Influence of personal medical experiences/procedures

[mustangsally65]

I was curious about whether anyone had any stories about how personal medical experiences/surgery had affected their decisions to go into medicine.

Part of my interest in the medical field arose from being interested in medical procedures that I had experienced, like having asthma, surgery for an inguinal hernia, and repeated toenail removal due to having ingrown nails. I also consider my family physician to be my hero, and she is one of my biggest role models as well.

I assume most people don't enjoy going to see a doctor, and would never consider pursuing a career in medicine. But for those of us who are heading down that road, how have your experiences influenced this choice, either in a positive or negative way?

I know we all have experiences being a patient, and probably a lot of them are not influential. But I was just curious.

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[Shaz]

I was curious about whether anyone had any stories about how personal medical experiences/surgery had affected their decisions to go into medicine.

Part of my interest in the medical field arose from being interested in medical procedures that I had experienced, like having asthma, surgery for an inguinal hernia, and repeated toenail removal due to having ingrown nails. I also consider my family physician to be my hero, and she is one of my biggest role models as well.

I assume most people don't enjoy going to see a doctor, and would never consider pursuing a career in medicine. But for those of us who are heading down that road, how have your experiences influenced this choice, either in a positive or negative way?

I know we all have experiences being a patient, and probably a lot of them are not influential. But I was just curious.

Not that I can really contribute to this conversation, but if you are looking to use this angle for your personal statement, I think you should know that 20,000 other premeds in this country are in the same boat with you during the application process.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

I was curious about whether anyone had any stories about how personal medical experiences/surgery had affected their decisions to go into medicine.

Part of my interest in the medical field arose from being interested in medical procedures that I had experienced, like having asthma, surgery for an inguinal hernia, and repeated toenail removal due to having ingrown nails. I also consider my family physician to be my hero, and she is one of my biggest role models as well.

I assume most people don't enjoy going to see a doctor, and would never consider pursuing a career in medicine. But for those of us who are heading down that road, how have your experiences influenced this choice, either in a positive or negative way?

I know we all have experiences being a patient, and probably a lot of them are not influential. But I was just curious.

"repeated toenail removal due to having ingrown nails" I wasn't sure if this was a joke or not. Not that i have ever experienced this "surgery" i highly doubt my fascination of medicine would have grown out of such a procedure. To answer your question, yes my decision to pursue medicine was as a result of my experiences during my gf's illness and hospitalizations. For the most part I would assume most people are initially drawn to medicine as a result of their own experiences firsthand, knowing someone involved in medicine or seeing it on tv or reading about it in books.

 

[freesolo]

one girl atmy school has a brochure about her procedure, and has shown it to almost everyone! Hey nice to meet you want to see the procedure that was done on me. Thats her reason for going into medicine!
I had an operation when i was 16, i dont remember much b/c i was out of it, dont see how it would influence me into going into medicine though.
I could see maybe recovering from cancer, and meeting a doctor that was amazing i guess.

 

[The Good Guy]

...seeing it on tv or reading about it in books...

Man, these are superficial reasons for going into medicine. Really superficial.

 

[mustangsally65]

"repeated toenail removal due to having ingrown nails" I wasn't sure if this was a joke or not. Not that i have ever experienced this "surgery" i highly doubt my fascination of medicine would have grown out of such a procedure. To answer your question, yes my decision to pursue medicine was as a result of my experiences during my gf's illness and hospitalizations. For the most part I would assume most people are initially drawn to medicine as a result of their own experiences firsthand, knowing someone involved in medicine or seeing it on tv or reading about it in books.

I am truly serious about the toenail removal. My right big toenail has been removed 4 times, and the left one twice. My doctor was amazed when I watched the entire time. I guess most people don't do that. It's a great story when you are looking to gross someone out. The last time it took almost two years for them to grow back out fully after being completely removed.

My apologies if this offends anyone. That was not my intention.

 

[mustangsally65]

Not that I can really contribute to this conversation, but if you are looking to use this angle for your personal statement, I think you should know that 20,000 other premeds in this country are in the same boat with you during the application process.

I've already submitted my personal statement, but thanks for the reply. I know this is common when we are asked "Why do you want to be a doctor?" and I usually am not that eager to use it. But it is a component of the answer, even if I don't say it.

 

[cfdavid]

Man, these are superficial reasons for going into medicine. Really superficial.

Tell us what the "right" reasons are.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Man, these are superficial reasons for going into medicine. Really superficial.

no, i meant that's how a person learns what medicine is about and then they investigate it and decide if they want to go into it as a career.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

I am truly serious about the toenail removal. My right big toenail has been removed 4 times, and the left one twice. My doctor was amazed when I watched the entire time. I guess most people don't do that. It's a great story when you are looking to gross someone out. The last time it took almost two years for them to grow back out fully after being completely removed.

My apologies if this offends anyone. That was not my intention.

i asked to see the sliver of my liver that my doctor removed during my liver biopsy; he was quite surprised but showed it to me.

