Should I go to med school if lifestyle is my #1 priority?

[500miles]

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" should I go to med school if lifestyle is my #1 priority"
No..

 

[Deleted member 737595]

Says the premed. It is a job just, A job that takes a long time to enjoy the benefits of your hard work.

Spare me with the pre-med BS. It's a job with a long time to see the payoff of your hard work and you get to help people but its a job.

Well either way, it depends on how you view it. You can view it as a job or you can view it as a vocation. Your call.

I may be wrong since I'm not even a medical student, I'll accept that. I'm just restating what I have heard some doctors say, and my own experience shadowing.

 

[deleted735879]

I have been considering other fields such as dental or nursing, but I can't help but feel that I wouldn't be completely fulfilled without having the comprehensive medical knowledge and autonomy that physicians have.

I was also pre-med until my sophomore year of college when I ran into a similar situation you did. I started shadowing other healthcare professions (Pharmacy, nursing, PA, and dentistry). I realized that are plenty of jobs out there where you are able to "help"/interact with patients as well as have a great work/life balance. Dentistry is an absolutely amazing career from what I have seen thus far. But I doubt you would be happy with it. You will not be saving lives and you will need to get used to people having very little/no respect for your doctorate degree.

I'd recommend you take some time to shadow other professions! Nothing wrong with seeing what else is out there.

Best of luck!

 

[thenucleusaccumbens]

Thanks to all those who responded. I was wondering if anyone could give any specific thoughts on this question in my original post: How common is it for physicians to be able to work 30-40 hours a week?

It's not the norm as most physicians are working 50-60 hours per week, but it's not unheard of for some physicians to work part time. You'll have to choose your specialty carefully if you want to do this as certain specialties really do not lend themselves to part time work. I'm a med student and have personally met physicians working less than 40 hours a week in EM, psych, geriatrics, and peds (again, not the norm, but it is possible). Keep in mind this is after getting through med school, internship/residency (and sometimes fellowship) where you will be putting in MANY hours.

 

[BTC0821]

I've been premed all of my college career, but I'm having second thoughts as I get closer to applying. After a lot of consideration, I've come to the conclusion that I think I would be fine with going through med school and residency IF it meant there was a reasonable chance that I could work significantly less as an attending. I have been considering other fields such as dental or nursing, but I can't help but feel that I wouldn't be completely fulfilled without having the comprehensive medical knowledge and autonomy that physicians have. While I know that hours vary significantly across specialties, how common is it for physicians (in certain specialities?) to work 30-40 hours a week? I would be willing to take a significant pay cut to work within that range of hours.

Have you considered being a PA? You'd go through a similar but shorter process than medical school, and you would be less likely to be working 50-60 hours per week average

 

[rakotomazoto]

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[IlDestriero]

You can work in a mommy track in Anesthesia in a lot of places. 7-3 no call, no weekends. But no partnership either.
You can find these arrangements in many fields, BUT you have to be flexible about location and recognize that you’re probably not earning what you deserve and are making your bosses $$.


--
Il Destriero

 

[daxlo]

You should run very far away from this field if lifestyle is your number one. There's a lot more ways to make money in this life than just being a doctor.

 

[Deleted member 737595]

You should run very far away from this field if lifestyle is your number one.

Run away... far and fast, lest you waste any more of your valuable time to pursue something more conducive to lifestyle