medical students' attitudes dentists, etc

[NonTradMed]

I've heard some negative remarks about other health professionals like dentistry at my med school and I was wondering if this is common thing (to put down other health professions).

"What do you call a med student who flunked out? A dental student!"

"Hey, did you hear that the dental school here have mandatory attendence?"
"Yeah, but it's dental school so it's not like they need to study. If there's no mandatory attendence, then no one would ever look at their notes"

Everyone seems to think dental students have it very easy and that most are just people who can't hack med school.

I haven't seen the same thing with the local pharm school but I'm going to guess that people may also look down on them too. The most I've heard is "pharm school is pretty nice", as if it's a nice little thing some people can do for a quick buck.

I've also heard a people kind of putdown osteo school ("they can't do real medicine", "I think they're only naturopaths" etc).

I'm not asking if these opinions are true but I'm curious if this is common at your med schools? Here on SDN we get a skewed view of people's opinions due to moderators who are sensitive to these types of 'profession bashing'. However, in real life, people seem to not conform to the SDN forum standard. No one would bash a DO here without getting warned and banned, but in RL, it seems all the negative stereotypes comes out in full play. Ditto with dentistry and (I think somewhat) with pharm.

Interestingly, I have heard people speak highly of competitive law schools, b/c it seems, in terms of admissions and making money coming out, people believe it rivals medicine and respects it accordingly (and we socialize with the local law school too LOL).

Just curious what your experience is with the students at your med school regarding other health professions. Do you hear comments bashing other healthcare professions?

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[Ypo.]

No.

 

[Taus]

it shouldn't shock anyone that a solid proportion of med students are egotistical, prestige-driven d-bags...

 

[beefballs]

I've heard some negative remarks about other health professionals like dentistry at my med school and I was wondering if this is common thing (to put down other health professions).

"What do you call a med student who flunked out? A dental student!"

"Hey, did you hear that the dental school here have mandatory attendence?"
"Yeah, but it's dental school so it's not like they need to study. If there's no mandatory attendence, then no one would ever look at their notes"

Everyone seems to think dental students have it very easy and that most are just people who can't hack med school.

I haven't seen the same thing with the local pharm school but I'm going to guess that people may also look down on them too. The most I've heard is "pharm school is pretty nice", as if it's a nice little thing some people can do for a quick buck.

I've also heard a people kind of putdown osteo school ("they can't do real medicine", "I think they're only naturopaths" etc).

I'm not asking if these opinions are true but I'm curious if this is common at your med schools? Here on SDN we get a skewed view of people's opinions due to moderators who are sensitive to these types of 'profession bashing'. However, in real life, people seem to not conform to the SDN forum standard. No one would bash a DO here without getting warned and banned, but in RL, it seems all the negative stereotypes comes out in full play. Ditto with dentistry and (I think somewhat) with pharm.

Interestingly, I have heard people speak highly of competitive law schools, b/c it seems, in terms of admissions and making money coming out, people believe it rivals medicine and respects it accordingly (and we socialize with the local law school too LOL).

Just curious what your experience is with the students at your med school regarding other health professions. Do you hear comments bashing other healthcare professions?

ITs a joke, I also make jokes about how dumb the other med school classes are compared to mine, Seriously if you get butt hurt by these innocuos jokes you are the epitome of a douchebag, and should be ridiculed for that. Do people really waste their energy caring if I am serious when I say I am "anti-dentite" I highly doubt it.

 

[NonTradMed]

ITs a joke, I also make jokes about how dumb the other med school classes are compared to mine, Seriously if you get butt hurt by these innocuos jokes you are the epitome of a douchebag, and should be ridiculed for that. Do people really waste their energy caring if I am serious when I say I am "anti-dentite" I highly doubt it.

I'm not hurt by them as I am neither DO, dent or pharm and have no friends who are. However, I wanted to know if this attitude is common within the medical community or if this is something that occurs at my school only. Maybe I should ask the mod to close the thread. It seems people feel either insulted by my post or defensive about it. I am not asking for people to sympathesize or apologize or whatever. I was merely curious.

 

[Taus]

I'm not hurt by them as I am neither DO, dent or pharm and have no friends who are. However, I wanted to know if this attitude is common within the medical community or if this is something that occurs at my school only. Maybe I should ask the mod to close the thread. It seems people feel either insulted by my post or defensive about it. I am not asking for people to sympathesize or apologize or whatever. I was merely curious.

