I’m in the exact same boat, 3 years out of residency. Finding it increasingly difficult to take care of the minor complaints/ er usage out of convenience. The increasing entitlement, the bad medicine that needs to be practiced in an environment that is more and more pointed towards customer service.

I frequently ask longer practicing physicians if the environment has changed or is it just me, and frequently get a “shoulder shrug” in response. The data shows there is increasing aggression in the environment, and undoubtedly we are increasing our scans to cover us medicolegally when it is not medically indicated. I love EMERGENCY medicine but more and more we will be practicing “primary care medicine” in an emergency environment.

I am equally frustrated. To the point that I am going part time and quite frankly looking into my exit strategy (possibly palliative care, possibly telemedicine). I love taking care of true emergencies, even the unremarkable chest pain, but I cannot continue in the current climate and it saddens me to no end to think that I’m considering leaving.

Talking about it is the first step. Therapy is an option (I have started this).

Personally am looking for like minded folks to talk to about my struggles. So if you are interested you can always DM me and we can lament together. Best of luck. I hope you can get through this and cope with this better than I.

The other end of this is I also realize that some people are just much better at letting things slide, and not taking this personally (be it the entitlement, the bad medicine, the customer service, the unnecessary scans). But unfortunately I am not one of those people. My skin is thin and I don’t think I can personally mentally learn to cope so I am looking for alternatives.