Anyone else losing interest?

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Most will tell you to stick it out, things get better, etc.

I had feelings that I should have got out from almost day 1.
Kept pushing ahead.
Things got different, not really better.

As a resident, things don't seem so great right now.

If I could go back, pretty sure I would have cut my losses
Even if I had a stack of loans, that stack would be half the height I have now.

If you are really unsure, take a year off at the end of the year.
Do something else.
Not the end of the world to go in a different direction.

Insanity is spending your life doing something you don't like.
 
JShephard said:
The financial burden of medical school too high?

How about you stop charging 50k a year for M1/M2, which is a mediocre product anyway - and let people prepare on their own or on some online course. Honestly, take 100,000 students who pay a ton of money per year and have them pay 10$ --> that's 1 million dollars to people to teach a single unified online course using standard textbooks / materials from the NBME.

This doctor shortage which was created by the old school bureaucracy is now the downfall of physicians because nurses are charging 1/2 the price, training in 1/5 the time and able to perform 1/2 of many of our services. So all the waste and inefficiency? A competitor has come to town and they are doing a damn good job. Such a good job that they've completely changed fields like anesthesia... and fields like derm or psych? They are just legislation away from being completely changed.

So yeah, we can continue to create false shortages, drive up our incomes and create a giant political mess while patients are suffering and midlevels gain power... OR we can GET BETTER, teach faster, start harnessing the power of the internet and community, use the phenomenal minds that I see in all of my colleagues. We have the choice. But the old school bureaucracy needs to start adapting and FAST.



But those educators exist. And they can teach. Look, the ACGME is trying to create a unified set of standards - well, why not just create a unified course. If everyone paid those guys to teach an online course - there would be plenty of money. If there are 100,000 students that pay 30-50k a year, that's 4 billion dollars... I don't think you need to pay teachers 4 billion, but that's quite a sum that could be leveraged to recruit a dozen or so excellent teachers. Online communities could help with questions or whatever. You could cut the price by 99% and still pay teachers an enormous amount.

Online learning is shoddy if it's done by shoddy teachers. I think anyone who has used Pathoma can attest that an online course can be VERY effective.
Click to expand...

No one at the major institutions would ever admit that a $99 course + $40 book is better than their year long live course. All the students know it though. We all know FA + Pathoma/RR + UW for Step I. NBME doesn't want to admit to it or even mention it though. It would hurt the system too much.
 
gman33 said:
Most will tell you to stick it out, things get better, etc.

I had feelings that I should have got out from almost day 1.
Kept pushing ahead.
Things got different, not really better.

As a resident, things don't seem so great right now.

If I could go back, pretty sure I would have cut my losses
Even if I had a stack of loans, that stack would be half the height I have now.

If you are really unsure, take a year off at the end of the year.
Do something else.
Not the end of the world to go in a different direction.

Insanity is spending your life doing something you don't like.
Click to expand...

Sad story. Hope it turns around for you.

CDI said:
No one at the major institutions would ever admit that a $99 course + $40 book is better than their year long live course. All the students know it though. We all know FA + Pathoma/RR + UW for Step I. NBME doesn't want to admit to it or even mention it though. It would hurt the system too much.
Click to expand...

Truth. It's crazy that $140 and the internet can outperform most medical schools.
 
Good points.

I think the problem is we have no way to express a consumer perspective on our education. The tenure system for research scientists is the most horrible idea for cultivating educators imaginable. Nothing in how their careers get launched has to do with how good the are for us.

That's actually why Sattar, goljan, and Fischer are so successful. They see the massive niche for alternatives and put their skills to work.

The same is true in the clinical wards. Nothing about what makes a good doc or a resident has to do with how well they teach us.

They treat us like children while we pay them 10's of thousands. And we're expected to be grateful for incidental learning achieved only through the drudgery of long hours in proximity.

Loosing interest is a constant battle. It's a great job. With a ****ty process for the right to do it. The others are doing it better. They get paid to train while working normative hours.

I hate the bitterness charge. That's the thought process of twits and fundamentalists.
 
JShephard said:
Sad story. Hope it turns around for you.



Truth. It's crazy that $140 and the internet can outperform most medical schools.
Click to expand...

I agree with a lot of the points you have made in this thread. From your last post (too lazy to quote) the issue is that all the people with the ability to enact change are as aware of the problem as much as you and I. The unfortunate part is that it against their financial benefit to do so. So while some may think like you and want to better the profession in the future, they are far outweighed by those who don't give a ****.

And the bolded statement above will be the reason that in 20-30 years if you cannot program, you will a minimum wage paid cog in the machine, regardless of the industry.
 
Here's an example I use all the time: Lets say that you really love movies, all you want to do all day is watch movies. If I sat you down everyday for two years and made you watch movies (on different topics even) for 8 hours every day-- you're soon going to hate movies.

I feel like this is medical school, you may be interested in the material but the way we have to study makes that irrelevant. For people trying to get competitive residencies, there is no way they enjoy the amount of hours they spend studying-- unless they have some social problems. People that are just aiming to pass (or on so many stimulants they don't know whats going on), sure medial school can be enjoyable.
 
