I think i may have written in this topic before, but i wanted to discuss the good and bad parts of medicine from my perspective, that of a current MS4.
Strengths:
1. Salary. While it isn't what it used to be, doctors get compensated quite well for what we do. While doctors go through a little more misery than other professions, a guaranteed six figure salary is pretty darn impressive.
2. Prestige. again, less than there used to be, but i feel as though many people still consider being a doctor a prestigious profession.
3. Options. WIth an MD, there are a billion fields that you could go into and oodles of practice types that can prove financially lucrative. If i want to work in the middle of the night for 6 months out of the year, I can.
4. Clean Hands. Nurses are the real health care providers and the real work force of the hospital. They deliver the patient care and most nurses are very good with what they do. At the same time, there are many aspects of nursing that aren't that glamorous and can't be turfed to a nursing assistant or student nurse that I just could never do because of the gross factor.
5. Chicks. More true in some cultures, but girls like docs.
Weaknesses:
1. Miserable training. I'm still bitter about my surgery rotation from over a year ago. Most people don't have to go through these months. Then again, I feel as though allied health professions don't really escape it. PA's, NP's, CRNA's share in much, not all, of the misery. PA's have it the worst- 50% of the salary for 90% of the grief and 10% of the respect.
2. Intellectual stimulation. Some folks might disagree with me, but I feel like bread and butter medicine is pretty well...cookbook. Medical school teaches you about all the rare disease which you may see once or never in your rotation. But so much of the practice of medicine is routine that I think it gets a little boring after a while. On my sub-i, i felt that the challenge wasn't necessarily making diagnoses or thinkig through problems. The challenge was getting everything you needed to get done by 5pm.
3. Few options for the majority of graduates. If i had to go into primary care or internal medicine or surgery, I would be much less happy than I am now. The average american medical student doesn't have the option of going into dermatology or one of the less "medicine" oriented specialties.
4. Odd compensation strategies. If you look at other countries, dermatology isn't half as popular. Competitive specialties are competitive for hours and salary. Dermatology wouldn't be so popular if it paid like family medicine does.
5. Hours. Many specialties just over work everyone- attendings, residents, what have you.
6. Disappointment. Probably the biggest weakness is that so many of us work so hard to get to this point. We give up so much in high school to get into a good college, so much of our social lives to get into med school, so much time and happiness to get through med school. We think, "once i'm in med school, i'll be happy." Then it becomes, "once i graduate I'll be happy." then it becomes "once i finish residency, I'll have more time and I'll be happy". And then you finally become an attending after all the hard work, and you realize that it isn't all it's cracked up to be. You work alot. You get paid well, but for the amount that you work, you should be able to have everything. Your relationships have suffered and a good percentage are divorced or never married. And you're in your early to mid 30's wondering where so much of your life went, trying to figure out why you haven't found that eternal happiness that your hard work was suppose to earn you.
that said. I'm happy. I'm okay. I don't think i'd be any more or less happy if i went into another field.
*sigh* that was long. I hope this helps.
You're absolutely correct that those are very naive beliefs, but a few MS4's that I know did indeed initially choose the profession for this reason primarily. I cannot say whether their experiences have met their expectations, but for their own sake I hope that their hard work has not been in vain.
