A Passion for Medicine - I don't like passionate people

[EdLongshanks]

One of the shibboleths of pre-med is that you must be "passionate about medicine". I know what people mean. So many young people go into medicine right out of college and find out that they really don't like working with patients, or dealing with insurance, or ....

The medical schools know that they are the bottle-neck that is maintaining a scarcity of doctors, so the adcomms want to make sure that every doctor that they admit and graduate will remain a practicing doctor for decades. Therefore they want to admit student who both know what they are getting into and want to do so "passionately." In order to get into the school the prospective student must convince the adcomms of her "passion".

But I really doubt that very many of us are passionate people. Passionate people make bad friends, horrible spouses, terrible parents and frankly, not good doctors.

Several years ago, I did go through a "passionate" phase in my life. I hung around anti-abortion people and attended a few rallies. Let me tell you, that movement knows how to work you up. You come away from a rally like that with visions of a holocaust and a desire to be the Corrie Ten Boom of your little slice of earth. Although I never really joined that particular movement, I did become involved in politics and even served as a low-ranking official at a few different levels. I met many passionate people - some of them household names - and, let me tell you, they aren't good people. In the last presidential election I knew a few of the candidates personally, and the ones that I supported were, in fact, the least passionate of the bunch. I know one US Senator, for instance, who, although I agree with every position that he has ever taken, I would avoid another conversation with him like the plague.

Passion is overrated and determination is "misunderestimated". Anthropology tells us that primitive man has a great physical advantage over all other animals: he is the best walker. About any tetrapod can outrun man, but nothing makes tracks like humans on a walkabout.

Oh passion burns hot at 9 pm in the evening when telling all of your friends about medicine, but it cools over-night and is a weak motivator at 6 am the next morning when it is time to get up and study.

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[akinetopsia]

Passion does not necessarily mean you are a zealot or fanatical about something to where you will alienate other people.

I guess it depends on how you interpret it. Personally, I interpret passion as having strong enthusiasm for something. Can it be obnoxious? Sure.

But I really doubt that very many of us are passionate people. Passionate people make bad friends, horrible spouses, terrible parents and frankly, not good doctors.

I disagree with this statement. It is too blanket, and too broad to be accurate, IMO. A lot of people are passionate about different areas in their life, what you are talking about and implying seems more indicative of an obsession. An obsession takes up a person's attention, where frequently other aspects of their life and relationships can be ignored.

Also, there is definitely an emotional component/excitement related to having passion for something, which I think is fine, but passion needs to be tempered with open-mindedness and rational thought, in most of the contexts you list: friend, spouse, parents, and doctor.

Would you want a friend/spouse/parent/doctor that was very passionate in their decision-making? How about one that completely based their decision-making and relationship with you dispassionately?

 

[BennieBlanco]

One of the shibboleths of pre-med is that you must be "passionate about medicine". I know what people mean. So many young people go into medicine right out of college and find out that they really don't like working with patients, or dealing with insurance, or ....

The medical schools know that they are the bottle-neck that is maintaining a scarcity of doctors, so the adcomms want to make sure that every doctor that they admit and graduate will remain a practicing doctor for decades. Therefore they want to admit student who both know what they are getting into and want to do so "passionately." In order to get into the school the prospective student must convince the adcomms of her "passion".

But I really doubt that very many of us are passionate people. Passionate people make bad friends, horrible spouses, terrible parents and frankly, not good doctors.

lol. Is there any proof to this other than your perspective?

Several years ago, I did go through a "passionate" phase in my life. I hung around anti-abortion people and attended a few rallies. Let me tell you, that movement knows how to work you up. You come away from a rally like that with visions of a holocaust and a desire to be the Corrie Ten Boom of your little slice of earth. Although I never really joined that particular movement, I did become involved in politics and even served as a low-ranking official at a few different levels. I met many passionate people - some of them household names - and, let me tell you, they aren't good people. In the last presidential election I knew a few of the candidates personally, and the ones that I supported were, in fact, the least passionate of the bunch. I know one US Senator, for instance, who, although I agree with every position that he has ever taken, I would avoid another conversation with him like the plague.

Passion is overrated and determination is "misunderestimated". Anthropology tells us that primitive man has a great physical advantage over all other animals: he is the best walker. About any tetrapod can outrun man, but nothing makes tracks like humans on a walkabout.

