anybody here regret going to medical school?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Members do not see this ad.
Originally posted by Desperado
Wow! 2 weeks vacation, only has to be asked for a month in advance (I just got done scheduling my Vacation for June....2005), 2 "personal holidays" AND standard, fixed holidays. (Is that like Christmas eve, cause I worked that, and Thanksgiving, oh I worked that too, and wait....what about President's Day, that must be standard.....hmmmm.... seemed like the hospital was still full of residents.) Chained in a cubicle for 45 whole hours a week! That must be tough. Anyone die in your cubicle with you? No? Anyone get told they have a terminal disease? Anyone in that cubicle of your suicidal, or homicidal? I'm having a hard time feeling compassion for your Dilbert-like existence. It seems your chief problem is dealing with the boredom. But hey, there's still 123 more hours a week you can do whatever you want.
Click to expand...


Where's this going?

No, I HATE my job more!
No, my job is much WORSE!
Well, I Hate my job infiniti!
 
Originally posted by Trismegistus4
1. I was trying to counter beyond all hope's statement that the Average Joe takes vacation whenever he wants. This is patently false.

2. Residency lasts only a few years, then one has the option of going into private practice. The fundamental terms of working life for a salaried corporate employee do not change over the course of their entire working life.

3. Is there anything wrong with citing boredom as a downside to a particular career? Is dealing with terminally ill people really so horrifying? Maybe those who portray medicine as so bad, and Dilbert as so much better, should have become Dilberts instead.

Everyone has a persecution complex to some degree when it comes to their job. Just as I wouldn't expect people to form an understanding of the corporate world based on what I say about it in my worst moments, I have a hard time believing that medicine is as bad as some around here say it is.
Click to expand...

Well said, Tris. I think becoming a doctor is one of the hardest, longest career roads around. But I don't think it is thankless - in the end, you are reward with a profession where you can help people, financial security (yes, you can pay off your loans), and job security - perhaps none of these things are in levels as high as some would like, but they are there and it is a rare thing. I realize that a lot of doctors aren't happy and that can't be ignored. But I do have a hard time understanding how the hours/stresses of residency can be used to define the profession post-residency...I could go through any amount of hell as long as I know it won't last forever/indefinitely and it is worth something in the end. I also have a difficult understanding how dealing with sick/dying people can be used to establish at how difficult medicine is. Is it a surprise to anyone? I mean, I only go to the doctor/hospital when I'm sick. That's just my rule. So I would guess (not having been to med school) that doctors/hospitals work with sick people. Presumably, you went into the profession bc that appealed to you in some way. I don't understand how now it is used to hold out doctors as having it bad. Anyhow, I still say I hate my job more!
 
I love bitching about my job. It's perversely cathartic, because the more I bitch about it the more I realize that it's the way to go for me.

Besides that way I fit in better with my dark-cynical-ER veteran steretypic self-image rather than the happy-optimistic-still-just-a-resident personna I adopted earlier in my career.

Bah humbug!
 
Originally posted by LilyMD
But I do have a hard time understanding how the hours/stresses of residency can be used to define the profession post-residency...I could go through any amount of hell as long as I know it won't last forever/indefinitely and it is worth something in the end.
Click to expand...
I have a hard time understanding that too. It seems kind of like saying "don't go into the military! It's horrible, you'll hate it! Why? Well, because boot camp is so difficult!" Well, yeah... but boot camp ends at some point and then you have the entire rest of your career, which may be very enjoyable.

I also have a difficult understanding how dealing with sick/dying people can be used to establish at how difficult medicine is. Is it a surprise to anyone? I mean, I only go to the doctor/hospital when I'm sick. That's just my rule. So I would guess (not having been to med school) that doctors/hospitals work with sick people.
Click to expand...
You would think everyone does know that... but you have to do 500 hours of shadowing and volunteering to prove that you know it. 😉
 
I'm 28 and graduating this year...life is good.

However, I have a good friend who is turning 28 this year and is seriously contemplating another run at Med School. She's making decent money working for the state government, and is in a long-term relationship. She's even taking MCAT classes with PR (blah).

