How do you know being a doctor is right for you?

[kk123]

I've heard of people getting into medical school and then dropping out because it is not for them. I am discovering more and more physicians who said if given the choice, they would not choose this profession again. A lot of doctors are unhappy with their jobs.
I find this very scary! I shudder to think that I might invest so much time, money, and hard work only to find that I chose a profession which makes me miserable.
How does one know for sure becoming a doctor is the right decision?

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[allantois]

We are living in some pessimistic times.

I wonder what all those unhappy doctors would otherwise wanted to do with their lives
I mean they are not even burdened by huge debt! Plus there are so many things one can do with a medical degree, not just clinical medicine.

 

[deleted407021]

You never know you are really up to something until you try it. This means shadowing, and working in a clinic and dealing with patients and paperwork and administration and high expectations. Step into their shoes to the greatest possible extent. Exposure is how you know for sure if you want to be a doctor.

 

[Ismet]

I've heard of people getting into medical school and then dropping out because it is not for them. I am discovering more and more physicians who said if given the choice, they would not choose this profession again. A lot of doctors are unhappy with their jobs.
I find this very scary! I shudder to think that I might invest so much time, money, and hard work only to find that I chose a profession which makes me miserable.
How does one know for sure becoming a doctor is the right decision?

There's really no way to be 100% sure until you are actually in it. Shadowing helps to an extent, but unless you shadow the same doctor for days or weeks and really get an idea of what he/she does on a daily basis, you're not getting close to the full picture. The pre-med idea of medicine is usually far different from what a career in medicine actually entails, which is where people might falter when they realize it's not what they expected.

Basically, get as much clinical exposure and shadowing as you can. Talk to doctors. Some are cynical and pessimistic, just take it in stride. You'll find just as many who are happy and fulfilled with their job.

 

[WestCoastNative]

I've heard of people getting into medical school and then dropping out because it is not for them. I am discovering more and more physicians who said if given the choice, they would not choose this profession again. A lot of doctors are unhappy with their jobs.
I find this very scary! I shudder to think that I might invest so much time, money, and hard work only to find that I chose a profession which makes me miserable.
How does one know for sure becoming a doctor is the right decision?

$$$

 

[JBDoctor35]

Shadow doctors from different specialties and see if you could one day envision yourself doing what they do on a day to day basis. Get as much clinical exposure as you can, it won't hurt! For me personally, I knew I wanted to be a doctor because I want to help people and earn a good living for my family. Good luck with your future endeavors!

 

[karayaa]

a) Know medicine
b) Know other options
c) Know yourself

Make sure you get breadth of experience that exposes you to alternatives.
Identify your values and goals for the type of work you want to do, then explore the options that let you accomplish them.
Eg if you want to help people, consider teaching, fire service, medicine, other jobs in healthcare, mental health etc
If you love science, consider teaching, being a professor, research, science writing, etc
If you want to improve health, consider the myriad public health occupations, public policy, etc

As @Ismet said, there's no way you can know for sure, because it's impossible to know yourself completely, or know the profession completely, especially from the outside. You can approach it inductively, or deductively, but ultimately the most you can do is establish a high probability that it'll be a good fit.

 

[karayaa]

$$$

This sounds a bit naive.
You can certainly be comfortable as a doctor, especially if you don't make dumb financial decisions, but it's rare to make $$$ without leaving clinical practice (arguably walking away from "being a doctor") or being unethical.

 

[WestCoastNative]

This sounds a bit naive.
You can certainly be comfortable as a doctor, especially if you don't make dumb financial decisions, but it's rare to make $$$ without leaving clinical practice (arguably walking away from "being a doctor") or being unethical.

It was a joke. Obviously medical reimbursements aren't rising. I can't speak for any doctors, especially since I'm only an undergrad, but I believe that a lot of doctors expected more free time with higher pay checks (after all, reimbursements used to be a lot higher). I realized not too long ago that I have to pick one or the other. Medicine was always a "calling in life" type of career, but it seems like its becoming more and more true. Can you imagine yourself doing anything else in life and being happy? I personally can't.. I would treat it as a job and nothing else. I'd rather work 20 hours a week more and actually enjoy it instead of working 40/50 hours doing a JOB that I can't stand. In my opinion, that's the way you know if becoming a doctor is the right decision for you. Ask yourself if you would like to base your life on medicine. If you answered yes, awesome, you'll enjoy it.

