Members of the medical profession are notorious for keeping long hours and spending every minute deeply involved with their research or their paperwork or their patients. Getting into a life with these people can be a rocky experience but some would not part with their medical partners for anything. It is all a matter of taste, as they say. Here are some tips to help you out if you plan on dating a doctor:
Understanding the medical career
You can imagine the difficulties faced by someone who is dating a medical practitioner. The sleepless nights; the late nights; the interrupted dinners; the pager going off every five minutes through a movie you have been waiting to see for months. The bottom line to consider when going out with a doctor is, ‘If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen…’ Nobody forced you to start dating someone shackled to other commitments for most of every day and half the night too.
Realizing that you won’t get all of the doctor’s attention
Patience with the patients is something not every date can handle and if you are one of those people who demands eighty per cent of your partner’s attention, then dating a doctor is not for you. Some interns slave away on twenty hour days and then elect to spend the remaining four cooped up in the doctor’s rest area, asleep under a surgical coat until it is time to start again. Be understanding if he’s gone for a long time and just cherish the few precious phone calls you get. Picture it as a long distance relationship and go from there.
Supporting the doctor
Doctors who have the time to spend with girlfriends tend to be specialists or consultants with a little extra time to call their own, but more junior practitioners are nearly always worked half to death for years before they get enough time of their own to enjoy a social life. Successful doctors have to work even harder to climb the ladder and achieve a satisfying career. There is just very little time for anything else in the lives of such men. You have to be strong enough to accept his career choice, and you need to support him the whole way through. Remember, you chose this.
Keeping yourself busy
Find projects of your own to spend time on. If you don’t have any consuming interests, it might be a good idea to find some. Making yourself independent in terms of being entertained can make all the difference to spending long, tedious hours alone while waiting for Quincy to show up! Get a hobby, volunteer, read a book…do whatever it takes to keep your mind off how much you miss your doctor man.
Taking food to the hospital
If you are already dating a doctor, you will know that a really lovely girlfriend will take a plastic container of home cooked food to the hospital and leave it with a thoughtful note. If you aren’t dating one, then take that advice. Hospital food…well…it sucks. Taking your man a meal will not only lift his spirits, but it will also give you both a chance to see each other and exchange a quick kiss. Plus, he’ll think you’re cute for doing it.
Arranging dates with the doctor
Arrange to do something that can be postponed at the last minute without being ruined. If you are a busy doctor, it makes you feel like a huge heel if you have to keep ruining your partner’s social life for the sake of your work. So, don’t let your partner feel that way. Remember, he’s out there saving lives. The last thing he should be doing is thinking about how disappointed you looked when he had to leave. Just wait for him to return home and start the date again. If your boyfriend has to run late because of work, smile when you see him and try not to scowl at him for something he could not help. If you cannot put up with the constant change of plans that is part of being a doctor’s girlfriend, it might be a better idea to date a good old nine to fiver and leave doctors for people with a little more ‘patience’…
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