In terms of intelligence

[ivorychins]

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If someone was hypothetically not smart enough to become a doctor, but still wanted to work in health care, what career should they get into?

 

[SpineResearcher]

MBA and PhD for Health Care Policy/Management. That's one option!

 

[863168]

If someone was hypothetically not smart enough to become a doctor, but still wanted to work in health care, what career should they get into?

Write this premise in the middle of a white board or a large sheet of paper. Draw main ideas that stem from this central idea. Examples could be as follows:

1. Why do you not think you are smart?
2. What health care occupations do you know about?
3. Who can you speak to that you trust regarding this decision?

Then draw sub-ideas that stem from these subsidiary ideas. Here's an example of this exercise which I did in 5 minutes as a sample. Yours should take longer, be bigger, and more serious... otherwise it's doing nothing for you.

Spoiler

After you've finished this process, then you should make a four column chart: things you know, things you think you know, things you don't know, and things you think you don't know. On the back of this write questions about anything and everything while you write out this chart. After using personal research and trying to find information to the aforementioned inflection exercises, then consult advisors or people close to you who have suggestions, and then come back here and rephrase the question in a more concise format.

 

[infectiousdisease101]

From my experience, nurses emphasize less on science and more on the social aspects since they interact with patients way more than physicians do.

EDIT: This does not mean you can order nurses around like grunts. They still know a lot about the sciences and what it will do to their patients. I think any decent physician would want to things by their nurses before administering drugs and treatments to patients because nurses interact with fewer patients, but know their patients better than attendings do.

 

[Zenabi90]

Pina Colada makes a great post.

In general, if you want to do what an MD does without the MD, you can go PA or NP and be just fine.

 

[altblue]

Nursing --> NP
(PA is as hard to get into as DO)
Podiatry
Optometry
Audiology
Clinical pharmacy

Like Pina Colada might have gotten at you should make sure no other factors like study habits, health issues etc. are interfering with your performance before you say you're too unintelligent

 

[Goro]

If someone was hypothetically not smart enough to become a doctor, but still wanted to work in health care, what career should they get into?

Nursing
PA
Resp tech
Occupational Therapy
Physical Therapy
Anesthesiology Tech
Surgical Tech
Clinical Lab Tech
Teaching
Medical Ass't

 

[infectiousdisease101]

Actually, nvm.

 

[Disciple of Sattar]

Nursing
PA
Resp tech
Occupational Therapy
Physical Therapy
Anesthesiology Tech
Surgical Tech
Clinical Lab Tech
Teaching
Medical Ass't

Cadaver

 

[Prometheus123]

I suspect your premise is wrong. Most people are of average IQ, by definition. What matters is what you do with what you've got. Those people you think are smarter than you? They're not. They just spent more time studying/reading/struggling than you did on that material. They may have better study tools and strategies than what you're using. But all of that is changeable. So question your assumption.

 

[Kurk]

Dentist



*wink*

 

[altblue]

I suspect your premise is wrong. Most people are of average IQ, by definition. What matters is what you do with what you've got. Those people you think are smarter than you? They're not. They just spent more time studying/reading/struggling than you did on that material. They may have better study tools and strategies than what you're using. But all of that is changeable. So question your assumption.

Yeah sure, but at the same time there's only so much you can get out of the brainpower you have

 

[Kurk]

Yeah sure, but at the same time there's only so much you can get out of the brainpower you have

Also booksmarts /= street smarts/common sense.

 

[TSteezy]

I'm going to echo what others above me have said about studying habits. It's not about the brain power: it's about how you use it. I went from being an average high school student (even got a D in algrebra 2) to a top 10 medical school. Some of us are late bloomers. You can do whatever you want if you put the work in!

 

[altblue]

Also booksmarts /= street smarts/common sense.

Street smarts don't mean **** if you can't pass your exams

 

[aldol16]

PA school. Much shorter program than MD but can do a lot clinically after graduating.

 

[TheIllusionist]

Most of med school doesn't really require all that much raw intelligence. Even those with an average IQ can get through it, though it might be rather painful. Memory is a part of IQ, so those with higher IQs will tend to have better memories. Yeah deductive reasoning capacity and pattern recognition help too; however, there are ton of exceptions and sometimes it's just best to have stuff memorized cold.

All in all, don't underestimate yourself. You can still probably be a doctor, if you want it badly enough. Our Dean of Education literally said he only met one person, that's right one person, in his 20+ years, that he truly believe had failed out, due to a lack of innate smarts. He still questions himself about that case. Believe in yourself and chase your dreams.