The thing I told her, and didn't realize when I started out, is just how much time I would be sinking into medicine. Honestly, I study ALL THE TIME now, even as a 4th year, because I feel there is so much I don't know. And as my MSIII girlfriend told me yesterday, we're going to be doing this for the rest of our lives. It will never end. And it doesn't get any better from preclinical to clinical years...in fact, during busy rotations, it's much much worse. You have to work AND find time to study. :laugh:

I would do med school again....but I gave up a lot to get here. Ahh...back to sitting on my butt during my Rads rotation!:clap:
 
Medicine is full of desperate people. We already have enough people in this field who couldn't make it anywhere else or were unhappy with their life and thought that getting an MD degree would bring them immediate joy and relief. Well guess what? It doesn't. I recommend that you tell your friend to keep her federal job and get a hobby instead of applying to med school.

We need more thinkers in this profession, not losers.
 
You know one important thing I draw from this discussion? Life isn't easy, whatever path you take.

I suppose many people entering medical school expect it to be some glorious sent-from-on-high profession, but it's imperfect...like all the rest. "M.D." doesn't equal happiness, contentment, or an easy life!

It is worthwhile, though. How many people get the privilege to experience going through the ups and downs (the bad and good) of medical school and residency? Not many. You only live once, people. I, for one, don't want to waste my young years as a Dilbert with little to show for my work.

By the way, how can anyone really KNOW what medicine is like until one goes through medical school and residency? Is that honestly possible?
 
Originally posted by DrKnowItAll
Medicine is full of desperate people. We already have enough people in this field who couldn't make it anywhere else or were unhappy with their life and thought that getting an MD degree would bring them immediate joy and relief. Well guess what? It doesn't. I recommend that you tell your friend to keep her federal job and get a hobby instead of applying to med school.

We need more thinkers in this profession, not losers.
Click to expand...


Losers?

Ironic.
 
Any one who thinks that medicine is all glory and warm fuzzies, without its own parts that suck is incredibly niave. This is why I think older students tend to make better (or more content medical students... they have worked enough in the real world to know that there are goods and bads of everyting.)

Part of the reason that being an MD is such a long path is not only the vast amount of knowledge that has to be learned but because individuals are placing their entire lives in your hands. And I don't just mean the dramatic life or death. Their lives are in their doctors hands because health affects *all* aspects of thier lives.

This is where the reward comes in. There are lots of bad things as well. but the good parts definately outweigh the bad for me.
 
Well, 3 episodes of ESPN's "Dream Job" are in the books, and I still say I wouldn't have been cut by this point (though you gotta have a soft spot for Quigs). Man, what am I doing wasting away in internship???


I need to revisit this "Bad Dream Job" idea from early in this thread. How do we get this thing off the ground? This NEEDS to be the next reality series....who's with me? I've already thought of a twist for season two: instead of taking strangers off the streets, we take our most irritating/nagging/pain-in-the-ass patients and hand them the pagers for a night. This is must-see tv! I'm gonna go try to call FOX right now😀
 
Originally posted by dakotaman
By the way, how can anyone really KNOW what medicine is like until one goes through medical school and residency? Is that honestly possible?
Click to expand...

Good one. I think those who were RNs/EMTs/PTs, etc. might have some idea, but don't get the entire taste until they experience it.

As to DrKnowItAll;

"He who knows not, and knows not he knows not is a fool; shun him" - William Osler
 
Originally posted by DrKnowItAll
Being a physician is a unique privilege. But after a while, for most people, it becomes just a job with the bottom line being how much you deposit in your account at the end of the month.

Let's bear in mind that you don't have to be smart or intelligent to be a physician. The really smart ones become nuclear physicists and mathematicians.

Click to expand...

I agree 100% with DrKnowItAll..:clap:

I also agree with Roja that older students tend to be more "commited" to Medicine
 
Originally posted by edinOH
Losers?

Ironic.
Click to expand...

Dear edinOH,

This is actually not ironic at all. I have much more respect for the starving artist who followed his passion than the wealthy physician who followed his daddy's footsteps.

There are very few in medicine today that truly respect or understand the value and purpose of the profession. The rest are plain old losers with hazy motives.
 
Originally posted by DrKnowItAll
Dear edinOH,

This is actually not ironic at all. I have much more respect for the starving artist who followed his passion than the wealthy physician who followed his daddy's footsteps.

There are very few in medicine today that truly respect or understand the value and purpose of the profession. The rest are plain old losers with hazy motives.
Click to expand...

