Discouraging doctors?

[DahlkeA]

Hey everyone. I did a search about this but didn't really find anything. So I thought I would ask.

I grew up in medicine with a dad who is a pediatrician, and I've worked in the medical field since I was 16. My lifetime goal has always been to be a doctor because I love caring for patients. My dad has always told me not to do it, and that if he could go back and start all over he would be a PA or NP. His excuse was always the lack of taking call, lack of student loans, start making good money earlier in life, being able to switch specialties if you get burnt out, etc. of course.. It's my dad so what does he know right? So I always just blew it off. Plus I know that a PA and NP are pretty comparable to doctors in the general practice setting, but I've always wanted to do EM, so in that way it's different.

Well now I've started doing my shadowing and I've shadowed an internal medicine hospitalist, a pulmonologist/critical care doc, and emergency room and all of them have been telling me the same thing, not to become a doctor and just do the PA thing. Some of them have claimed the future of healthcare is going to be midlevel providers with doctors more as supervisors and for extremely critical cases, others more for the same reasons as my dad. The other doctor I have ever talked to who hasn't told me to be a PA was a surgeon, which I have not interest in surgery. Also these doctors I have been shadowing are doctors I have worked with for 2-4 years, so we know each other really well.

I'm just curious if anyone else has had this happen to them? I mean it's pretty disappointing to have your life-long goals being shot down by the very people you would think should be encouraging you.

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[ShenanigansMD]

I have a cardiologist parent, and he says go to med school, so I'm going to med school. I think these guys are jaded, which could happen to anyone, including me.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

I work in trucking and I would say 90% of them say get out of trucking. My parents own a business and they say don't own a business. I have nursing friends that say don't do nursing. This is the real world. Do what you want.

 

[Jepstein30]

Grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side..

until you get there and realize its brown.

 

[dally1025]

Before I went to med school I had many doctors say discouraging things to me about going to medical school. I think most of it is not really to discourage you but more to make you really think about your decision. Medicine isn't all about saving lives and making a difference. Although I don't regret going to medical school, I never realized how frustrating medicine could be as most pre-meds don't. I had quite a bit of clinical experience before I started but until you're the primary provider for someone you can't understand. There are pros and cons to going to medical school v, mid-level school and everyone has to figure out for themselves which cons they can handle the most. Before going to med school think long and hard about your priorities in life and that should help make the decision. If you decide it's what you want than go for it and don't let anyone change your mind.

In my area we have mid-levels in every specialty, including the ED. However, they generally see the low acuity stuff like abscesses, sore throats, etc.

 

[LizzyM]

They see the writing on the wall: medical school tuition is rising at twice the level of inflation, medical student debt is rising, student loans are growing and cannot be discharged, tort reform is nearly impossible and malpractice insurance costs are rising while lawsuits -- even if unfounded-- are emotionally wearing, physician autonomy and professional decision-making is being challenged by insurance company hacks at the end of a telephone line, reimbursement declines every year, and physicians spend too much of their time with documentation and too little (for their taste) time taking care of patients.

 

[ShenanigansMD]

I work in trucking and I would say 90% of them say get out of trucking. My parents own a business and they say don't own a business. I have nursing friends that say don't do nursing. This is the real world. Do what you want.

I totally agree here. Have you noticed the gray hairs the President is getting? Deep down he's probably telling his daughters, "Just be Secretary of State, where you get to fly around and drink cocktails with world leaders, this POTUS job is way too much work."

Only Buzz Aldrin or Neil Armstrong would probably tell their kids to follow in their footsteps.

 

[skipdivided]

I've dealt with this to some extent: while shadowing a doc at a big hospital I had lunch with one of the pediatrics residents who spent the whole time saying she wished she hadn't gone into medicine, how she hated the long hours, the debt, the paperwork, etc. But I've also worked with several emergency docs, surgeons, neurologists, and primary care docs that love their jobs . So I think it really comes down to the individual. I think sometimes docs that weren't sure about their decision to go to medical school before they started tend to be more unhappy later on. Bottom line is if you would be satisfied/happy as a PA, do it! If you feel like it wouldn't be "enough" for you and you're willing to deal with the downsides, stick with med school and don't listen to the discouragement.

Also I think primary care and peds are gonna be seeing that shift toward mid-level providers much more than surgery, neurology, oncology, etc. Not saying doctors in these specialties cannot be unhappy, but I do think they'll see less encroachment by PAs/NPs. As far as EM, you probably know more than me.

 

[dally1025]

Also I think primary care and peds are gonna be seeing that shift toward mid-level providers much more than surgery, neurology, oncology, etc. Not saying doctors in these specialties cannot be unhappy, but I do think they'll see less encroachment by PAs/NPs. As far as EM, you probably know more than me.

There are more NPs/PAs in primary care but I've seen them working in every specialty I can think of-cardiology, dermatology, surgery, heme/onc, etc. I spent some on one of my rotations time at at very well-known cancer center and mid-levels run the show. The MDs just signed off their chart and rarely go to see the patient. Their duties are more limited than a MD. For example, the ones working in surgery don't actually do surgery, they mostly cover the floor work on the surgery patients. However, I saw them do bone marrow aspirations, place central lines, lumbar punctures, etc.