 

[Pacna]

YOLO go to med school.

 

[Aerus]

The grass is always greener. All jobs have their bad sides.

 

[maxilofacial]

Meh.... there are a lot more dropouts in prestigious professions compared to med school dropouts.

When you shadow the physician, you should also ask about the non clinical side of medicine of them (paperwork, insurance companies, overall happiness). The soon you realize this, the soon you can make better choices earlier.

 

[ThisCouldBeYou]

* Have the stats to get in
* Have the ECs that get you to the interview: shadowing, clinical, non-clinical, research, leadership
* you do well on tests (med school has A LOT of tests)
* ready to commit a LONG amount of time towards this goal (while your peers progress in their careers)
* $$$
* you already know about the health issues/Obamacare today (not such a rosy picture for doctors)
* you really know what's involved (lots of stress. Rewards aren't until much, much later)
* more than anything, you really want to help people
* it's a lifetime commitment towards learning

 

[fellowstudent92]

If you have to ask, it's not for you.

 

[Aerus]

If you have to ask, it's not for you.

And if you don't ask (via shadowing and clinical exposure), you're not getting into medical school.

 

[fellowstudent92]

That's not what I meant by asking. I meant as in coming to an online message board and asking random strangers what indicators lead you to a career in medicine.

 

[Aerus]

That's not what I meant by asking. I meant as in coming to an online message board and asking random strangers what indicators lead you to a career in medicine.

Just as there are many doctors out there who thought they were going to love medicine but ended up hating it, there will be those who are going to be unsure if medicine is for them but end up loving it. Your original statement was just faulty on all premises.

 

[zeppelinpage4]

I've heard of people getting into medical school and then dropping out because it is not for them. I am discovering more and more physicians who said if given the choice, they would not choose this profession again. A lot of doctors are unhappy with their jobs.
I find this very scary! I shudder to think that I might invest so much time, money, and hard work only to find that I chose a profession which makes me miserable.
How does one know for sure becoming a doctor is the right decision?

My personal view..no one is truly sure.
But isn't that like anything in life? You enter a relationship hoping it works out, but there's no guarantees, you move to a new place or pick a school hoping you'll like it, but there's no guarantees.
Life is uncertain, best thing you can do is try to gather as much information as you can and make the most educated decision you can make, the rest is a leap of faith like anything else in life.

Shadow, volunteer, talk to doctors (and not just the miserable ones, but the happy ones too, they do exist), and think about what you would like to do and who you want to be in the future. If it seems like medicine will lead you to that, and you're willing to make some of the sacrifices, then go for it. There's always going to be a feeling of uncertainty, the trick is to reduce the uncertainty as much as you can before you make the decision.

I don't think this is an uncommon feeling, whether you're pre-med, a med student, a resident or even an attending. I felt uncertainty going in and I still do. On some really stressful days I wanted to quit and do something else. I also had a few rare good days with a nice patient or classmate, where I feel like this is where I fit and I may really get some fulfillment out of this. Other days, I'm just indifferent and going through the motions. I still don't know if I made the right choice to pursue medicine, only time will really tell, but I have some idea of what I might want to do in the future, and I am trying with the hopes that what I'm doing now can lead to that. No guarantees, but I'm trying.

 

[fellowstudent92]

Why the hell would you apply to med schools in the first place if you are "unsure" if medicine is right for you?

 

[Aerus]

Why the hell would you apply to med schools in the first place if you are "unsure" if medicine is right for you?

You need to calm down and read this whole thread. Nobody knows for sure if medicine is right for them. That is why we must try and test out our interest through clinical experience and shadowing. Nobody is saying apply to medical school when you have no idea if you want to go into medicine. But did OP say they already applied to medical school? No. They were simply asking how to tell if medicine is 100% meant for them and the answer is there is no way to know for sure.

 

[hoihaie]

read a variety of nonfiction books written by doctors (I suggest ones by Danielle Ofri, especially What Doctors Feel).

 

[Silent Cool]

Maybe you should consult Cosmopolitan magazine.