You must be fun to work with.
 
No regrets whatsoever. I'm almost done with medschool, and I think it was the best decision I ever made. I see my friends in other careers and they don't really seem to excited about what they do. I honestly think that medicine is one of the best careers out there. Its intellectually challenging, rewarding, well-regarded and well-compensated.
 
Originally posted by roja

Part of the reason that being an MD is such a long path is not only the vast amount of knowledge that has to be learned but because individuals are placing their entire lives in your hands.
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but the main reason is that being a doctor is 2 things:
1) Being able to do the procedures necessary for your specialty and
2) Being able to make the decisions necessary for your specialty.

Those procedures, and those decisions, only come around every so often, so to get a sufficient number of them that you're competent to do what you're really paid to do, it takes 7-11 years post-college training. It isn't that being a doctor is particularly difficult, it just takes a long time to gain the necessary experience to be one.
 
Originally posted by Oneuro
Its intellectually challenging,
Click to expand...

How is Medicine intellectually challenging?

Scientific research (aka PhD programs/careers) might be, but medicine? I think the only thing that medicine might challenge is our Limbic System.

The practice of Medicine relies heavily on one's PRACTICAL medical knowlegde and EXPERIENCE in order to make sound clinical judgements to solve relatively common/known problems. This is why we have residency.

Scientific research on the other hand relies on one's KNOWLEDGE, INTELLECTUAL CREATIVITY and IMAGINATION to solve relatively unkown problems.

The use of intellectual creativity and imagination in medicine will risk openning the door for our good friends, the lawyers.
 
Originally posted by edinOH
You must be fun to work with.
Click to expand...

Well, two of my very good friends now are residents I met last year as a med student, I performed at a local Jazz club with one of the neurosurg attandings who is a very accomplished pianist, and my girlfriend tells me that I am an animal in bed.

So yeah, I think most people think I'm a fun person to be around.

By the same token, if you are a dork you're most likely not going to like me.

😎
 
Originally posted by DrKnowItAll
There are very few in medicine today that truly respect or understand the value and purpose of the profession. The rest are plain old losers with hazy motives.
Click to expand...

By the same token, if you are a dork you're most likely not going to like me.
Click to expand...

Actually, I don't think that's what he meant when he said you were fun to work with. You see, when you suggest most of us (other than an elite few who understand the value and purpose of the profession) are plain old loser with hazy motives, we are fairly justified in thinking it would be unpleasant to work with you, despite what your girlfriend, and of all things a neurosurgeon, think.

So for all us dorks, plain old losers with hazy motives, and non-neurosurgery wannabes, we just wanted to let you know we most likely aren't going to like you. But I've been surprised before.
 
Originally posted by Desperado
Actually, I don't think that's what he meant when he said you were fun to work with. You see, when you suggest most of us (other than an elite few who understand the value and purpose of the profession) are plain old loser with hazy motives, we are fairly justified in thinking it would be unpleasant to work with you, despite what your girlfriend, and of all things a neurosurgeon, think.

So for all us dorks, plain old losers with hazy motives, and non-neurosurgery wannabes, we just wanted to let you know we most likely aren't going to like you. But I've been surprised before.
Click to expand...

'zactly.
 
I frequented this site during the application and acceptance process. I am now a second-year medical student. I have debated for some time on whether or not to post my feelings on this site. Flame away if you must, I really don't give a $hit. This is an honest depiction of my feelings and describes well what I have gone through during the last 1.5 years of my life. Well, here goes...

First of all, let me say that regret doesn't even begin to describe my feelings about medicine. I did all the standard application crap, including research and volunteering. I didn't particularly care for my volunteer experiences in medicine, but simply brushed it off as "I just don't like x specialty, I'll find something else." I studied hard, did well on the MCAT, and sent my application through cyberspace to my top-choice schools.

The day I received my acceptance letter to my first-choice school was, what I thought at the time, the best day of my life. I geared up for medical school, found housing, bought books and enjoyed the summer prior to starting.

