"Medicine isn't worth it anymore" ~M.D.

[DeigoT]

How true!

Does anyone know any female docs who are practising and have a family? What do their husbands do? I'm sure there are plenty out there, I just need to hear some success stories for my own peace of mind.

Not really a success story here, but my former employer (a urologist) was the chief of the department, and her husband (a former family practice physician turned fulltime writer) was a stay at home dad. That arrangement worked very well for them. Sadly, she recently quit her position and told me she is no longer practicing medicine. She had also discouraged me from going into medicine.

I also know a family practice doc who is the head of the community health dept at the hosptial and teaches part-time. She abosolutely loves what she does, although she says she doesn't make a lot of money. She is actually divorced though.

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[MossPoh]

There will always be people on both sides. Some just got so far into school and thought it was the point of no return. My dad is 68 and just went into partial retirement..he loves almost every second of work. He almost goes nuts with other projects when he doesn't get to work. He said first starting he hated it.......(radiologist) but now when he is away he misses everything about it...so different strokes for different folks. As far as radiology being nice and controlled catering towards a family is crap....I love my dad but there'd be occassions where I wouldn't see him for almost a week straight by how our schedules worked....but he is extremeley hard working in at 7 in the morning out by 7 or 8 at night kind of guy...then by the time I got back he was asleep.

 

[sparkysgirl]

A friend of my parents who's an MD and has known me since I was born is vehemently against me going to med school. In fact he's been trying to run into me since I was accepted to try and convince me not to attend. I know his arguments via my parents and have been avoiding him like the plague. It'd be awful hard to argue back, I can't very well argue I know the profession better. But, my two points that keep my conscience from feeling guilty about avoiding him are that I'm not expecting medicine to be what it was 40 years ago when he started out, and I doubt when he was in my place any one could have convinced him otherwise. We've come so far at this point I'd rather experience it for myself, I can't imagine doing anything else, if I end up terribly disappointed that that's the way it goes. Anyway, that's my two cents.

 

[Norizan]

I don't know, I have a "regular" job and deal with tons of administrative BS, work long hours (usually 7:30am - 6pm --although I do still have to check out the web pretty regularly ), work most weekends, have years of training (not as much as an MD, obviously), deal with bosses that are total dip****s, etc. and I make about 20% of what the average MD makes. I am willing to bet if he had a regular job he'd find far more to complain about.
I have shadowed an ER doc here in Portland for awhile now and he gets bent out of shape some days because he thinks his job is sooooo frustrating..... I have to laugh because it doesn't even approach the level of frustration I deal with in my job. The problem is so many MD went straight from college to med school without experiencing BS in the real world, so they think their jobs suck, even though every jobs sucks in different ways. You just have to find something that is personally satisfying enough that you can cope with the annoying ****.

I agree. I am a nontraditional student and have been in the workforce for the past four years in advertising, medical research, computers, business, etc. and I realize that you will find bull**** ANYWHERE, no matter what field you go into. For me, being happy is not necessarily what I do (because I realize that I like to do a lot of things besides pursuing a medical degree) but who you work with. For instance, I like doing research and experiments but the people I worked with are complete *ssholes who like take advantage of me. However, I now work in computers doing a menial job but am very happy because the people I work with are absolutely nice to me. Anyways, I am glad that I have worked for several years prior to matriculating to medical school because I will know that when I receive bull**** as doctor, I know that I can get bull**** in other fields as well and just to let it roll over my back and not to make a big deal out of it.

 

[gujuDoc]

One of the residents I was talking to recently, at USF, said that he doesn't have a definite answer about whether or not he'd do it again, but his greatest complaint wasn't the administrative stuff or what not, but the fact that he doesn't have as much time as his engineering brothers to do things like hiking or other outdoor activities that he enjoys since you are always on call or always have to be ready for an emergency or what not. But other then that, he said he's pretty happy and knows that if he did do it over it would be in neurology his chosen field.

 

[emtji]

to be unemotional,

I would be on the fence and most likely would NOT do it over again. I enjoy certain aspects of this, but there are alot of problems with medicine that I didn't really forsee before applying. I don't think upper levels have to treat everyone beneath them as poorly as they do. I think there's much more civility in other fields, or at the very least, the pecking order isn't as obvious.

If i could do it all over again, I would have been an economics major, worked more efficiently in college, gotten better grades and gone into consulting or banking.

I most certainly would NOT have done the post-bac route and waited several years and application cycles.

At the end of the day though, I'm not that unhappy with my choice and I'm confident that if didn't get my #1 dream job by going to med school, i definately got #2 or #3.

 

[Law2Doc]

I don't think upper levels have to treat everyone beneath them as poorly as they do. I think there's much more civility in other fields, or at the very least, the pecking order isn't as obvious.

If i could do it all over again, I would have ...gone into ... banking.

While I don't disagree with some of your post, I think you aren't at all accurate about there not being a very obvious rigid pecking order in fields like banking. It's such a rigid hierarchy that junior folks start out spending late nights waiting for prospectuses at the printers, getting yelled at, or called back to the office late at night by bosses, and working in cubicles or multiple desk group offices, report to various managing directors who report to vice presidents and so on. Folks usually go back to school for their MBA just to get to the next level.

 

[zbruinz]

yeah, while banking is lucrative, there are certainly many hinders that can prevent a promotion. And having some old fart screaming obscenities in your ear 10 hours a day is not a nice life.

 

[nikibean]

I really like this thread, because it hits home for me. I've seen both the good and the ugly in medicine- the people who are so incredibly grateful (hey, I've been one of them- a family friend saved my life when I was three and had epiglottitis- I've got a rad trach scar). I've seen family members work 12 hour days and NOT GET PAID for the month due to back ups with billing. I've watched other people get sued. At my clinic, I've seen doctors give everything for less than a PA makes in a hospital environment (and those doctors are absolutely wonderful, incredible people whom I respect very much).

It all comes down to what's the right choice for you. I've been debating this very fact due to my love of the wilderness and my love for play time. I haven't spoken about it much because I'm paranoid that an Adcom will read my post and decide, "nope, she's not in" when it's just something I think about - I think everything through completely, almost to a fault. In any case, I have an offer to go straight through a BSN/MSN program which would take me 3 1/2 years to complete, and honestly, I'm considering it due to what I know about myself, and due to the fact that I'm 28. A friend who's a PA/Everest guide gave me some great advice on the matter, and it's made me deeply re-consider what I'm doing now that everything is coming to a head. His comment was that if you're intelligent, confident, and know your ****, you're going to earn respect if you're in a nurturing environment. That goes for MDs, DOs, FNPs, PAs or RNs to the volunteers in the hospital. God I want to get into Davis SOM so badly- I know that I will love working in an ED someday, most likely in Tahoe. Yeee-ha backcountry here I come!

So that's the question for everyone, is it the letters behind your name that's important, or what else drives you into this career choice? Don't let it be the money- the money is dwindling anyway for docs (I've seen it firsthand in my family), and at the end of the day are you going to be satisfied with what you've done?

 

[lilmissangel]

I just spoke with two of the other ER docs I work with and they both said they would do it again. One said she would probably go into Radiology because with a good internet connection you could live anywhere in the world but shes not displeased with her choice of ER. She also assured me that it was TOTALLY possible to have a family and be a doc. You just have to be smart about it.
The other doc said he wouldnt do anything else (he is the head of the dept tho....) he said radiology would be too boring for him.
I feel so much better now!