Not sure if that was directed at me (but there weren't many other responders)....anyway I was neither insulted or getting defensive....I just always think its pretty comical how our "altruistic" profession is so saturated w/ egotistical d-bags....those making comments like that either don't know what they are talking about or enjoy feeling superior to others....

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

I've heard jokes here and there about various healthcare professions, but none that I would classify as outright hostile. I don't get the sense that other professions are looked down on, but they certainly are not held in the same regard as M.D.s, for certain. Actually, take that back - I've heard a few mean jokes about Chiropractors. I think I might have made on or two myself, as well

 

[Wizard of Oz]

Yes I have heard this. There is some myth about dental students getting easier exams in common classes (likely more just oriented to their boards than ours though they have had plenty of identical questions based on my convo's with them), and even in the first week somebody started an argument about how offended she was that a dental student said that their school was "harder" than ours.

Of course, I've already mentioned how people smirk at me for wanting to be a PA before doing medicine as an alternative.

Before I came here, undergrad/grad students used to look at me like a knowledgable person since I am a med tech. Here any knowledge that I have is often dismissed quickly as being beneath even an M1. Perhaps surprisingly the most respect that I get is from attendings who know that I know more about antibiotic pharmacodynamics than them and are eager to discuss new drugs with me during clinicals.

I'm not really in the mood to discuss why I think this happens because it will start another battle. Somebody else can do this and I'll just chime in if need be.

 

[humuhumu]

To answer your question, no, at my school, I haven't heard anyone bashing or making fun of other health care professionals (or students in other programs). Wouldn't be surprised if it happens occasionally, but I haven't been aware of it.

If it ever did happen, I'd be quick to discourage it, probably with some comment like, "Actually, I wish I had been smart enough to go into a field where they make good money and have a shorter training and better lifestyle."

 

[Doctor Bagel]

My school has a long tradition of bashing the dental students, which I think is sort of lame. They included both DO and dental school bashing in the joke video they showed us on our first night of orientation (note, this wasn't from the school -- it was made by the class of 2009), which made me a little uncomfortable. Anyway, it'd be nice if it would stop.

As an aside, my thought is that there are real ego issues with medical students and doctors. We get our a&&es kissed so much by society and by our admins that we just start to think we're better than other people. I honestly don't think anyone is doing us a favor when they give us the endless speeches about how great we are.

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

We have a School of Health Professions on campus, including stuff like occupational medicine, dental hygeine, health information management, etc. The joke is most of them are actually getting their MRS. degree, since they're about 95% female and like to hang around the med school/dent school parties. It's chauvinistic and mean, not saying it isn't, but if you see a slutty firefighter costume at the Halloween party chances are it's on a SHRP girl, and chances are she's getting herpes from some lucky third year later on.

 

[Wizard of Oz]

My school has a long tradition of bashing the dental students, which I think is sort of lame. They included both DO and dental school bashing in the joke video they showed us on our first night of orientation (note, this wasn't from the school -- it was made by the class of 2009), which made me a little uncomfortable. Anyway, it'd be nice if it would stop.

Yep, that's why I didn't go. Very familiar with the tradition.

I'm not really in the mood to discuss why I think this happens because it will start another battle. Somebody else can do this and I'll just chime in if need be.

As an aside, my thought is that there are real ego issues with medical students and doctors. We get our a&&es kissed so much by society and by our admins that we just start to think we're better than other people. I honestly don't think anyone is doing us a favor when they give us the endless speeches about how great we are.

This is where I was going. Then as you move along, you get torn down by residents to the point where you lose the empathy stuff that they try to impress upon you from day one. If I'm an idiot, then the patient must really be an idiot. There was some clinical test question we had about senior med students being less empathetic than M1's or the like--duh, look at the training and how much time we have per patient. We can interview for half an hour as M1's. I somehow think that's impossible later on.

Before I entered med school, I had friends go from having a professional discussion with me as senior premeds to talking to me like Al Gore as M1's. I was like, "Yeah I know what that means. I'm not five years old." Likewise I've known people who were friends in which one went into nursing while the other went into medicine and they somehow slowly grew apart until they stopped speaking.

 

[Bertelman]

Worst I've heard at my school is some envious comments about dentites getting to party a little more, or having a nicer lounge. Anything more obnoxious comes from the mouths of the usual suspects, and is easy to dismiss.


