Not to be cheesy or anything

[GATORade]

But I think all of you should check out Worriedwell's post in the “Pre-Allo vs Allo perceptions of medicine” thread in the Allopathic forum. By far the best post I've ever read.

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[deuist]

Link

 

[alliemac]

I'm gonna bump this b/c I think that it needs to be at the top of this forum...very important for all the pre-allos to read.

 

[oompa loompa]

Yeah, it's a great post to read...very honest but also inspirational. Still, this last paragraph kind of annoys me in the way it romanticizes medicine as a profession:

But at the end of the day you realize that it was worth it, you would never do it again, but you're glad that you got through it. You feel proud of yourself but remain totally humble that you aren't even close to being where you need to be to treat patients autonomously. And you realize that you just finished something tough but it isn't even close to as tough and stressful as your residency is. Then you feel anxious about getting through the next phase of your painful career choice. But, you're a doctor, nobody can take that away from you. You sign a lease in your new city and feel ecstatic when it asks you what your occupation is and you get to write for the first time...PHYSICIAN.\

I'm pretty sure most of us will not feel ecstatic the fist time we get to write down that we're a physician.

However, this is how I imagine many of those pre-med novels sound like. Am I right?

 

[getunconcsious]

Hmm, worriedwell's post is certainly interesting. I keep thinking that the romantic ideal of physicians being so important is just BS and that doctors have a skill set that they market to society, just like accountants, engineers, lawyers, etc. But maybe my cynical perspective of medicine as a career choice like any other will change with more experience.

 

[oompa loompa]

Hmm, worriedwell's post is certainly interesting. I keep thinking that the romantic ideal of physicians being so important is just BS and that doctors have a skill set that they market to society, just like accountants, engineers, lawyers, etc. But maybe my cynical perspective of medicine as a career choice like any other will change with more experience.

been reading despair.com lately?
I share your more cynical perspective, and I think plenty of others in med school do too. They just...don't post on SDN. I hope this is the case, anyway.

 

[MJB]

Having been an engineer and a lab rat for the last 7 years, I would never equate those professions to the practice of medicine by a physician...at least in the way I view medicine...(granted, elective plastic surgery could certainly fit into the same category as engineering I guess)

 

[getunconcsious]

Having been an engineer and a lab rat for the last 7 years, I would never equate those professions to the practice of medicine by a physician...at least in the way I view medicine...(granted, elective plastic surgery could certainly fit into the same category as engineering I guess)

I wasn't saying equivalent as in they do the same things or even have the same type of schedule. But they're both skill sets that you market to society in order to support yourself. That's what I was saying. Granted, that sounds cynical. But, worriedwell talked a lot about 'the real deal' and what kind of doctor is 'the real deal.' I really don't care about a physician's attitude, motivation, or anything like that. I only care that they're competent. Whether they are good because they are clawing their way to the top of some university hospital department, or they're good because they care so much about helping me is immaterial to me. That's what I mean. I wish he'd elaborate on what he meant by 'the real deal'. It seems very touchy-feely and wishy-washy to me. Does that mean someone who is competent? Someone with a certain set of motivations and attitudes? I think it's the latter, and that's why I couldn't unilaterally say his post was the best thing I've ever read. It was really interesting though. Like I said, I'm only a premed so I don't really know what it's like to be in med school, I may very well change my thinking after I get further along. But I've always been a fairly cold person with a focus on competent excellence and efficiency in performance, so I can't see myself ever thinking that it's terribly important that people go into any career including medicine for the 'right' reasons. All that matters to me is that they're good at what they do.

Does that make more sense?

 

[Brain]

I wasn't saying equivalent as in they do the same things or even have the same type of schedule. But they're both skill sets that you market to society in order to support yourself. That's what I was saying. Granted, that sounds cynical. But, worriedwell talked a lot about 'the real deal' and what kind of doctor is 'the real deal.' I really don't care about a physician's attitude, motivation, or anything like that. I only care that they're competent. Whether they are good because they are clawing their way to the top of some university hospital department, or they're good because they care so much about helping me is immaterial to me. That's what I mean. I wish he'd elaborate on what he meant by 'the real deal'. It seems very touchy-feely and wishy-washy to me. Does that mean someone who is competent? Someone with a certain set of motivations and attitudes? I think it's the latter, and that's why I couldn't unilaterally say his post was the best thing I've ever read. It was really interesting though. Like I said, I'm only a premed so I don't really know what it's like to be in med school, I may very well change my thinking after I get further along. But I've always been a fairly cold person with a focus on competent excellence and efficiency in performance, so I can't see myself ever thinking that it's terribly important that people go into any career including medicine for the 'right' reasons. All that matters to me is that they're good at what they do.

Does that make more sense?

Hey they,

I totally agree with you and understand what you're saying, but I also rival you in terms of cynicism I really don't care about the motivations or social skills of my physician so much as I care about their knowledge base and competance. I'll give you an example. There was this CV surgeon at a hospital in the town I went to college in. This guy was a raging a$$hole. He'd throw temper tantrums and throw his instruments around and everything. However, he was the best CV surgeon in the area and everyone knew it. If I ever need such a procedure he's who I'd want to go see. Ideally, I like physicians who are personable and care but given the choice between a less competant but nice altruistic doc and an antisocial genius, I'll take the genius any day.

However, we may be unique in this aspect. A lot of the malpractice suits that are brought up are because patients are unsatisfied with the interpersonal aspects of the care they get. And I suppose it depends on the field you enter as well. Some specialities will probably require more social skills than others esp. if you're trying to extract very personal info from a patient. I think becoming the "real deal" will in large part be finding a specialty that suits your personality. Just my $0.02

 

[Gut Shot]

I wish he'd elaborate on what he meant by 'the real deal'. It seems very touchy-feely and wishy-washy to me. Does that mean someone who is competent? Someone with a certain set of motivations and attitudes?

Ah, you'll find out. It will become apparent after a couple of years of gazing out at the sea of clowns you will call classmates, and then seeing the amazing variety of ways that physicians perform and carry themselves. You can certainly fake being a "real deal", but they're born, not made.

For the record, I spent 6 years getting my PhD, then 4 years in med school, so now I'm 31 and 135K in the hole, after 10 consecutive years of abject poverty and intellectual abuse. I'm going into pathology because patients are so much cuter when they're either dead or mostly in anohter room. So I hereby declare myself a veritable supernova of cynicism.

 

[Gut Shot]

A lot of the malpractice suits that are brought up are because patients are unsatisfied with the interpersonal aspects of the care they get.

Yes and no. The problem is more related to communication than interpersonal skills, although the two often go hand in hand. That may seem like splitting hairs, but it's an important distinction.