This question was originally posted on Quora.com and was answered by Evan Lenkowsky, studied Medicine and Healthcare at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (2005) When I was an intern, one of my “mentors” said to me very early on…”There are only THREE things expected of you as a physician. If you can abide by these THREE rules, you will be successful in your career endeavors medically speaking. ONE: Never stop learning. Read all that you can. The minute you slow down is the minute you become a dinosaur. The new medical school graduates will keep you on your toes and if we as a profession are to succeed, you’ll need to have something to teach them. TWO: Never ever lie. Not ever. If you don’t know something, say you don’t know. There’s no honor is dishonesty. THREE: Never get sick. It took me a while to fully appreciate this last one. At first I thought it just meant that there won’t be anybody to cover me if I was ill. That’s only part of it. I’ve come to find that this also points to how replaceable we are as tools of healing. All too often, we as physicians feel as though we should have more inherent value based largely on how much we work and how much we put into the “job” as it were. Ultimately we are all expendable. To answer the question literally and directly, we(specialty somewhat dependent) are exposed to a lot more pathogens allowing our immune systems to develop a stronger resistance. But before that happens, we get sick a ton. I was sick for months during my pediatric ER rotations. Source