Fast-forward to mid first-year. The initial feelings that have revealed themselves fully within the last few months started creeping in like a fox in the shadows. I knew something wasn't right, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I had done well on some tests, and not so well on others. I stopped going to class. I didn't study. The fox reared it's head more and more with each passing day. I was miserable. I hated gross anatomy with a passion that I have never experienced. Everything about it began to piss me off. Medial to this, lateral to that. Who gives a $hit? It certainly wasn't me. This hate eventually spread over into biochemistry, neuroscience, and histology. Histology - all of it looked the same to me. Pink and purple. What was once a love for the sciences had turned into a force-feeding to the point of emesis.

I was clinically depressed and I didn't seek treatment. I continued with my daily routine of not studying except at the last minute for exams. At this point, all I cared about was passing. Just get me through the semester. After this semester surely things will get better. I'm just going through an adjustment period. I told myself all that bull$hit day after day. Well, the semester ended and I passed all of my classes.

After the holiday break I was refreshed, no longer depressed and ready to start again. I knew I had to do some things differently because I wasn't about to go through that $hit a second time. I went to every class. I studied harder and longer. I studied every day with a few off days now and then. My grades improved. I knew they should be higher, but I was happier now than I was last semester and I wasn't about to get greedy. But, something was missing. I wasn't interested in my classes. This was a first - throughout my four years of college I devoured every piece of information like a starving child. Physiology, psych, embryology, it didn't matter I didn't like any of it. My classmates would talk about , for example, how much they liked cardiac phys and that they were now thinking of cardiology. $hit, nothing was clicking for me. When asked what field I was considering, I would reply "family medicine" or "internal medicine."

This was when I seriously began to ponder my decision to enter medicine. Again though, I brushed it off as boredom with the basic science years. Surely I would enjoy my classes and have genuine interest next year when it really counted. The semester ended, my grades were marginally better, and all I wanted to do was to get the hell away from medical school and enjoy the summer.

I partied hard for the first half of my summer break and then it was time to start my summer family medicine clinical experience. I was really excited - after all, I was going to get to see what it's really like to be a doctor on a daily basis for a month. I saw patients, looked at charts, and went through the motions. I really didn't know what I was doing. I wore my stethoscope and carried my instruments but we hadn't had physical diagnosis or instrument training yet. I got to suture, I did pelvic exams, I did prostate exams. The first week was OK. By Monday morning of the second week I was already tired of rounding on patients at 0700, seeing patients in the clinic all day, rounding again at 1700 and finally getting home by 1900. Twas a twelve hour day for me, but the doc didn't go home when I did. They were his patients, and he had to shore stuff up. On multiple occasions I would arrive at the hospital a little early to meet up with the doc only to find him looking like a truck had hit him. "What time did you get here" I would ask. "I was called in at 0400 with patient X". I always hated those days because I knew he was going to be a grouch for the next 12 hours of my life.

After the second week of my clinical experience, I began to look forward to the very last day. I couldn't wait for it to end. I didn't like sticking my fingers into patients. I didn't like doing an abdominal exam. I didn't like checking reflexes. The really, really sick patients depressed me.

At this point, I was getting really concerned that I had made the wrong decision to go to medical school. I learned that I didn't really like to see patients. I started to think about specialties that had minimum patient contact.

Second year started and I thought I'd give it one more shot. I started studying at the library. I set a very rigid schedule and stuck to it. My grades were higher than they ever had been. I got all A's and one B first semester. We started to see patients here on campus which only solidified my feelings that patients were not for me. That's some $hit, huh? Here I am in medical school and I don't like seeing patients. What the hell have I gotten myself into? Setting out on my quest to find a specialty that had minumum patient contact I began to talk to physicians in various fields.

Fast-forward to the present. I haven't started my clinical years but while all of my classmates can't wait to get started, I am dreading it like never before. I honestly don't know how I'm going to get through them. Long hours of bull$hit that I care nothing about. Let's face it, there is no specialty for me. More in the next paragraph.

I have decided that medicine is not for me and that sly ole fox that reared it's head during my first year was giving me a message. I hate everything about it. Most of all I hate the long hours, long hours that are going to be with me the rest of my life. I hate reading about drugs, compliance studies, and new treatment options. I hate the thought of carrying a pager and being tied down. I hate the thought of being uber-responsible for the outcome of a patient.