Oh passion burns hot at 9 pm in the evening when telling all of your friends about medicine, but it cools over-night and is a weak motivator at 6 am the next morning when it is time to get up and study.

Lol. I think you don't understand what passion is.

It also seems your experiences in poltics and rallies defines your idea of passion.

I hate to go to webster here:

1. any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.

Lets use a few people I like, Michael Jordan and Arnold Schwartznegger. Both are passionate people. Michael Jordan's passion to compete and be the best not only got him up early in the morning, it also allowed him to push harder than anyone else in practice. It also allowed him to dig deep when others quit. It made him the greatest basketball player that ever lived.

Arnold's passion allowed him to work a construction job for 10 hours a day and do morning and night bodybuidling sessions when he first started out. I don't know if you've ever seen the intensity of the workouts these guys go through, but I seriously doubt that half of the people accepted to medical school could handle the pace and work ethic this guy had. It is one thing to work 15 hours a day, a completely other thing to push yourself to the point of vomiting and passing out without fear, day after day after day. Many can't go through such intense bouts of pain willingly and consistently.

Can't speak english and never acted before if your life? No problem, you can become a 20 million dollar per picture actor. No political experience? You can become the governor of the largest state in the nation.

Don't think any of these things came easy, they camme because of passion.

Passion for meaningless agendas or passion for ego glorification (which is what you saw in politics) rarely excells like the passion these 2 guys had.

 

[BennieBlanco]

I'm sorry but this just makes me laugh:

[YOUTUBE]<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VxKIcrDsJAs&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VxKIcrDsJAs&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

It isn't showing up for some reason...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxKIcrDsJAs

 

[EdLongshanks]

Passion for meaningless agendas or passion for ego glorification (which is what you saw in politics) rarely excells like the passion these 2 guys [Michael Jordan and Schwarzenegger] had.

It's true that we differ in our definition of passion. I would certainly never call the ego-maniacs that I saw in politics passionate. They were dedicated to themselves and only themselves - including their pleasures and time for themselves.

What I object to in the word "passion" is the emotional connotation. Emotions wax and wane. They depend on what you had to eat that day or how recently you had the flu. Passion is a synonym for the word Love, yes. But, to me, Love is a fuller word and encompasses a deeper commitment. What I have seen of medicine I love. Not only the fun parts - diagnosis and treatment, but also the management of pain, the time with the family when education and comfort is offered.

As a minister I have more experience with these comfort and management tasks and there is great joy in helping in this way. I want to get the training to do more than this though. So, I can say with confidence that I love the work of medicine, but I wouldn't say that I am "passionate" about it. There are parts of the day when I don't think about it at all.

 

[DrMom]

I think the bigger meaning with the general "passion for medicine" statement is that you'd better really like what you're doing (studying medicine) because it will be the bulk of your life for 7 years at a minimum. If you don't really enjoy it, you're going to be miserable.

 

[EdLongshanks]

I'm sorry but this just makes me laugh:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxKIcrDsJAs

LOL, that's good. I suppose you can say that Kanye is pretty passionate when he's had enough drugs.

 

[EdLongshanks]

I need to qualify what I am talking about when I say that there is great joy in ministering to hurt people. That statement could almost sound sado-masochistic. I don't mean that I enjoy seeing people in pain, but since they are already in pain I'm glad that I can be the one to help. There is great joy in doing this well.

For example several times in recent years I have counseled with mothers who have had their babies taken away from them by the courts. I can't tell these women that they have been done wrong by someone else. This might not be true. Nor need I tell them that they have done wrong. I'm their minister, not their judge. But at this season of their pain I can only attempt to use this teachable moment to point them in the right direction. The human instinct and the past experience of some of them will prompt them to turn to drugs for surcease of the pain. But this will only start the cycle over again. Their supplier will knock them up again and if the baby lives it will be yet another foster child foisted onto an overburdened system. Instead I try to point them to one who is willing to share their pain and carry them through their sorrows to a new life and a new way.

Sometimes this works. When it does I share in a great joy. When it doesn't, well, I'll see them again in a few months and try again.

