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how about sharing a little bit about your dislike for traditional medicine career? you can't find one field that is interesting?
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prominence
- Thread starter smackdaddy
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Smackdaddyy-
I think generalist medicine is awesome. We need general internists, and we need good ones. I think it's an excellent field, with their knowledge base being tremendous. With that said, I also think that HMO's, the social trend of declining respect for doctors, and the general policies of the American medical system is making being a general internist a less attractive job. Most internists I speak to tell me that the actual medicine they get to practice is still great, but they feel that their job has morphed into something they do not enjoy anymore. It's unfortunate. The good aspect is that things are changing day-to-day, so it may not be this way in the future. The bad thing is that what it changes into might not be something enjoyable. We train to learn to diagnose and treat disease, but we get out and have to learn to spend hours on the phone battling insurance companies, copays, malpractice insurance (look at what's happening in the news), and the general need to see a ridiculous volume of patients daily to make a profit.
I think if you really enjoy it, you should still pursue it. However, are peoples' concerns about their debt playing a part in their career decision making? Sure, I think so. I know it did it my med school.
I think generalist medicine is awesome. We need general internists, and we need good ones. I think it's an excellent field, with their knowledge base being tremendous. With that said, I also think that HMO's, the social trend of declining respect for doctors, and the general policies of the American medical system is making being a general internist a less attractive job. Most internists I speak to tell me that the actual medicine they get to practice is still great, but they feel that their job has morphed into something they do not enjoy anymore. It's unfortunate. The good aspect is that things are changing day-to-day, so it may not be this way in the future. The bad thing is that what it changes into might not be something enjoyable. We train to learn to diagnose and treat disease, but we get out and have to learn to spend hours on the phone battling insurance companies, copays, malpractice insurance (look at what's happening in the news), and the general need to see a ridiculous volume of patients daily to make a profit.
I think if you really enjoy it, you should still pursue it. However, are peoples' concerns about their debt playing a part in their career decision making? Sure, I think so. I know it did it my med school.
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i don't care whether you bump your posts or not.Originally posted by prominence
smackdaddy, i am a MSIII, and i have nothing against the traditional medical route. right now, i am considering anesthesiology and pm&r, because i have an intersest in pain management, but im also considering child psych as well. ill see how my 4th electives go.
its my wife who is seeking something nontraditional. she is also a MSIII, and shes leaning towards something that combines medicine and business/administration.
on a side note, i hope i havent irritated anyone by intentionally bumping my posts up to the top. im trying to get some info for my wife. in defense, people continue replying to some of my posts once they r bumped to the top. my thanks to all those who took the time and replied to my posts. i appreciate it.
just curious.
has your wife looked into mha?
some schools offer combined degrees, and this one would only extrend school for 1 year. incidentally there was a letter to the editor in medical economics this month (i have no idea how accurate the letter is or regional it might be)-the author was a md/jd in clearwater, fl and said it was surprisingly difficult to become a defense lawyer for malpractice cases. he commented that there were i think4 people in his class who were also physicians, and one couldn't find any defense work so switched to plaintiff's attorney for medical malpractice cases.
i think he said he doesn't want to do it (his wife is a physician) but he doesn't know how long he will be able to hold out.