I am ready to quit. However, I am going to take Step I since it is only a few months away. Pass or fail that's it. One shot. I'm going to study but not like my other classmates. If I can get that passing score I am going to try to endure the 3rd year. I won't be directly responsible for the patient care as a JSM. If I fail I'm done. No skin off my back as I am not going to enter a residency anyway. That is a guarantee. I hear that 4th year is a vacation. Let's hope so because I really do need one. If I do end up finishing I'm sure I will be able to use an MD degree to some advantage possibly as a back-up plan. What that advantage may be doesn't concern me right now.

What I have learned during my medical school experience (mostly for pre-meds):

1. If you are considering this as a career, please be relatively certain that this is want you really want to do. If there is something else you would rather do with your life then DO IT. This is both for your benefit and the benefit of your patients. I am not worried about messing up with patients because I am not going to enter residency.
2. Life is too short to do something every day that you are not happy with.
3. Medicine is not the way to make the most money efficiently. If you want money, consider something business related.
4. Medicine requires working long hours. Look up the average number of hours worked per specialty in a well-respected medical journal for proof.
5. Medicine is not like TV. It's not like ER. It's not like Scrubs.
6. If I had it to do over again...well, I bet you can answer this one yourself.

I'm out.
 
Hoo\/er, that was a very courageous and forthright post. All I can say is that many silently echo your sentiments but continue to soldier on. Your story sounds exactly like Michael Crichton's lifestory (creator of ER, Jurassic Park etc), in a book called "Travels." The first ~70 pages of this book describes how he hated med school and knew he would never go on to residency. You don't even need to buy the book - next time you're at Barnes & Noble skim it and I guarantee you won't be able to put it down. It describes your feelings to a tee. Please read it for advice. If it's any consolation, Step 1 doesn't emphasize anatomy, embryo, histo and focuses on 2nd yr stuff. Good luck with your decisions. I won't even attempt to tell you what to do!
 
Originally posted by ParisHilton
Hoo\/er, that was a very courageous and forthright post.
Click to expand...

I Agree, and I respect your honesty. I myself have "seen" that little fox you talk about, and many students I met did also.

For me the "fox" appeared at the start of my MS3, when the practice of "Medicine" revealed its true colors. I went into Medicine for a combination of 2 reasons:

1) I love Science-Biology in particular
2) I love helping people who need help

Well, I loved my first 2 years of medical school (since I like science), but things started changing a little now at MS3.

Why?

1) Well, I found out that medicine is not really a science, but more like a practice. A practice that is more based on ones experience in the field rather than pure science-Most of the Attendings I met do not really know/or rather care less about the details of the pathophysiology of many diseases, details that can be simply found if they cared to open up a Robbins.

2) For me, Medicine is not really intellectually challenging. It is mainly based on the ability to memorize and put together large amounts of information and then be able to recall that information when needed (Pattern Recognition). Clinical judgements and treatment are more based on experience and strict protocols, rather than creativity and Immagination.

3) As for helping people, well, a doctor is more like a server than a helper. Most of the patients I met were demanding and sometimes abusive. Some do not even want to be helped and demand that the doctor stay away from their health affairs?!!! Most patients I met fit the following mentallity: I pay you (to take care of me) so I own you. Oh well, this just dampens my enthusiasm a little, but I still want and like to help people who need my help.

Sorry for the long post, I just felt like venting after reading Hoover's post. As for regret, well, I wish I knew what medicine was really like before going to school, but I do not have any strong regrets. I will regret it however if I will just be working as a physician - I need that PhD to spice my career and stimulate my curious mind a little.

Peace
 
Originally posted by DrKnowItAll
Dear edinOH,

This is actually not ironic at all. I have much more respect for the starving artist who followed his passion than the wealthy physician who followed his daddy's footsteps.

There are very few in medicine today that truly respect or understand the value and purpose of the profession. The rest are plain old losers with hazy motives.
Click to expand...

that is soooooo true. I see it a lot too. Medicine is not how it suposed to be anymore. It's like you live to make money and not let yourself to loose any malpractise lawsuits,....and where is the "helping -peaole" idea...? I think that schools should look at something more besides just your grades and mcat scores...passion for this job is very important and a lot people who get in lack it completely.
 
I'm glad to hear that some med students are actually willing to rip away the veneer of denial and machismo that seem to accompany medical personell and admit there are many things they are not happy with.