 

[EllieElle]

Part of my interest in the medical field arose from being interested in medical procedures that I had experienced, like having asthma, surgery for an inguinal hernia, and repeated toenail removal due to having ingrown nails. I also consider my family physician to be my hero, and she is one of my biggest role models as well.

Those are great reasons to want to go into medicine, and I think that a lot of premeds share your motivations. (I myself loved one of the doctors I started seeing after a hospitalization during college, and I've definitely mentioned that whenever asked about motivations for pursuing medicine.) I think it's also important to have backed up your initial interest with more in-depth experience, like shadowing or clinical research or hospital volunteering!

I will say this, even though it doesn't sound like you were thinking along these lines: never, ever criticize another doctor in an interview or personal statement, even if he/she was godawful and you think you can do better. What do we know about medicine, really?

 

[mustangsally65]

I think it's also important to have backed up your initial interest with more in-depth experience, like shadowing or clinical research or hospital volunteering!

Thanks for the reply. I agree, although sometimes the hospital volunteering isn't very medically related. Shadowing gives you a better idea of what doctors do, although volunteering is important in giving back to the community.

 

[Dr. Donkey]

You nasty, gurl.

I am truly serious about the toenail removal. My right big toenail has been removed 4 times, and the left one twice. My doctor was amazed when I watched the entire time. I guess most people don't do that. It's a great story when you are looking to gross someone out. The last time it took almost two years for them to grow back out fully after being completely removed.

My apologies if this offends anyone. That was not my intention.

 

[VPDcurt]

I've had back surgery 2x and that has definitely influenced my decision to go into medicine.

 

[EpointH]

i asked to see the sliver of my liver that my doctor removed during my liver biopsy; he was quite surprised but showed it to me.

That sounds neat! I have had 6 knee surgeries and got to watch one of them, which was really amazing. Granted, I was kind of doped up and obviously they wouldn't let me watch anything other than the video monitor (this particular surgery was an arthroscopy, so good camera images), but it was still great. My doc took pictures of the inside of my knee during my third surgery and it was cool to be able to see my donor ACL all chewed up by my own cells, since I was rejecting it. That said, I still don't think I want to be an orthopedic surgeon...

I think one of the best things that comes out of having a lot of experience as a patient is that you see what you do and do not like about different doctors. It gives you an idea of the kind of doctor you'd like to be in the future!

 

[ajt2003]

One of my friends often jokes that no one should go skinny dipping in my gene pool. And he's totally right:

I've got profoundly flat feet, had a grade 4 underbite (wore a palate expander for a year and braces for 10!), have had two knee surgeries (malformed meniscus on my left knee) and adolescent-onset Crohn's Disease (requiring 3 colonoscopies, two intestinal biopsies, 2 years of nightly tube feeding, 1 upper GI series...and a partridge in a pear tree).

So, yeah, my royally screwed up body has definitely influenced my decision to pursue medicine.

Good thing I'm cute, otherwise I'd have NOTHING going for me. wink, wink.

Who's next?!

 

[mustangsally65]

One of my friends often jokes that no one should go skinny dipping in my gene pool. And he's totally right!

Thanks for sharing. My doctor has told me my own genes are not very good either, probably due to my father's exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam, and the fact that my monozygotic twin sister died before birth.

At least we can take something from our experiences, rather than suffering through them and resenting them. Sometimes it's still not easy being "afflicted," especially with something you know is going to be long term, but it helps to have an interest in the subject.

 

[CanuckRazorback]

I knew I wanted to go into medicine before I had a less than pleasant experience in the hospital. However, I did mention my little escapade to the ER with an 18-in blood clot in my leg in my personal statement only because the doctor who took care of me was an absolute jerk off at first. I spun off a paragraph about the doctor-patient relationship from it.

I think it's fine that you mention your experiences in your statement, as long as you get around to saying how they have influenced your decision to go into medicine.

 

[MizzouDrWannabe]

I am truly serious about the toenail removal. My right big toenail has been removed 4 times, and the left one twice. My doctor was amazed when I watched the entire time. I guess most people don't do that. It's a great story when you are looking to gross someone out. The last time it took almost two years for them to grow back out fully after being completely removed.

My apologies if this offends anyone. That was not my intention.

Been there - feel your pain!!!

 

[soprano]

I will say this, even though it doesn't sound like you were thinking along these lines: never, ever criticize another doctor in an interview or personal statement, even if he/she was godawful and you think you can do better. What do we know about medicine, really?

I would like to (respectfully) disagree. While it's true we don't know much about the technicalities of medicine, we do know an awful lot about being patients, which is something that doctors sometimes forget themselves. That knowledge is just as important to the practice of medicine as all that anatomy, pharm, biochem, etc etc. If you've experienced something as a patient that you feel would inform your own practice of medicine, that's important to mention in a personal statment. Often times this does come in the form of criticism (however I do agree that this isn't best done by criticizing a particular person, but maybe trends in the profession in general). And on a personal note, I did this myself in my own personal statement, and it hasn't seemed to have a negative effect on the admissions process. Although I guess that could have been due to my wit and charm as well... jk...