And seriously, taus, quit fishing for a battle here. I await your next post calling us douchebags and ending with an ellipsis, as though pending further commentary. It seems the MD studs here have been apologetic about this attitude. There are enough threads touting "my" education as superior to all others.

 

[sendwich]

i've heard this a lot as an undergrad. people who started off in their ug's as pre-med, couldn't cut it with their gpa/mcat, end up opting for "alternative" careers in dental/pharmacy/pa schools. buying into such stereotypes ("you're a ___ becauase you couldn't get into medschool") is stupid but some poeple find some truths in why people look down on non-md's.

 

[Taus]

Worst I've heard at my school is some envious comments about dentites getting to party a little more, or having a nicer lounge. Anything more obnoxious comes from the mouths of the usual suspects, and is easy to dismiss.


And seriously, taus, quit fishing for a battle here. I await your next post calling us douchebags and ending with an ellipsis, as though pending further commentary. It seems the MD studs here have been apologetic about this attitude. There are enough threads touting "my" education as superior to all others.

woah....I've NEVER been one to start $hit on here....you misunderstood me....there's plenty of future egotistical douchebag physicians in my class too....trust me I didn't imply the degree thing at all...I was referring to the attitudes of a good proportion of physicians and medical students in general

 

[Wizard of Oz]

It seems the MD studs here have been apologetic about this attitude. There are enough threads touting "my" education as superior to all others.

Trudat. Ditto on the apology. Not my bad, I promise.

Do/study/practice what you love!

 

[Bertelman]

woah....I've NEVER been one to start $hit on here....you misunderstood me....there's plenty of future egotistical douchebag physicians in my class too....trust me I didn't imply the degree thing at all...I was referring to the attitudes of a good proportion of physicians and medical students in general

Misunderstanding it is, then. I've just not seen you around here, and to me, dropping two d-bombs in two separate posts seemed a little much.

Carry on.

 

[PEN15]

this must be more of an American thing. the competition is pretty tough to get into a dental school here in Canada.

 

[Law2Doc]

this must be more of an American thing. the competition is pretty tough to get into a dental school here in Canada.

Much denser population in the states means room in the profession for more dentists, I guess.

 

[MadameLULU]

No. I've never heard it. Some of my classmates don't even know the difference in philosophy between MD and DO.

 

[RxnMan]

I've heard some negative remarks about other health professionals like dentistry at my med school and I was wondering if this is common thing (to put down other health professions).

"What do you call a med student who flunked out? A dental student!"...

So in my ugrad, a fairly competitive specialty engineering college, we'd trash the crap out of our classmates. Geologists were thought of as professional campers. Metallurgists looked down on the materials sci guys. Nobody knew what geophysics people did, but if your major consisted of a combination of the two least fun classes in school, it couldn't be good. The profs in Chem E told us that if we thought classes were too hard, we could cross the street (to the Mech E building) and become a gear head. Physics and math people were respected, but only because they took abnormally hard classes for a degree with no job prospects.

It was all a joke. 75% of our classes are the same, we were all the nerdy top 10% of our high school class, and we all were beat up by the high school varsity football team. We all knew that if our tastes ran different, we'd be in a different field. It was friendly rivalry. People from off campus didn't get it, but then again, they didn't know that there were actually more than one type of engineer.

Which reminds me: I need to schedule a cleaning.

 

[dilated]

the dentists here DO have it easier. there's a reason they're out doing kegstands on tuesday nights while my classmates live in the library.

I don't hold that against them though. In fact, some days I wish I was them.

 

[random-dude]

Dental students are smarter.....way smarter. They study their faces off for the first two years just like medical school and then the third and fourth years are easier.

Dental school is four years with no painful residency unless you really want ortho, path, or oral surgery. Even then the residency is only 1-2 years.

They don't have to take insurance if they don't want to....
They can do cosmetic procedures which = $$$...
They typically have better hours zero/little call....
and lets not forget all those keg stands in 3rd-4th year....

Sounds more fun than med school to me.

 

[soeagerun2or]

My experience with dental students just verifies that interviews for medical school do count for something..

Yes we rip on the Dental/Law/PT-OT/Pharm/DO/Chiro/Nursing/PA students. Yes its warranted.

