I am a 4th year US student applying in Psychiatry. I have had much struggle facing the medical and lay world about my decision. I have physicians, people who I have looked up to for years, telling me it's a waste of my education. I have one of the deans of my medical school very disappointed because I should be using my high board scores for something more "challenging."
I love psychiatry and know this is what I should be doing with my life, but I can't help but get pissed when people constantly put my decision down. Does anyone have any advise on how to deal with these people who think I'm wasting my life and I'm not going to be a "real doctor" (I love you Mom, but even if I just sat at home on my butt, I would still be a "real doctor")?
Thanks,
Mike
I always find it kind of surprising when I see posts like this. I can honestly say that I have received almost universal support from everyone regarding my decision to pursue psychiatry. I seriously considered surgery and other specialties to a lesser degree, and folks seemed just generally supportive.
In my hospital now (I'm a PGY-III), I have no one questioning my decision, but did have medical attendings ask me to stay on after I finished my medicine rotations. They would jokingly state that I'd make a better internist than a psychiatrist. I told them that the thought of dealing with cellulitis, DM, HTN, CHF, PNA and dehydration/electrolyte imbalances all day would make me crazy.
On the consult service, I would get about (excluding the ER) 4/5 of my consults from medicine floors, which included PM&R, Hospice, detox, and CCU/ICU. The remaining would come from surgery. They were all more than happy to have the expertise in handling a difficult patient, or provide some treatment guidelines for an obviously depressed or severely anxious/ocd/delusional/manic patient. Not once has someone told me I'm not a "real doctor."
I teach medical students every month on the inpatient unit. I teach them medicine, how to conduct physical exams, draw blood, catheterize, start IVs, perform detailed neurological exams, and of course, lots of psychiatry. Their response has also been positive, and is positive in their written feedback. Not infrequently, they tell me that there was a surprising amount of medicine on the rotation, and that they loved the interaction and interface between the two. No medical student (of course) ever told me I wasn't a "real doctor."
I have clinic outpatients, high-functioning inpatients, low-functioning inpatients, chronics, frequent flyers, and everything in between. Sometimes they hate me for what I make them do, or for the treatment they don't want. But they never say I'm not a "real doctor." When a geriatric depressed lady develops abdominal pain, vomits, and I get her a KUB and start fluids and an NG tube while I wait for a transfer to a medical floor (all of which are full), she doesn't say I'm not a "real doctor."
I have graduated from medical school like thousands before me. Not at the top, not at the bottom...somewhere in between. People who performed better than me went into family practice and peds. People who performed worse than me went into surgery and IM. Does this make me "not a real doctor?"
I will make more money than the average pediatrician or even internist, less money than the average cardiologist. Yet, they do similar things, and virtually no one asserts that they are not "medical doctors." By this virtue, money must not be the argument.
I have a medical school diploma somewhere in my apartment, I can order tests, perform minor surgeries, write prescriptions for most any medication based on my own clinical interpretation of their clinical condition for whatever disease they may have. I can interpret x-rays, CT scans, MRIs, perform TMS, VNS, ECT, and draw blood and look at the smear under a slide if I so choose; I can tell a patient what to do and think, and they will most likely do what I say because I'm "the doctor." I do this not out of power or influence, but for the betterment of the patient - to alleviate their suffering.
I get thank-you cards, bottles of wine, homemade food, and baseball tickets from patients that insist I take them. They feel better, or their family member feels better, or is no longer sick. They seem to think I'm a "real doctor." I'll take call and see sick patients who can no longer cope. I might have to drive into a hospital in the middle of the night to take care of that patient. I'll also get a phone call from a patient while I'm relaxing on a beach next to my summer house. Either way, the patient will be helped.
Iatro in Greek means "physician."
Psyche in Greek means "principle of mind, soul, life."
Therefore I am a physician that specializes in the mind, the soul, of life. Who am I to argue with ancient Greeks?
In other words, I am a "real doctor."