Am I the only one with this problem?

[lipstikisntfood]

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What do you do when you meet someone new (outside the hospital) and they ask "what do you do?". I have this little problem where it sounds conceited to say "I'm a doctor", so usually I say "I'm in a medical training program", which means basically nothing.

 

[gutonc]

What do you do when you meet someone new (outside the hospital) and they ask "what do you do?". I have this little problem where it sounds conceited to say "I'm a doctor", so usually I say "I'm in a medical training program", which means basically nothing.

I just say I'm a physician. If they want to delve further, I'll answer but about half the time that's the end of the discussion. Since even about 75% of the non-physicians who work in a hospital don't have any idea what a resident/fellow is or does, trying to explain it to a "civilian" usually just ends in misery for all concerned.

 

[surge55]

I just say I'm a physician. If they want to delve further, I'll answer but about half the time that's the end of the discussion. Since even about 75% of the non-physicians who work in a hospital don't have any idea what a resident/fellow is or does, trying to explain it to a "civilian" usually just ends in misery for all concerned.

ok. I've never had a problem explaining it.

 

[infarct]

nothing wrong with a little swag

 

[thinker]

I don't get it.. is it that difficult to say you are a doctor who is currently specializing? it can't be that hard of a concept to grasp

 

[hardyharhar]

Yeah I get you. For me it depends on who I'm speaking to. I'm a young-looking female so if I think it's safer to remain anonymous or seem "average," I'll also say I'm just "a student." Otherwise it's true - people will either get too curious or say something else inappropriate. Or, if it's in the setting of a business transaction, suddenly eyes will get wide and then glaze over and they'll no longer speak so sweetly to you or be willing to give you that discount 🙂

 

[OveractiveBrain]

I don't get it.. is it that difficult to say you are a doctor who is currently specializing? it can't be that hard of a concept to grasp

Yes it is. second year medical students have trouble grasping a resident, a fellow, a chief, and an attending.

I'm a doctor is about as far as I get. Primary care? Hospitalist? Academic Attending? Diagnostician? (thats what my grandmother tells her friends I am). With most people I ask them if they've seen House. "You have? Thats me."

If I'm having a conversation with educated people, Ill go into more depth. Usually after they've explained to me what their meaningful role for the Obama campaign was (that I neither recall nor understood). The irony is not lost on me, here.

The fact is that once you get into a field, its natural, its what you know, its what you do. To everyone else, in every other field, it foreign, complicated and difficult. ****, even the nurses cant get MEDICINE night float from SURGERY night float right...