarily maintaining quality of care in the face of increased workloads due to the sheer volume of patients. This can lead to psychological stress and burnout. The wages of doctors can vary by specialty.
Orthopedics & Orthopedic Surgery: $564,000
Plastic Surgery: $544,000
Radiology: $526,000
Cardiology: $520,000
Gastroenterology: $513,000
Urology: $505,000
Anesthesiology: $501,000
Otolaryngology: $484,000
Oncology & Hematology: $472,000
Dermatology: $454,000
General Surgery: $434,000
Critical Care: $418,000
Ophthalmology: $409,000
Pulmonary Medicine: $402,000
Pathology: $388,000
Emergency Medicine: $388,000
Ob/Gyn: $372,000
Nephrology: $363,000
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation: $362,000
Psychiatry: $341,000
Neurology: $332,000
Allergy & Immunology: $319,000
Internal Medicine: $294,000
Rheumatology: $284,000
Family Medicine: $281,000
Infectious Diseases: $277,000
Diabetes & Endocrinology: $274,000
Public Health & Preventive Medicine: $269,000
Pediatrics: $265,000
Source: MedScape Physician Compensation Report, 2025
Newfoundland has the highest average salary for general practitioners, $132,499. Florida is the lowest.
GOD BLESS!
Orthopedics & Orthopedic Surgery: $564,000
Plastic Surgery: $544,000
Radiology: $526,000
Cardiology: $520,000
Gastroenterology: $513,000
Urology: $505,000
Anesthesiology: $501,000
Otolaryngology: $484,000
Oncology & Hematology: $472,000
Dermatology: $454,000
General Surgery: $434,000
Critical Care: $418,000
Ophthalmology: $409,000
Pulmonary Medicine: $402,000
Pathology: $388,000
Emergency Medicine: $388,000
Ob/Gyn: $372,000
Nephrology: $363,000
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation: $362,000
Psychiatry: $341,000
Neurology: $332,000
Allergy & Immunology: $319,000
Internal Medicine: $294,000
Rheumatology: $284,000
Family Medicine: $281,000
Infectious Diseases: $277,000
Diabetes & Endocrinology: $274,000
Public Health & Preventive Medicine: $269,000
Pediatrics: $265,000
Source: MedScape Physician Compensation Report, 2025
Newfoundland has the highest average salary for general practitioners, $132,499. Florida is the lowest.
GOD BLESS!
Brett Schlifstein
Anesthesiologist
42
Answers
Pittsboro, North Carolina
Updated
Brett’s Answer
Hi Emilio,
I think Dr. Hanson gave you a lot of good advice. I think it's a little early for you to be worried about what might happen if you become a surgeon and make an error, but on the other hand, I don't want to dodge your question and think you deserve an appropriate answer. Fortunately, true errors that do harm to a patient are rare - that is not to say that they don't happen. Much more common are complications that make patients (and their families) unhappy. On occasion, these complications are avoidable - but most of the time they are a result of the patient's underlying conditions, (age, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, tobacco/alcohol drug abuse, etc.), how well or not they are controlled, and sometimes some bad luck. Hospitals have quality control programs in place to review these kinds of incidents, and to determine of any action is necessary. For example, a surgeon has one post-operative infection is not a concern, but if half of his or her patients develop an infection, that would be another story. Bottom line, please don't let fear of making a mistake stop you from pursuing medicine, or any other career for that matter. No matter how careful we are (I know I am very careful most of the time, but especially at work), mistakes can happen. When they do, it's important to be honest and take appropriate action. Fortunately there are risk managers and other professionals to help guide us during these times.
I think the biggest challenge facing physicians today is work life balance. Most physicians work a lot, so it's important that they have time to unwind and recharge their batteries. Also of importance is job satisfaction. I know when I come home after a long day, if I feel like a did a good job, made a difference, and was appreciated by patients, family, and staff, then I can recharge very quickly. There are others (and this advice applies to just about any career) who don't like their job, and are doing it for other reasons - income, benefits, trying to make someone else happy etc. I feel for those people because they go to work every day doing something that they don't really like to do. So when it came time to give career advice to my children, I told them to pick something they like to do, because chances are they will be doing a lot of it! I happen to love what I do, but it's not for everyone - so it's going to really depend upon the individual.
I will let you look up online the salaries for different physician specialties. Ironically, salaries can be lower in high cost of living areas (cities), and higher in low cost of living areas (rural). So if you like living and working in a less populated area, you can be way better off financially. There are also medical scholarships available to those who commit to practicing a certain amount of time in an underserved area. Schooling can be expensive, so it's important to not get into too much debt. When your training is complete (which does take a while), physicians are generally well compensated. Some physicians work for themselves (although this is becoming less common), some work for a group (single specialty or multi-specialty, and) others work directly for a hospital or health system. Of course, all of this is in flux and will change with time.
If you are looking for a tough but rewarding career where you get to help people every day, then healthcare could be a great choice for you. Hope that helps, and good luck!
Brett Schlifstein, M.D
Anesthesia Director
ECU Health Roanoke Chowan Hospital
I think Dr. Hanson gave you a lot of good advice. I think it's a little early for you to be worried about what might happen if you become a surgeon and make an error, but on the other hand, I don't want to dodge your question and think you deserve an appropriate answer. Fortunately, true errors that do harm to a patient are rare - that is not to say that they don't happen. Much more common are complications that make patients (and their families) unhappy. On occasion, these complications are avoidable - but most of the time they are a result of the patient's underlying conditions, (age, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, tobacco/alcohol drug abuse, etc.), how well or not they are controlled, and sometimes some bad luck. Hospitals have quality control programs in place to review these kinds of incidents, and to determine of any action is necessary. For example, a surgeon has one post-operative infection is not a concern, but if half of his or her patients develop an infection, that would be another story. Bottom line, please don't let fear of making a mistake stop you from pursuing medicine, or any other career for that matter. No matter how careful we are (I know I am very careful most of the time, but especially at work), mistakes can happen. When they do, it's important to be honest and take appropriate action. Fortunately there are risk managers and other professionals to help guide us during these times.
I think the biggest challenge facing physicians today is work life balance. Most physicians work a lot, so it's important that they have time to unwind and recharge their batteries. Also of importance is job satisfaction. I know when I come home after a long day, if I feel like a did a good job, made a difference, and was appreciated by patients, family, and staff, then I can recharge very quickly. There are others (and this advice applies to just about any career) who don't like their job, and are doing it for other reasons - income, benefits, trying to make someone else happy etc. I feel for those people because they go to work every day doing something that they don't really like to do. So when it came time to give career advice to my children, I told them to pick something they like to do, because chances are they will be doing a lot of it! I happen to love what I do, but it's not for everyone - so it's going to really depend upon the individual.
I will let you look up online the salaries for different physician specialties. Ironically, salaries can be lower in high cost of living areas (cities), and higher in low cost of living areas (rural). So if you like living and working in a less populated area, you can be way better off financially. There are also medical scholarships available to those who commit to practicing a certain amount of time in an underserved area. Schooling can be expensive, so it's important to not get into too much debt. When your training is complete (which does take a while), physicians are generally well compensated. Some physicians work for themselves (although this is becoming less common), some work for a group (single specialty or multi-specialty, and) others work directly for a hospital or health system. Of course, all of this is in flux and will change with time.
If you are looking for a tough but rewarding career where you get to help people every day, then healthcare could be a great choice for you. Hope that helps, and good luck!
Brett Schlifstein, M.D
Anesthesia Director
ECU Health Roanoke Chowan Hospital