I have a simple question for all you nontrads who have been through it - is it all worth it?
Dr Michael Debakey lived to be 99 and worked until the day he died. You have to do something in life so why not choose something for which you have passion? So trite but so true: age is but a number.
You can be a Debakey MD or be a persona non grata, MD. That's all on you.
I could have graduated with my MD 2 years ago but I postponed it to pick up an MBA because I saw the landscape for what it is: business. There are so many friggin opportunities out there that it is staggering. The adage applies: if you build it they will come.
I've got offers coming at me left and right from various sectors in clinical, academic and business settings. My marketability is astronomical compared to my previous life of 9 years clinical setting, and 11 years in biotech industry making a 6 figure income. All worth it. No regrets. none.
Medicine seems that it will be challenging, rewarding, and so, so interesting. However, I'm disheartened with some stats I've heard that only 1/2 of doctors today would 'do it all over' if they could.
half of marriages end up in divorce. Does that stop people from getting married?
God if only they stopped getting married and fixed themselves first! Same applies to aspiring physicians.
I have a very rosy view of medicine, especially having been on the other side, and seeing the ins and outs of a very different type of job in marketing / business development.
Others have stated the obvious: until you get in the trenches, you won't know so why are you wasting time on these boards asking questions that only you can answer by getting your hands dirty?
Quit your job, take the Pre-Med courses and prepare for the MCAT, take a job at a hospital as a janitor during the graveyard shift, get to know people and if you like the environment, start introducing yourself to people in the hospital in the clinical setting. You say you have a rosey picture of medicine. It will fade fast or become more colorful once you taste medicine.
"Taste and see!" it is very applicable here.
There's nothing like having a patient grab your throat with his hands as you are transferring him from an ER stretcher and onto an OR table, preparing him for emergency surgery due to an MVA while DUI. I will never forget the rush, the thrill and the fear...all at once. Or have blood splash all over your OR room and duck because a hose bust on a pump. Nothing can replicate the fear of death after having a dirty needle stick. Talk about panic...in the days before PCR viral load tests. HIV meds are not fun but I can tell HIV positive patients now that I get a sense of what those meds do to them. It totally changed my attitude towards AIDS patients and HIV patients. Business was fun and working a room was a blast. But they pale compared to turning off a heart lung bypass pump machine as instructed by a CT surgeon, that is keeping a pediatric patient alive, and the quietly sobbing in the hallway (with the surgeon) away from the family.
You can't get those "highs" in business. I got paid really well, more than most primary care physicians, and yet....I wanted the MD. I'm damn glad I am where I am.
It just doesn't get any better than this.
I'm 29, and I'd like to know what sorts of sacrifices you have given up in order to fulfill this dream? I'm willing to sacrifice a lot, but I'd like to know, was it worth it? If it was not, why? Would you choose something else?
The Catholic Church won't let people like me be priests so it's medicine. I have asked my pastor if there is a chance I might be allowed to be a Deacon one day but Pope Francis is still mulling that over. My husband is all for it.
Never lose kindness and politeness. You'd be surprised how far you can get with people of influence by just being kind and engaging. Some examples of where being un-kind yet having an MD cost Residents/Attendings dearly:
I've seen Residents arrested, taken out of the hospital and thrown into a police car, then see their mug shot on TV. I witnessed a PD get into a fist fight with a Resident, both were kicked out, but the PD was hired a month later at the higher paying hospital for more money, where as the Resident was SOL. I've seen Attendings fired from hospitals where they were once "king" (in their minds) and reduced to slime mold at a no name hospital. I've seen US Marshalls show up at a private clinic and arrest everyone, and eventually see the physicians names (plural) published in the local paper ....not in a good way. Or the former surgical resident, turned Chief Surgical Resident, turned Surgical Oncology Fellow, turned Surgical Oncologist Attending, thoroughly alienate an entire conference room full of senior, experienced, important Surgical Oncology Attendings during Tumor Boards in his first few months of employment, and become persona non grata in less than 1 hour's time. I had known this person as a surgical resident and watched with pride as he moved up the chain. After the tumor board meeting where he was excoriated, I told him: "congratulations, you have successfully become the Attending you hated when you were a Resident" and I walked away. His life was miserable at his cancer center by his own hand. He didn't last a year.
Don't feel sorry for any of the physicians who are "miserable" or have "regrets". Do you feel sorry for half of the marriages who end up in divorce? We all choose our own paths.
There are good physicians. There are bad physicians. Choose your path.