Denial and machismo are actually helpful getting you through more difficult times ('I LOVE my job' or 'I'm INVULNERABLE, I can work 110 hours' can actually pull you through the day sometimes), which is why these themes are cultivated in medicine, but they can get in the way if you're doing something you really don't enjoy. I know a lot of med students, now doctors, who probably would be much happier doing something else but because of pride they LOVED medicine so much they'd never quit.

Unfortunately for us (and Hoover) it's hard to tell between an actual dislike of medicine and a dislike of medical school/residency. For many people it's just a phase, for others the malaise never ends and they should probably move on.

Also remember being a low-ranking med student is way different from being an attending. Attendings can have some pretty cush positions and work very few hours/week. (esp these days, many radiologists, EM docs, opthmologists, etc, work 20 hours a week and still make 6 figures)

Hoover, I hope you pass Step I and stick it out. An MD itself is almost as good as a PhD for research/academics (you'd have to do a post-doc afterwards, just like any PhD), or can get you consulting jobs, and is also just a great life-skill. Maybe you'll even find a specialty that you'd love (consider Pathology, Medical Genetics, Radiology or other non-patient care specialties)
 
I know how you feel and I have been there. Do what you must. I decided to finish residency. I feel that my situation is pretty good overall. Right now I am a part time cop and a full time doctor. I plan on transitioning into a full time law enforcement career and practicing medicine part time (12-24 hours per week, urgent care shifts only) within the next year. Urgent care is difficult high-volume medicine and the patients can be very demanding, but the liability is not too bad and I can tolerate anything for 1 to 2 days a week. The supplemental income will be much needed with my career change, and the difficult work is worth the extra money in my opinion. I can also keep my medical skills sharp so that if I serve my agency as an SRT (SWAT) member one day, I can also be available for medical support. Even if you do not go to residency, you will be extremely marketable with the MD. One guy in my class was a registered pharmacist, went to med school, decided not to practice medicine or go to residency, and now has a top notch position as a pharmacist at a major hospital in my area. Just hang in there and be honest with yourself about your strengths/weaknesses/passions when you choose your final career path.
 
Originally posted by LilyMD
Where's this going?

No, I HATE my job more!
No, my job is much WORSE!
Well, I Hate my job infiniti!
Click to expand...

Lol. Touche'. But seriously, I do think boredom is a BIG factor in job selection. I crossed out numerous specialties because they spent so much time during the day sitting around. I much prefer to be busy for short bursts of time than not-busy for long periods of time.

I feel really bad for Hoover, I've made some bad decisions in my life, but none that big. But think of it this way Hoov, getting out after 4 years ain't bad at all. For numerous specialists (GI, CARDS, CT Surg) You're only 1/3 in! At least you figured out that you hated it early. BTW, I disagree with those who recommend sticking it out. If you know you don't like it, go find something you do like. Just be damn sure you don't like it, because that door doesn't reopen easily.
 
No job is stimulating and challenging all the time. Ask a PhD how much they love spending 80% of their time grant-writing and attending department meetings. Those smart attorneys are certainly not challenging themselves as they spend hour after hour translating simple ideas into long, boring legal documents. My artist friends are not feeling the highs of maximum creativity as they beg for grant support or exhibit space. It ain't just medicine. If you can find a specialty that allows you an hour or two a day of challenging, satisfying work, then you are still better off than 99% of workers. I hate writing discharge summaries but am learning to basically zone out and get it done so that I can enjoy debating an interesting patient presentation at rounds or sit and enjoy talking with the one in three patients that I feel some connection to. This life aint so bad. The hours really do suck but that part will get a little better as time goes on.

I respect that knowitall doesn't hold docs up as smarter than everyone else, but if he thinks those other professions are really any different, he's delusional. Yeah some brilliant people out there in science and business and all the rest can make your average doctor look like a *****. But there are brilliant docs out there that make your average state u PhD or banker look dumb too.
 
Originally posted by Desperado
Actually, I don't think that's what he meant when he said you were fun to work with. You see, when you suggest most of us (other than an elite few who understand the value and purpose of the profession) are plain old loser with hazy motives, we are fairly justified in thinking it would be unpleasant to work with you, despite what your girlfriend, and of all things a neurosurgeon, think.
Click to expand...

Let?s face it, it is the ?elite? group who?s doing all the work. The rest of us are nothing but foot soldiers following algorithms and flowcharts.