 

[runfast520]

I think med/dental school is what you make of it. I am in dental school, but actually accepted to both med and dental school(worked as a chemE before coming back and wasn't sure which program I wanted)
anyway, most of my friends are in med school and they still party like they did in undergrad biology. They get by from studying old test, of course 1/5 failed step 1, but he got another 3 months to study for it and another month off to wait for his test result before he could start rotations.
and then take my friends gf, she studied 24/7 and is only ranked a few spots ahead of them because she doesn't have any friends and doesn't get any of the old tests. I actually hope most schools are tougher than what my friends are experiencing.
I was just excepted into ortho this year, so I was always studying while my friends were partying, but some of my classmates that want to be general dentists were out partying with them.
funny thing is, my college track coach tried to talk me into med school because of the respect thing, but I was making 6 figures in the midwest and wanted to work as soon as possible, now I am doing a 3 year residency that doesn't have a stipend at all, so I get to borrow my cost of living for 3 more years!
I think anything can be made difficult. and there are truly talented people in my dental class, as there are lots in the med class

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

I think med/dental school is what you make of it. I am in dental school, but actually accepted to both med and dental school(worked as a chemE before coming back and wasn't sure which program I wanted)
anyway, most of my friends are in med school and they still party like they did in undergrad biology. They get by from studying old test, of course 1/5 failed step 1, but he got another 3 months to study for it and another month off to wait for his test result before he could start rotations.
and then take my friends gf, she studied 24/7 and is only ranked a few spots ahead of them because she doesn't have any friends and doesn't get any of the old tests. I actually hope most schools are tougher than what my friends are experiencing.
I was just excepted into ortho this year, so I was always studying while my friends were partying, but some of my classmates that want to be general dentists were out partying with them.
funny thing is, my college track coach tried to talk me into med school because of the respect thing, but I was making 6 figures in the midwest and wanted to work as soon as possible, now I am doing a 3 year residency that doesn't have a stipend at all, so I get to borrow my cost of living for 3 more years!
I think anything can be made difficult. and there are truly talented people in my dental class, as there are lots in the med class

Wow, dental residents don't get paid? Bummer.

 

[pagemmapants]

Yes, I've seen it. And heard it.

And yes, done it. Mostly on the dental students, since we don't actually have classes with them so they're ambiguous non-entities. Our PA students have classes with us, so we like them. Strangely, the neuroscience grad students who recently joined us for our neuro block get ripped on no end, but that's because they haven't realized the "don't ask obnoxious hypotheticals because the med students will rip your teeth out" concept.

However, no, I don't think that any of us really believe what we say when we make those "med school reject" jokes, any more than we really believe the "hurr hurr pathologists don't see patients. . . hurr hurr orthopedists are dumb as an ox and twice as strong hurr hurr" jokes). Part of it is jealousy - hell, we need something to make ourselves feel better after we're stuck up in the study carrels until 3 am on a Saturday before an exam on Monday (which just happens to be a vacation for 90% of the working world, by the way).

If you don't grow a sense of humor about this kind of stuff then you're seriously gonna have to learn how to take everything you hear with a pound or two of salt. Most of the obnoxious d-bag crap that med students say/do is a) only around other med students and b) just a way of blowing off steam. Granted, there are better ways to do this, but we're all human and humans say/do dumb obnoxious d-bag crap on a regular basis, regardless of profession.

 

[Dookter]

Strangely, the neuroscience grad students who recently joined us for our neuro block get ripped on no end, but that's because they haven't realized the "don't ask obnoxious hypotheticals because the med students will rip your teeth out" concept.

I think taking the microphone away from one or two grad students specifically would solve the problem...

 

[Eiano]

The point of this thread was to put down dentists and pharmacists. Just admit it.... and the OP needed some lame excuse (like what's your opinion?) to make themselves feel better about throwing out some backhanded "I want to know"-type-post.

 

[beefballs]

The point of this thread was to put down dentists and pharmacists. Just admit it.... and the OP needed some lame excuse (like what's your opinion?) to make themselves feel better about throwing out some backhanded "I want to know"-type-post.

I thought being made fun of was a dentists' purpose. I mean seriously who likes dentists?

 

[Taus]

Kramer: You know what you are Jerry?...You're an Anti-Dentite! Next you're going to be saying they should have separate schools!

Jerry: They already have separate schools

Kramer: Ah-hah!