 

[BennieBlanco]

I was on www.blogspot.com/EdLongshanks and I saw a few pictures posted of the rallies he participated in (I believe he is the gentleman in the Depends):

 

[EdLongshanks]

I was on www.blogspot.com/EdLongshanks and I saw a few pictures posted of the rallies he participated in (I believe he is the gentleman in the Depends):

Wow, how did I miss that rally? Near-Naked guys in white-tighties were always my favorite.

I must have been at the rally with the cute girls that day.

Is there really a EdLongshanks who posts on blogspot?

 

[agirl]

deleted.

One of the shibboleths of pre-med is that you must be "passionate about medicine". I know what people mean. So many young people go into medicine right out of college and find out that they really don't like working with patients, or dealing with insurance, or ....

The medical schools know that they are the bottle-neck that is maintaining a scarcity of doctors, so the adcomms want to make sure that every doctor that they admit and graduate will remain a practicing doctor for decades. Therefore they want to admit student who both know what they are getting into and want to do so "passionately." In order to get into the school the prospective student must convince the adcomms of her "passion".

But I really doubt that very many of us are passionate people. Passionate people make bad friends, horrible spouses, terrible parents and frankly, not good doctors.

Several years ago, I did go through a "passionate" phase in my life. I hung around anti-abortion people and attended a few rallies. Let me tell you, that movement knows how to work you up. You come away from a rally like that with visions of a holocaust and a desire to be the Corrie Ten Boom of your little slice of earth. Although I never really joined that particular movement, I did become involved in politics and even served as a low-ranking official at a few different levels. I met many passionate people - some of them household names - and, let me tell you, they aren't good people. In the last presidential election I knew a few of the candidates personally, and the ones that I supported were, in fact, the least passionate of the bunch. I know one US Senator, for instance, who, although I agree with every position that he has ever taken, I would avoid another conversation with him like the plague.

Passion is overrated and determination is "misunderestimated". Anthropology tells us that primitive man has a great physical advantage over all other animals: he is the best walker. About any tetrapod can outrun man, but nothing makes tracks like humans on a walkabout.

Oh passion burns hot at 9 pm in the evening when telling all of your friends about medicine, but it cools over-night and is a weak motivator at 6 am the next morning when it is time to get up and study.

 

[EdLongshanks]

there are definitely things in medicine "raise my blood pressure''. I knew I was interested in cardiology since who knows when, just by reading the dynamics of blood pathway could make me unsually excited.
<clip>
As I read through those scripts, the radiology report alone tells a good story about how the disease from the very start progressed to different stages. Of course that was common sense, but to go through it just like an intact movie is quite amazing. I was very excited to do the job which lasted ONLY six days.
.

I know what you mean. I was telling somebody about how amazing it is that all of the billions of ATP molecules work together suddenly to produce fast motion in a limb. They just looked at my cross-eyed and said, "you really LIKE this stuff!".

Well, yeah, I do. Here is the most complex and wonderful machine ever created. Nothing mechanical even comes close. We would have a hard time even reproducing the work of a sponge, much less a human. Star Trek TNG's Data is a fantasy, not a positronic possibility. And we get to actually mess with it. This is really cool.

But I wouldn't call this "passion". To me, passion usually involves the exchange of bodily fluids.

 

[agirl]

deleted

I know what you mean. I was telling somebody about how amazing it is that all of the billions of ATP molecules work together suddenly to produce fast motion in a limb. They just looked at my cross-eyed and said, "you really LIKE this stuff!".

Well, yeah, I do. Here is the most complex and wonderful machine ever created. Nothing mechanical even comes close. We would have a hard time even reproducing the work of a sponge, much less a human. Star Trek TNG's Data is a fantasy, not a positronic possibility. And we get to actually mess with it. This is really cool.

But I wouldn't call this "passion". To me, passion usually involves the exchange of bodily fluids.

 

[Dianyla]

But I wouldn't call this "passion". To me, passion usually involves the exchange of bodily fluids.

Medicine often involves the exchange of bodily fluids as well, so I think your narrow definition of passion still applies!

 

[EdLongshanks]

Medicine often involves the exchange of bodily fluids as well, so I think your narrow definition of passion still applies!

I think that I might get quite passionate about not receiving bodily fluids during medical practice.

I've found my passion!!

 

[shouldvestudied]

I think you're confusing "passionate" with "bat-**** crazy"