In reality, this concept applies to all facets of society. You have the few who lead and create and the rest who follow in their suits, uniforms, white coats, and SUV?s.
 
DrKnowItAll said:
Let?s face it, it is the ?elite? group who?s doing all the work. The rest of us are nothing but foot soldiers following algorithms and flowcharts.

In reality, this concept applies to all facets of society. You have the few who lead and create and the rest who follow in their suits, uniforms, white coats, and SUV?s.
Click to expand...
...someone's been reading Ayn Rand 😉
 
Not done yet...have got 10 more months to go. But I have absolutely no regrets!
 
mcgillmed said:
My senior resident and I had a moment the other night while we were on call that kind of summarized what a life in medicine is all about. It was about 11 pm and we had not eaten dinner yet (or lunch, for that matter). Of course the crappy cafeteria in our hospital was closed, so we made our way up to the resident's room between consults and found a few boxes of food in the refrigerator. It was 2-day old cafeteria food, which we proceeded to eat cold out of the box with plastic silverware. As we were eating, we both looked at each other and started laughing at the comedy of the situation. He asked me "What do you think people on the street would think if they could see us now?" I replied "That maybe medicine isn't all that glamorous after all. But I couldn't see myself doing anything else."
Click to expand...

Ah, we've all been there. 🙂 During my Surgery rotation, the hospital's cafeteria closed at 7 pm (no idea why so early), so many times we'd have to go without dinner. When it was busy, and we had no time (nor money), peanuts or gummi bears from the vending machine were all we had to tide us over until breakfast.

I also think that I'm hesitant to recommend med school to friends/acquaintances. Not quite sure why...I do think that you have to have a real passion for it, and be self-motivated, because sometimes that's all you have to push you when you're dead tired, it's 3 am, and you have 3-4 pending admissions.
 
I have found that people who got into med school straight out of college might be a little unhappier. My friends who applied several times, like myself, or who came from another career, or who traveled came into med school more focused and enjoyed it more and are happier. I have been an intern for only 2 weeks now, but love it. I am used to not having much free time. This is what I wanted to do ever since working as a nurse aide 7-8 years ago. It is the coolest job in the world. ask me this question in february after I have gotten my ass beaten down, but I think it will be the same answer.
 
Absolutely none.

I was in engineering school as an undergrad and made the decision to enter medicine. At one point I had almost given it up. I'm so glad I didn't.

Right now I'm in my fourth year of residency in otolaryngology, am married (x 10 years), 3 kids, getting ready to sign up for 2 years of fellowship in neurotology/skull base surgery. My kids actually know who I am and we spend a lot of time together. Today we went swimming and to martial arts class.

What am I going to do for a living?

Drill into people's skulls, take out acoustic neuromas, take deaf people and give them hearing with cochlear implants, crack open people's lower skulls and cut their necks open to remove malignant tumors, reanimate paralyzed faces, decompress facial nerves back to the brainstem, put electrodes into cochlear nuclei in the brainstem, drill out congenital ear atresia, remove parotid glands, etc.

Unbelievable.

What a trip.

And I'm going to work 4 days a week.

And not have to worry about money.

For the right person and for the right reasons, it's the best career imaginable. Do it for the wrong reasons, and find out how ill-fitted it is. Sometimes a mismatch will happen...that's OK, move on, do something else. It happens sometimes.
 
ent_doc said:
...put electrodes into cochlear nuclei in the brainstem...
Click to expand...

d00d...

Congrats on the fellowship. I still haven't decided; there's just too much stuff out there to decide on at this point.
 
amoxicillin said:
if yes...why? If no....why?
Click to expand...

you couldnt pay me enough money in the world to choose this route again. the amount of bs, exams, kissing up to arrogant attendings and residents, and the steep debt i have had to deal with, while being stressed and miserbale the majority of the time, i definitely would NOT do this again, if given the choice.

that being said, now that I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, i think I will be comfortable and relatively happy. now that i am a 4th year, i think the worst and the toughest part is behind me.

residency will be challenging (no picnic of course), but i welcome it. i am relieved that the crappy basic science years and the spirit-crushing 3rd year is history.

just my opinion.
 
No regrets. Whenever I get frustrated I think about how much I hated my old job- works every time! :laugh:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top