Hate hate hate MS3. Definitely liked MS2 and MS1. Mainly cuz it was fair and objective. I read, I study, I do well. This year blows. I'm just happy to get evaled by the right ppl. I completely give up after 2 rotations where I hauled ass while other students slept in call rooms all day and would miss like 30% of the rotation with dumb excuses. In the end? Same grade. This subjective bs is irritating. The only lesson have learned this year is that hard work does not pay off. Nice residents who give u good evals pay off.
 
Damn, that 1st page was a hellavu ride. Didn't even bother with 2 or 3.

Edit: Just read 3.

I want to jump off a bridge, digitally.
 
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gman33 said:
Most will tell you to stick it out, things get better, etc.

I had feelings that I should have got out from almost day 1.
Kept pushing ahead.
Things got different, not really better.

As a resident, things don't seem so great right now.

If I could go back, pretty sure I would have cut my losses
Even if I had a stack of loans, that stack would be half the height I have now.

If you are really unsure, take a year off at the end of the year.
Do something else.
Not the end of the world to go in a different direction.

Insanity is spending your life doing something you don't like.
Click to expand...

Had a few likes of this post, so thought I'd give an update.
Finishing up second year of my residency.
Things have actually gotten way better.
There are some things that still suck, but overall I'm pretty happy at work.

Like my field. Looking forward to being done training in another year.

Still not sure I would do it over, but things are way better now.
 
gman33 said:
Had a few likes of this post, so thought I'd give an update.
Finishing up second year of my residency.
Things have actually gotten way better.
There are some things that still suck, but overall I'm pretty happy at work.

Like my field. Looking forward to being done training in another year.

Still not sure I would do it over, but things are way better now.
Click to expand...

Glad to see it turned out alright...
 
gman33 said:
Most will tell you to stick it out, things get better, etc.

I had feelings that I should have got out from almost day 1.
Kept pushing ahead.
Things got different, not really better.

As a resident, things don't seem so great right now.

If I could go back, pretty sure I would have cut my losses
Even if I had a stack of loans, that stack would be half the height I have now.

If you are really unsure, take a year off at the end of the year.
Do something else.
Not the end of the world to go in a different direction.

Insanity is spending your life doing something you don't like.
Click to expand...
if it is not a bother. What is the specialty you are in?

In topic: I too lose interest many times. When you are stressed, you feel like you just want to be done with it, get a job in whatever specialty and go on with living.


edit: holy moly have been here 1 year, it felt like it was 2 months ago. just to exemplify how much of a grind all this is.
 
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Cello said:
Just to offer some perspective as a non-trad who's worked a few blue collar jobs before going back to school. Bureaucracy is everywhere, and in most jobs, where you are lucky to pull in $40-$50k a year with a degree, your boss is probably less qualified than you, makes a lot more money than you do, has a better lifestyle, and makes your life hell because he/she can. The job sucks, the pay sucks, the politics suck, and at the end of the day, when people ask you what you do for a living, you basically respond with "I shovel **** into a garbage can."

Yeah, it'd be nice to be the boss, until you find out that be that guy you have to literally BE that guy... Who wants that? Not even his wife wants him. 👎

I'm sure med school is hard as hell, and I'm sure that it sometimes seems pointless, monotonous, and even asinine. But remember that you could be experiencing all of those same things in the same crap jobs that most of your fellow Americans work in. At the end of the day, you'll take home a decent paycheck (even if it's still well over the horizon), you'll have job security, and when someone asks what you do you can say "I do my damnedest to treat sick people."

The process you guys are enduring separates the wheat from the chaff.
Click to expand...

Well said!
 
kindasorta said:
This notion that it's either you love m1/2 or love m3/4 is straight up brainwashing. If you love either of them, you have issues. The people that love m3/4 in particular. I "get" the people that may enjoy m1/2 - your typical Asperger's fit the role nicely. But m3/4? What on EARTH is there to love about playing fake doctor and spending your days subservient to the schedule of someone that has zero respect for your time. Dancing around like a puppet on a string to every hem and haw like you're feeding grapes to an oversexed roman idol. And what's best is you get to pay for the privilege! M4 isn't so awesome when you realize it's an untirely unnecessary year, yet you pay god know's how much for the privilege of playing Daniel Son to some doctor, doing all their dirty work (for which THEY get paid). Of course there are the interviewing months which you shell out an additional 10k to go on interviews, all the while continuing to pay your school. For what exactly? 4th year of medical school is a ponzie scheme designed to enrich the coffers of med schools and pad the pockets of preceptors.

CUE the chorus of everyone talking about how amazing their preceptors are. This site needs to add a sheep emoticon.
Click to expand...
Everyone single MS4 I spoke to had that feeling; they all say 4th year is a waste. I was amazed to see people in SDN think it's necessary. Some even say there should be a 5th year 🙁
 
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4th year is nice because you got time to do the stuff you want to do. You can be as academic as you want. I think it would be better if you were actually a mini intern with your own patients, being able to do procedures and make decisions but the powers that be have decided that they'd rather have crippled providers who don't know how to think, that are only good for ordering worthless tests and making money for the masters
 
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