A question of motivation: Will I really be helping people?

[DrDre2001]

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Part (I'll be honest, it's only part) of my motivation is is the old "helping people" thing. This may sound weird but I think about it a lot:

Will I really be helping people that wouldn't be getting helped if I do not decide to be doctor? If I go to medical school, and get a residency spot, didn't I just take a spot that would have been filled by someone else (let's call him Dr. X)? Therefore, I won't really be helping anyone who wouldn't have been helped (by Dr. X) anyway.


Did that make sense? If not, here is it in another way:

If I decide to be a doctor (and i'd prob go primary care), lets say I'll be helping 10 patients a day.

But if I don't go to med school, Dr. X will take the residency spot that I would have, and he'll go on to help 10 patients a day.

Thus, no more people will be helped if I go to med school than if I didn't.

 

[schussboarder]

Part (I'll be honest, it's only part) of my motivation is is the old "helping people" thing. This may sound weird but I think about it a lot:

Will I really be helping people that wouldn't be getting helped if I do not decide to be doctor? If I go to medical school, and get a residency spot, didn't I just take a spot that would have been filled by someone else (let's call him Dr. X)? Therefore, I won't really be helping anyone who wouldn't have been helped (by Dr. X) anyway.


Did that make sense? If not, here is it in another way:

If I decide to be a doctor (and i'd prob go primary care), lets say I'll be helping 10 patients a day.

But if I don't go to med school, Dr. X will take the residency spot that I would have, and he'll go on to help 10 patients a day.

Thus, no more people will be helped if I go to med school than if I didn't.

yes..no more people would be helped - someone would be more than willing to take your spot.....I guess it comes down to whether or not you could see yourself doing this job for the rest of you life.

 

[megathunder]

Does your vote really matter? I think the same principle applies. Sure your one vote won't change anything, but if every voter combined had that same outlook and didn't vote then no ones voice would be heard. Similarly, if you don't become a doctor I'm sure your would-be patients will go elsewhere, but if everyone had that outlook then there wouldn't be any doctors to care for people.

One small flaw in the analogy: you don't get paid to vote.

 

[SAvoodoo]

Part (I'll be honest, it's only part) of my motivation is is the old "helping people" thing. This may sound weird but I think about it a lot:

Will I really be helping people that wouldn't be getting helped if I do not decide to be doctor? If I go to medical school, and get a residency spot, didn't I just take a spot that would have been filled by someone else (let's call him Dr. X)? Therefore, I won't really be helping anyone who wouldn't have been helped (by Dr. X) anyway.


Did that make sense? If not, here is it in another way:

If I decide to be a doctor (and i'd prob go primary care), lets say I'll be helping 10 patients a day.

But if I don't go to med school, Dr. X will take the residency spot that I would have, and he'll go on to help 10 patients a day.

Thus, no more people will be helped if I go to med school than if I didn't.

It depends. If you go to med school and make an effort to see 11 patients a day instead of the 10 Dr. X would see, you help 1 more person a day (extrapolate that out at 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year, 30 years and it's a big difference (7200 people in case you're neurotic like me😛)). Second, if you make extra effort to go on a mission trip (just an example) that Dr X doesn't go on you're helping many more people, most of whom wouldn't get any treatment. The number of patients getting helped may not change (you and Dr. X treat same), it may go up (Dr. X may do more than you), it may go down (You would do more than Dr. X). The difference is that YOU are the one helping people, and that's what you have to worry about. If you don't care who helps people and just want to make sure they're helped, there is probably little difference. If you want to personally be helping people (which a lot of doctors do) then not going to med school and giving Dr. X your spot isn't even close to the same.

 

[rmbsstock]

:cry:

 

[ArkansasRanger]

I'd say you're easily replaced as a physician, and there are numerous "helping" professions so you probably don't need to feel altruism more than any other motivation for going.

I've been "helping" in all my life experiences; school teacher, part-time paramedic, volunteer fireman, and cop. I like knowing that my job matters and that I can make a difference in doing what I do, but I wouldn't say that some type of desire to help was my principal motivator in any of those fields. It's not for medicine either.

 

[BlitzSleep]

Good topic. I think using the "to help people" cliche is dumb. Nearly any profession helps people. When I worked at McDonalds I helped people by feeding them. If you want to help people, why not do that for the rest of your life?

 

[FrkyBgStok]

the question isn't "will these people be helped," the question is "will I help these people."

 

[Cybii]

the question isn't "will these people be helped," the question is "will I help these people."

