how has medicine/med school changed you?

[bigredterp]

for those who had former careers in something completely outside of medicine, how has the experience of medical school changed you? no doubt many entered school w/ some idealistic notions of the practice of medicine...how have those views changed as perceptions became reality?

i've been a lurker here for a few weeks now and had some very insightful posters help w/ the introspection process. this is truly an inspiring board w/ some amazing ppl! it seems the majority of ppl on this board are those who are beginning/trying to get into medical school...but i would love to hear the musings (and maybe rants?) of nontrads who are finishing school and moving on to residencies...

thanks in advance!

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[Law2Doc]

no doubt many entered school w/ some idealistic notions of the practice of medicine...how have those views changed as perceptions became reality?

I actually would think nontrads, on average, would be more grounded and less "idealistic" in their notions. Frequently nontrads have spent years analyzing the decision, discussing it with practicing doctors ad nauseum, etc. really looking before they make the leap. Many have already been professionals in other fields. So more often than not, the wide-eyed idealism has been drained away, having been used up by our prior careers. It's the traditional, straight from undergrad types who still have idealistic pipe dreams of what their career is supposed to be like. Those of us on this board have more sound expectations, I think.

 

[cfdavid]

I actually would think nontrads, on average, would be more grounded and less "idealistic" in their notions. Frequently nontrads have spent years analyzing the decision, discussing it with practicing doctors ad nauseum, etc. really looking before they make the leap. Many have already been professionals in other fields. So more often than not, the wide-eyed idealism has been drained away, having been used up by our prior careers. It's the traditional, straight from undergrad types who still have idealistic pipe dreams of what their career is supposed to be like. Those of us on this board have more sound expectations, I think.

Once again, I find myself agreeing with my pal Law2Doc. I also feel that a very possible outcome of idealism is the burnout or dissatisfaction that may result from those ideals not materializing. So, perhaps people with less of it (including many trads) will be less prone to becoming disappointed or dissatisfied in our future careers. Hell, we already know there's BS in any field! So, why would we be suprised/disappointed when we experience a healthy dose of it in medicine?

 

[Febrifuge]

I have to concur with the above posters. I think that it's not so much that working in the ED has changed me -- it's more like after all the time I spent doing other things, and after taking the time to figure out what would make me happy (not to mention, what I am capable of being really, really good at), I've found my niche.

Sure, I've changed, as I've gone from volunteer to ER tech to PA-school-applicant. But it's less like the exposure to medicine as a discipline of study, a career path, or a just plain job has changed me into something else. It's more like I'm becoming a better-realized version of the same old self I was always trying to be.

That's maybe a little more New Agey than I would like, but it is what it is.

 

[Trismegistus4]

I'm not in med school yet, but I just wanted to say that I've never understood why some people think that adcoms will give nontrads closer scrutiny to make sure we know "what we're getting into" and be more suspicious of our motives. If anything, as others have said, I'd think it would be the opposite. We know what it's like to hold a full-time job, pay all our own bills, have limited spare time, have annoying coworkers, etc. The same can't be said of most "cookie-cutter" premeds. One would think they'd be the ones more likely to think that ER and Grey's Anatomy are true-to-life. Or that when they get home from a long day at work in private practice, walk in the door and the baby's crying, their wife starts yelling at them, and there's a pile of bills on the table, they'll be the ones thinking "medicine sucks, I should have gone into investment banking" (a common refrain on SDN) while we'll be thinking "hey, this is adult life, good think I know how to deal with it."

 

[oldpro]

I'm an RN in medschool, so not 100% like you posted but I feel that I know nothing at times, but once I master the material I feel good, It's what I expected.

I'll tell ya more once in clinicals and passed step 1