People in different professions deal with work related pressures, fatigue, and challenges. The medical profession is one such field. Recent studies have shown the detrimental effects of extended work hours to the professional’s mental health and personal well being. Although stories abound, the effects of work related pressures on the personal relationships of health professionals is still a controversy.
As in any profession, there are perceived advantages and disadvantages of going into an intimate relationship with a health professional. In the medical profession, what constitute a life enhancing, long lasting or nurturing intimate personal relationship at least controversial. Even health professionals don’t agree on what constitute a successful, life enhancing or nurturing relationship!
T1. As a health professional, what defines a life enhancing, intimate relationship for you?
Our society often demand almost superhuman performance on health professionals, that sometimes intimate relationships suffers. The extended work hours for example, often eats up on time intended for our personal relationships. The objective, emphatic but emotionally protective way of communicating by healthcare professionals at work often backfires when applied to interpersonal, intimate relationships.
T2. What work related factors affect the intimate, personal relationships of medical professionals?
How health professionals balance their personal and professional life is an art itself. More so with intimate relationships. By experience, it has never been easy. Tipping the balance either way may wreak havoc on the other or worse, destroy both. There are numerous, often funny and sometimes scary anecdotes of health professional’s “love life” gone awry. The demands of healthcare profession is often blamed, although early stage recognition of attributing factors is never even considered. As in work, early diagnosis and “treatment” could have save a potential life enhancing intimate relationship. What constitute “treatment” for a failing health professionals intimate personal relationship is another practice guidelines we have yet to develop.
T3. As a health professional, what coping mechanism have you employed to nurture a life enhancing, intimate relationship?
How health professionals cope with the demands of work and sustain a life enhancing intimate personal relationship is the topic of our chat this Saturday, February 15, 9 PM Manila time. Join us in our #healthXPh tweet chat!
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
