What is the average day in the life of a psychiatrist like?

What's exciting to me about being a psychiatrist is that the job engages both my brain and my heart--I get to be both a scientist and a humanitarian. On a daily basis, the job entails meeting with patients to either evaluate their symptoms and issues, gauging their changes over time. We are trained in identifying symptoms related to specific illnesses, but also can recognize practical needs (e.g. housing, transportation, relationship issues). We utilize both knowledge of medications and methods of psychotherapy in treating illness.

The daily routine depends on the setting of practice. In a hospital, you will meet with a treatment team to discuss each patient's progress over the previous day, getting input from nurses, social workers, and techs. The psychiatrist is typically the leader of the treatment team so you are coordinating services and the treatment plan for each of your patients. Then you will meet with each patient to assess their progress and any new issues/changes that have arisen in the interim. The pathology is more intense, but the progress you can see in a short time is exciting.

In a clinic, we are generally seeing higher-functioning patients. The psychiatrist meets with patients for 30-60 minutes to assess overall functioning and changes in symptoms. In this setting the symptoms are usually less severe than in a hospital, but you have the advantage of getting to build a relationship with patients over time, to see them growing over the course of years. Whatever the setting, it's exciting to be trusted in helping others with their most private and often most difficult challenges in life.

Dealing with people who demand controlled substances and don't want to pay. Employed jobs have you reporting to a social worker who will tell you what to prescribe-- almost always a controlled substance. I would go into neuroradiology instead. Or get a DVM instead. Or go to law school and change the laws that allow employers to bill using your NPI and PTAN without your permission yet still hold you liable. Read about how Ross Perot became wealthy-- privatizing Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. These insurances are not run by the government but taxpayers pay for profit corporations to profit off of sick people and naive doctors. This request for a psychiatrist to "volunteer" is just another example of how doctors are treated, unless you are a high paying specialist such as interventional anesthesia, cardiology, etc. Read the blogs on Doximity-- there are many about doctors wanting to retire early-- all except the high paying surgical specialties. Psychiatry has been destroyed by insurance companies and social workers who think they are doctors. Read the DSM-2 and ask yourself why even Medicare refuses to use the DSM, and insists on the ICD.