Submit a survey or something.

"Is this career The One?"

"How to find your best match."

You know, that kind of thing.

 

[kk123]

Thank you for the helpful posts!
I will hopefully be doing a lot more shadowing this year and I will be sure to ask the doctors questions about their career.
I know I definitely want to do something in medicine since my current job is medical and I can't imagine doing anything outside of the medical field. I have taken an extensive test assessing my skills, values, and talents to determine careers which would be best suited for me. I think the test was pretty accurate since my current job position showed up as one of the results and the likes/dislikes/duties/values of that job matched up pretty closely to reality. Physician was another result along with NP, PA, Veterinarian, nurse, CLS, and a few others.
I wish I could be 100% sure that pursuing a career as a physician is the right choice, but as many of you pointed out, it is not possible to be 100% certain.

 

[Goro]

It's a calling.

I've heard of people getting into medical school and then dropping out because it is not for them. I am discovering more and more physicians who said if given the choice, they would not choose this profession again. A lot of doctors are unhappy with their jobs.
I find this very scary! I shudder to think that I might invest so much time, money, and hard work only to find that I chose a profession which makes me miserable.
How does one know for sure becoming a doctor is the right decision?

 

[What's Up Doc]

Everyone freaks out about the percentage of docs who wish they would have chosen another career if they could go back and do it again, but I think that's probably just because there are no statistics across other careers about the same thing. I wouldn't be surprised if the vast majority of people in general would choose a different career if given the opportunity, and if those stats were available, I'm pretty sure ~50% of docs wishing they'd picked a different career would be far less intimidating.

 

[RTC19]

I think for many people, they just know. For others, they find that medicine is right for them through shadowing and volunteering.

Don't let the doctors who wish they hadn't gone into medicine scare you. Negative people are always the loudest.

 

[DermViser]

$$$

Those are exactly the ones who burn out.

 

[DermViser]

I've heard of people getting into medical school and then dropping out because it is not for them. I am discovering more and more physicians who said if given the choice, they would not choose this profession again. A lot of doctors are unhappy with their jobs.
I find this very scary! I shudder to think that I might invest so much time, money, and hard work only to find that I chose a profession which makes me miserable.
How does one know for sure becoming a doctor is the right decision?

Simple. You do actual, REAL, volunteering and extracurricular activities that show the real side of medicine.

 

[NickNaylor]

I didn't become truly sure until the end of third year. Perhaps residency will change my view a bit, but no matter how much shadowing or any other activity you do it's impossible to get the feel of things until you do it yourself. If you're honest with yourself and are going into it for the right reasons, you'll likely be satisfied. The people that become unhappy are those who do it for the perceived benefits and then get slapped with reality.

 

[DubVille]

There is no way to really know, and by the time you have some true sense of what it's really like you are in too deep to realistically back out. That doesn't mean I regret it, but I found the people from my class that came thinking it was purely a "calling" were the most disappointed by the reality. Just try to break it down: do you like bio sciences? Do you want the opportunity to be helping or harming people based on your decisions? Do you like talking to people? Do you like filling out redundant paperwork? Do you like long unpredictable hours? Do you need a career with a stable job market (generally)? Depending on practice do you want to carry around a pager after the workday? Do you want to continue to read and learn throughout your career? Are you okay being shat on until you are an attending? Is 250k debt cool with you? Do you like shouldering the responsibility for others and generally being the "boss" when things are good/bad? Do you want the opportunity to prolong (sometimes save) life? Can you mentally handle losing people, and usually the ones who seemingly deserve death the least? Can you look past the fact that many healthcare "superusers" take up most of your time and are generally deplorable people? Do you enjoy spending a lot of your time dealing purely with social work issues?

I would still do it again, but I went into a lifestyle friendly field. I am still fascinated by the clinical presentation of diseases etc, but there are plenty of times I wish I taught high school science, or was a golf pro/teacher, etc. I came in having a relatively realistic view, but still knew very little of what being a doctor is really about. My mom worked for an internist and had a daughter in residency so I was able to see those aspects. I also worked with forensic pathologists for over a year full time and these are luxuries most don't have.

I also think a lot of doctors are whiners, but it is very hard to get a sense of the job from the outside looking in.