 

[cfdavid]

My school has a long tradition of bashing the dental students, which I think is sort of lame. They included both DO and dental school bashing in the joke video they showed us on our first night of orientation (note, this wasn't from the school -- it was made by the class of 2009), which made me a little uncomfortable. Anyway, it'd be nice if it would stop.

As an aside, my thought is that there are real ego issues with medical students and doctors. We get our a&&es kissed so much by society and by our admins that we just start to think we're better than other people. I honestly don't think anyone is doing us a favor when they give us the endless speeches about how great we are.

I'm really suprised to hear that. How ridiculous is that?

People just need to check themselves, and grow up.

 

[Tired]

As an aside, my thought is that there are real ego issues with medical students and doctors. We get our a&&es kissed so much by society and by our admins that we just start to think we're better than other people. I honestly don't think anyone is doing us a favor when they give us the endless speeches about how great we are.

I've always seen it from the opposite perspective. With all the crap the admin, faculty, nurses, and residents drop on us, med student turn around and try to find someone else they can feel superior to.

You really get your a$$ kissed by your admin? For us it has always been the complete opposite: We're lucky to be here, we can get tossed at any time, we don't work hard enough, we're not taking school seriously, etc.

 

[NonTradMed]

So in my ugrad, a fairly competitive specialty engineering college, we'd trash the crap out of our classmates. Geologists were thought of as professional campers. Metallurgists looked down on the materials sci guys. Nobody knew what geophysics people did, but if your major consisted of a combination of the two least fun classes in school, it couldn't be good. The profs in Chem E told us that if we thought classes were too hard, we could cross the street (to the Mech E building) and become a gear head. Physics and math people were respected, but only because they took abnormally hard classes for a degree with no job prospects.

It was all a joke. 75% of our classes are the same, we were all the nerdy top 10% of our high school class, and we all were beat up by the high school varsity football team. We all knew that if our tastes ran different, we'd be in a different field. It was friendly rivalry. People from off campus didn't get it, but then again, they didn't know that there were actually more than one type of engineer.

Which reminds me: I need to schedule a cleaning.

I remember the engineering school as a whole used to look down at the computer science people for not being 'real engineering'. We used to make fun of them by saying that we'd take over the world (this was at the height of the dot com boom).

The point of this thread was to put down dentists and pharmacists. Just admit it.... and the OP needed some lame excuse (like what's your opinion?) to make themselves feel better about throwing out some backhanded "I want to know"-type-post.

Yes, you found me out. Look through my 1000+ posts and you will see it is littered with posts bashing DOs, pharmacists, and dentists.

 

[RxnMan]

I remember the engineering school as a whole used to look down at the computer science people for not being 'real engineering'...

Well, of course comp sci people aren't real engineers - you've never had to solve a counter-current heat exchanger, or taken fluids, or designed a truss. All you do is type on a computer.

Then when I worked as a biomedical engineer, 90% of my work was done by sitting in front of a PC!

 

[braluk]

Its the same wherever you go, especially if there's some form of rudimentary hierarchy. Take a look at the military. Marines and Ground troops talk trash about the air force all the time- the branch of the military where you can sit in a nice comfortable chair safely in the air, yet I would argue that this branch of the military is probably the one that wins the wars. Should you care? Maybe. Should it affect what you do? no. At the end of the day, it seems that alot of folks (at least in my experience with friends) forget that all healthcare professionals are here to serve the public, not yourself, so putting yourself in a high chair is moot, and unnecessary. I guess its a human instinct *shrug*

 

[45408]

On SDN, it barely seems like a Dentist vs. Doctor thread can go by without a dental student mentioning that they will never have to check a prostate. Things go both ways. Humor is a good way to blow off stress. Cracking jokes about different professions, as long as no one there is in that profession, goes in the category of "pretty damn harmless," IMO. Openly mocking another profession to their face is tactless and rude.

We make jokes all the time about MD specialties, and nobody worries about that, so who cares if you joke about dentists or nurses?

P=FP

What's the difference between God and an orthopedic surgeon? God doesn't think he's an orthopedic surgeon.

Radiology? More like radiHOLIDAY.

Proctology? Do I even need to start?

 

[Tired]

What's the difference between God and an orthopedic surgeon?

God doesn't charge for his miracles.

I swear, the first first joint replacement I do after I finish residency, I'm going to walk in the room and yell, "Arise ye, and walk!"