just want to give my 2 cents here. (I am a ortho resident, who is currently doing my surgery internship). First of all, there will always be people/residents/attendings who will tell you that medicine has tons of problems, you will be overworked, the politics of medicine/health care system sucks, and the future is only going down hills, I would not have gone this route if I had to do it over again..... Some of this is true and some of it are just the personal perspective of these people. Just like the old saying that if you have a half glass full of water, some people will see the it is half full and others will see that it is half empty. The same life experience are perceived differently by 2 different persons. To give you a good example, 2 of my best friends from medical school went to Ghana for 4 weeks to do a medical rotation, they both went to the same beach hotel for the weekend, and they both sent me an email about the weekend. One person told me that it was one of the most beautiful place that he has ever seen before, the beaches in Ghana was amazing, it was so relaxing to sip a drink and watching the waves, even more amazing to be in Ghana. My other friend also emailed me about the trip, she told me that the hotel was dirty as SH@#, the service sucked, there was no hot water, and that she can't wait to get back to the States. So as you can see, people will always have different ways of looking and living the same/similar experience.
In my previous posts about my internship so far, I have said alot of good things about medicine and why I love this profession. People can say, you have only been an intern for little over 2 weeks, why don't you come back in 5 years and post whether you still like being a resident and being in medicine. That is true I have only been an intern for 2 wks, but I have done 2 years of clinical medicine and I still enjoy what I do. I can tell you that as a 4th medical student, doing an away elective in Orthopedics when you are trying to impress the program, you will work very very hard. I took call q3-4, I stayed the next day post call to do clinic or OR until 6pm, while the On call resident left at 10am. I was putting in about 110-120 hours for 12 weeks in a row (I did 3 months of Ortho, 2 aways, and 1 at my home program), getting in the hospital at 4am to see all the patients on service and write the notes before my resident rolled in for the rounds. And at the end, I was tired, but still I didn't question whether I was doing the right thing by pursuing medicine because I KNEW this is what I wanted to do. The only time I have ever questioned medicine as a career was in the middle of my 2nd year, when I was studying all the useless details of pathology/pharm/micro/etc, reading books, and taking exams after exams and the boards. That sucked, but clinical medicine and going to the Operating Room is sweet.
And I think someone posted that "all of us pre-meds (some soon to be MS1s) already know and understand what we're getting ourselves into. We don't need a disgruntled doctor in their residency to come "save" us and change our minds and sway us from our passion." That is great you are so enthused about going to medicial school, but I think alot of the Pre Meds really Don't know what they are getting them self into. I sure didn't know when I was a Pre Med and even at the start of medical school. But through the journey of medical school and start of my residency, I still enjoy what I do. In every medical school class, there will be someone who will change their mind and do something else, even in residency, people have switched out of their residencies because they did not know what they were getting themselves into, esp in a surgical speciality. It is only when you have walked through medical school and residency that you will REALLY know what the profession is about. But I would also take what the attendings tell you with a grain of salt. The system is changing regarding work hour and the surgical residency. In 2003, ACGME approved a resolution to limit work hours to 80/wk. It is actually 80 averaged over 4 wks (means you can still be in the hospital 90 per week). So for the last 2 years, many many surgery programs are making changes to make sure they are following this rule, so that they won't loose their accreditation. Now, when I am post call, I go home at 9-noon or even eariler. Before this, even 5 years ago, the gen surg residents were putting in about 120+ hours per week for 5 years. They took call Q 3, and then post call, they had to stay until after OR cases or clinics. I can tell you from experience, that 80 hours vs 120 hours is a HUGE difference. If I was working 120 hours / wk for 5 years, I might hate what I do. Right now, I loged my hours for the 1st 2 weeks and it has been in the high 70s to mid 80s. I still have time to hit the weights 3-4 times per week and run, and go out to bars on one of the days on the weekend when I am not on call. So life is Goooood.
Also residencies are very different. Some follow the 80 hour rule, attendings enjoy teaching, and the people are happy, some programs, the residents will still work 100 hours, with malignant attending, and people are not happy. So the same general surgery residents, from different programs can be happy or unhappy. So the bottom line is that you just need to do the things that you "think" will make you happy in life, no one will really know what make them happy or not unless they have gone through the experience, so if you really want to do medicine, then just do it!! 😀 I would take what other people say (including my own posts) with a grain of salt, and if you are turned off to medicine and decided to pursue something different because one resident told you that medicine sucks, then I can almost assure you that one day you will regret your decision (esp when you are working that 9-5 job, looking at a computer screen, making changes to the company budgets for the weekly meeting....) Even though you are working 40 hours per week, but that is 40 miserable hours (only my opinon 😀 ). And the one thing I learned in life is that you do not want to go through life with any regrets.....
Yes, with HMO and everything, your income as a doctor is going down..... but it still beats working a office for 40 hours. About the salary of the orthopod going down 30% from $350,000, that is still not bad making $230,000 per year.. 😀 . Orthopedics is an awesome career, and I would do it over and over again even if you paid me $100,000 per year. I can tell you that in medicine, you will never have to worry about job stability. You will always be employed and making at least a 6 figure salary. So how many people you know makes 6 figures?? Not everyone in business or other professions make 6 figures, but if they do, I don't envy them one bit because I would rather jump off a bridge than to do what they do day in and day out. 😀 And once again, if you are worrying about how much you are going to make as a doctor before going to medical school, then maybe medicine is not the right career for you. And for the SND people looking through this forum, please do not bring up how doctors are underpaid and how the reimbursements suck in medicine during your interview.... that would be a quick way to get on the wait list or the rejection list. 🙂
