what was the most difficult thing youve ever done in your job so far ?

Question: what was the most difficult thing youve ever done in your job so far ?
- Keywords:
  difficult
Asked by anon-181903 on 17 Jun 2018.
- Joanne Sharpe answered on 17 Jun 2018:
  
  I often need to extract DNA from my flies to test them. In order to do this I need to take off the heads. So to take of the heads I freeze them and shake them really hard – the heads just fly off (amazing). But then I have to sort through hundreds of tiny heads and bodies using a paintbrush. It is so fiddly and takes me forever!
- Claire Donald answered on 17 Jun 2018:
  
  The most difficult thing I’ve ever done is to work at a high level of containment. Some of the viruses we work with are really dangerous, either to humans, animals or the environment. In order to keep ourselves and others safe, we need to work with them in very high security conditions. We have to wear full body suits, 2 gloves on each hand, hair nets, masks, eye googles and work in special rooms with filters that stop viruses getting out into the environment. You can’t touch your face or put your pen in mouth while you’re in there! You also need to be very careful not to drop or spill anything as the whole lab might need to be evacuated!
- Alex Haragan answered on 18 Jun 2018:
  
  In my science work it’s probably something technical – I once had to extract dorsal-root ganglion (balls of nerves) from the spines of neonatal rats that were maybe only a few cms long. Very tricky to do that work under the microscope with tiny scissors!
  >
  As a doctor I’ve had to do some pretty difficult things. There are the technical aspects of things like inserting chest drains, or the physical aspects like working night shifts or the endless work of A&E.
  >
  But probably the most difficult thing, which never gets easier, is telling someone (or telling their relatives) that they aren’t going to get better, and that, unfortunately, they don’t have long left to live. I’ve also had the difficult job of telling relatives about sudden and unexpected deaths (like heart attacks and strokes) which is hard.
  I don’t mind doing it because I would want to hear that from a doctor who cared myself – but it never gets easier.
- Lauren Burns answered on 18 Jun 2018:
  
  For me, so far my difficulties stem more from psychological strains. I have a tendency to put too much on my plate and do not have enough rest. This means, after a lot of long days, long weeks, a lot of things to do, it just builds up. Trying to balance this is something I need to work on (as it is very much my own fault!) but something that (for me) is very difficult. I also find it difficult because I never feel I have done enough despite these hours I put in, but that is something I am told that a lot of people feel like – so at least I am not alone. However, we are all different, and have different difficulties in life generally as well as careers specifically 🙂
- Laura Hemming answered on 24 Jun 2018:
  
  For me the hardest thing I’ve done is purely an admin task – getting into prison! It was really difficult to get hold of the right people and to get a prison to agree to take on the research and even when I had achieved this I then had to go through counter terrorism clearance which took over 6 months! That’s probably been my biggest hurdle so far I think.

Question: what was the most difficult thing youve ever done in your job so far ?

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