High rates of physician stress, burnout, and suicide have prompted a reinvigorated focus on research related to understanding the causes and potential interventions. Despite widespread efforts to improve physician and medical trainee well-being, little has changed. The goal of this study was to explore how chief residents (CRs) understand and experience stress to provide a better understanding of the true impact it has on their relationships with self and others. Using a phenomenological study design approach, I conducted in-depth interviews with four CRs from four different specialty disciplines at a single general teaching hospital. A conversational interview format allowed participants to share stories in their own ways without steering them in specific directions. As a result of the interviews, three primary themes emerged relating CR stressful experiences to a high need for autonomy, strong feelings of inadequacy and guilt, and feeling the need to keep personal struggles hidden. The ways the themes characterized the CR experiences supported some well-established theories about adult learners (need for autonomy) and learners' experiences in clinical environments (culture of silence about expressing emotions). In other ways, my study findings complicated existing literature and pointed toward a need for future studies in new directions. Although there may be ways to reduce some stressors experienced by physicians, the themes from my study highlighted a broader truth about the nature of the profession. Taking care of the sickest in society is emotionally-laden work that does not fit neatly into defined hours or days. There is no way to make the nature of health care work less stressful. When combined with the rapid pace of technological change, evolving consumerism of healthcare, and increased administrative burden on physicians, what is being expected is at odds. The best we can do is honor doctors, listen, acknowledge their gift to society's well-being, and support their individual needs along the way.
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