Exactly. The admissions committee isn't pulling out their hair trying to fill in positions so that a certain quota of patients will be treated down the line, they are trying to figure out your motivation and what drives you to become a doctor and whether or not the motivation is appropriate. Of course very job is designated to "help" society in their own way, so that is why it sounds so cliche. 😎

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Exactly. The admissions committee isn't pulling out their hair trying to fill in positions so that a certain quota of patients will be treated down the line, they are trying to figure out your motivation and what drives you to become a doctor and whether or not the motivation is appropriate. Of course very job is designated to "help" society in their own way, so that is why it sounds so cliche. 😎

As long as the person's motivations aren't abusive, i.e. wanting to touch and/or see naked people, etc, I don't think the motivation is inappropriate. If you're into it for a marketable and transportable career then so be it. That's up to you, and I won't blame you for it. If you're in it for the money then ditto. If you're in it because you want to learn about medical stuff and could care less about touching a patient then more power to you. It's your life.

 

[peppy]

There are definitely situations that come up where having a genuine desire to help people and being interested in the patients' needs could drive you to do things differently or better than someone who wasn't motivated by those factors would have. For example, you might take extra time to explain things to a patient or make an extra effort to do something for their benefit like finagling charity medications, while someone who just didn't care wouldn't bother to do such things.
If your intentions were to be involved in mission trips and free clinics while the hypothetical Dr. X was the sort of person whose only concern would be opening a cash-only botox clinic in Beverly Hills, I'd say it's very likely that you would end up making more of a real difference for people.

 

[PeachyPhd]

I think the question is better phrased "Will I help heal people?"

 

[illegallysmooth]

Doctors help people. The question is: do you want to be one of them?

Is doesn't matter if other people do the same thing. It should subtract no merit or motivation from your goals.

 

[AbbyNormal]

I think one day, patients will not have a say so in who they see because of this shortage, and the insurance companies are going to set some steps for us to follow. We may start by seeing an LPN, if she does not help us she MIGHT refer us to RN. IF and RN does not find a way to help us (as patients), she might refer us to PA. Who might find a way to resolve the issue, or not. By the year we get to see a doctor, we will be half dead
Someone like you with genuine conscious is needed to be a doctor.

Are you trying to be helpful? It doesn't come across that way if you are. Not sure why you feel ragging on nurses and physician assts will help the OP with his decision. Are you projecting?

Did you perhaps mean conscientious? Not so sure about the conscious/unconscious doctor thing that you mention.

 

[rmbsstock]

:cry:

 

[DrDre2001]

Bump.

I didn't mention in the opening post that I believe (as much as a pre-med can) that there is a good chance I'd become a primary care physician (PCP). It suits me quite well.

Since there is such a large PCP shortage, and they are now putting in place policies to push graduating med students towards primary care, doesn't this imply that there are PCP spots not being filled?



So, if I become a PCP, I won't just be taking a spot that would have been filled anyway. Thus, there are two things that can happen:

1. I don't go to med school. The PCP shortage is 124,000 (predicted PCP shortage by the year 2020).

2. I go to med school and become a PCP. The PCP shortage is now only 123,999.

 

[DrDre2001]

I believe I am correct..." Only about 42 percent of primary care spots were filled, while in orthopedic surgery, 94 percent of spots were filled!" - http://www.healthtechnologyreview.com/viewarticle.php?aid=241


So, the shortage is a problem of the spots not being filled.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

This is a highly philosophical question. You exist and many doctor x's exist. So in a way to say your addition to society is negligible and expendable. However the fact is that if you do become a doctor you gain the ability to improve and touch many peoples lives from start to finish. While there are many doctor x's in the world, there is always the possibility that your existence as a doctor. Might help keep the child of whom will cure cancer or go on to create peace in the world. Now if you let doctor x become a doctor instead, that child might not have had a doctor to help him because doctor x decided to be a dermatologist. So in some ways I call it the ripple effect of life, your actions are relatively small like pebbles, however they create mighty ripples which effect many others through out your life. So to some extent if you have the will to help others then you have the motivation to be a doctor.

Meh.. Just food for thought. Live on and continue to help others knowing that you can't help them all. That's what the next generation is for .

 

[DrDre2001]

You can't predict what your replacement will be like. Just don't become a specialist in a city that already has too many of you.

But I don't think I will have a replacement if I go into primary care.

If the shortage is because of unfilled residency spots, then me becoming a PCP won't kick anyone out. Thus, if I become a PCP, I'm adding a PCP to the world who would not have been there anyway.

I'm hoping someone knows if the shortage is because of unfilled PCP residency spots or the fact that there are too few PCP residency spots (that all get filled) to begin with.