Should I really be a doctor? Any docs out there regretting your decision?

[understood]

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Okay, I have been watching this site for a little bit and finally want to ask a question.

Being a doctor is all I can think about, and all I have ever wanted to do. I don't even spend a moment thinking about the money. I just feel this hole in my heart or something - a BURNING desire to be a doctor. There's nothing else I'd rather do. I want to help the sick. Period. I've even shadowed a couple of doctors and volunteered in the ER, and that has made me want to be a doctor even more.

The problem is that I've been reading articles and posts against being a doctor. For example, one article stated that 9 in 10 doctors discourage becoming one. It also said that 300 doctors commit suicide a year. A post I saw on a different website was that of an internist who was talking about how miserable she is and how much she hates her patients and colleagues?

Is it really that horrible? I have not seen anything in my experience to suggest this. I mean, I have seen a few disrespectful patients, but that's it. I don't know anymore. Reading these articles and posts have seriously discouraged me and placed me in a situation of self-doubt. And I don't know what to think anymore.

If being a doctor is miserable, then I truly have nothing left. I'll have to be a teacher or something. So, can anyone tell me how bad it really is, if you are one of these doctors?

 

[boxer0011]

BS. Doctors earn 300k - 600k on average. Many want even more and thus complain about low pay!

 

[Winged Scapula]

BS. Doctors earn 300k - 600k on average. Many want even more and thus complain about low pay!

Your sources on "average" US physician income are inaccurate; they are nowhere near that high for the "average" non-specialist.

 

[understood]

Your sources on "average" US physician income are inaccurate; they are nowhere near that high for the "average" non-specialist.

Do you have some feedback on this by any chance? I'd certainly appreciate it, since you are an attending.

 

[Chipster.]

BS. Doctors earn 300k - 600k on average. Many want even more and thus complain about low pay!

How you've managed to dodge the ban hammer for over a month is astounding to me. You're not even that good of a troll, only slightly better than Gallblad.

Anyways, stop spewing racist, sexist, useless, bullsh*t information on the internet please.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Do you have some feedback on this by any chance? I'd certainly appreciate it, since you are an attending.

I have access to data in my specialty, MGMA data and talk to friends in many other fields. Even given the tendency for people to inflate their salaries, PCPs are not making $300K-$600K on "average". Those are surgical specialty numbers.

 

[understood]

I have access to data in my specialty, MGMA data and talk to friends in many other fields. Even given the tendency for people to inflate their salaries, PCPs are not making $300K-$600K on "average". Those are surgical specialty numbers.

Oh, sorry, I don't think I chose the right words. I meant, do you have any feedback on my original question about whether it is actually miserable to be a doctor? I really love everything about medicine and so far, I like what I have seen. But since you're an attending and have seen a lot of it, I was wondering if you could give some advice. There's just nothing else I can see myself doing, and I would hate to get into it and become one of these 'depressed' and 'regretful' statistics.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Oh, sorry, I don't think I chose the right words. I meant, do you have any feedback on my original question about whether it is actually miserable to be a doctor? I really love everything about medicine and so far, I like what I have seen. But since you're an attending and have seen a lot of it, I was wondering if you could give some advice. There's just nothing else I can see myself doing, and I would hate to get into it and become one of these 'depressed' and 'regretful' statistics.

I'm sorry I misunderstood as you quoted my response to the salary estimate, hence my belief that's what you were referring to.

Physicians, like many "Type A" individuals, tend to have high expectations and are easily let down when those are not realized. There is a lot of frustration: declining reimbursements, entitled patients, paperwork , the influx of midlevels and their insulting presumptuous comments about being better than physicians and bureacratic decisions by non-healthcare providers that impact your ability to render care. Couple all of that with the outrageous sums of money medical schools are charging these days and I can understand why "9 out of 10" doctors would dissuade their children from pursuing a medical degree.

However, despite all that, I still enjoy what I do. I can "see the forest for the trees". Most of my patients are appreciative, trust me and I am well paid for the work. I do not focus on things I cannot change (i.e., poorly behaving patients, slow OR staff, hospital regulations); I decide what to put up with and what I cannot. My BF however, is miserable. A private practice plastic surgeon who spends her days complaining about patients, about OR staff, about....everything. Truth be told, I'd venture that even outside of medicine she would be a complaining, "glass half empty" type of person, just like her mother. 😉

That is what keeps me sane: a positive outlook on life. I am extremely lucky on many fronts both personally and professionally; I also know that I could find something else to do if this surgery thing doesn't work out.

 

[boxer0011]

Your sources on "average" US physician income are inaccurate; they are nowhere near that high for the "average" non-specialist.

For specialist, the salary is between 300k and 600k. From my understanding, most physicians are specialist.

 

[boxer0011]

How you've managed to dodge the ban hammer for over a month is astounding to me. You're not even that good of a troll, only slightly better than Gallblad.

Anyways, stop spewing racist, sexist, useless, bullsh*t information on the internet please.

Well the salary spectrum I posted are facts for specialists. I was not aware that facts were forbidden here.

 

[Winged Scapula]

For specialist, the salary is between 300k and 600k. From my understanding, most physicians are specialist.

While many physicians may specialize, not all specialists earn those sort of salaries; a neurologist, which is a specialist, would earn much less than that for example.

Those numbers are for surgical and procedural specialists.

 

[boxer0011]

While many physicians may specialize, not all specialists earn those sort of salaries; a neurologist, which is a specialist, would earn much less than that for example. Those numbers are for surgical and procedural specialists.

I stand corrected, thank you!

 

[Ace Khalifa]

"glass half full" type of person,

Did you mean "glass half empty"? Typically I associate "glass half full" with optimisim/positive outlook on life and "glass half empty" with the opposite.

 

[IlDestriero]

Those numbers are for surgical and procedural specialists.

And anesthesia. 😉

 

[Winged Scapula]

And anesthesia. 😉

Which I would consider "quasi surgical/procedural". 😉

Yes, including anesthesia.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Did you mean "glass half empty"? Typically I associate "glass half full" with optimisim/positive outlook on life and "glass half empty" with the opposite.

I did indeed - thanks for catching that. I'll correct it.

 

[understood]

@Winged Scapula. Thank you so much for your response, it is really helpful and much appreciated. Just one more thing; would you discourage becoming a doctor in my case?

 

[Winged Scapula]

@Winged Scapula. Thank you so much for your response, it is really helpful and much appreciated. Just one more thing; would you discourage becoming a doctor in my case?

I can't say whether I would or not.

Its worked out well for me; it may not for you.

There are lots of ways to "help people" without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and your youth to do it. There are many 4 year college degreed jobs that earn a great salary as well.

You haven't mentioned where you are in terms of age, status etc. but in general try to gather as much information about the field and other associated medical fields as you can before making your decision.

 

[understood]

I can't say whether I would or not.

Its worked out well for me; it may not for you.

There are lots of ways to "help people" without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and your youth to do it. There are many 4 year college degreed jobs that earn a great salary as well.

You haven't mentioned where you are in terms of age, status etc. but in general try to gather as much information about the field and other associated medical fields as you can before making your decision.

I understand. I am 18 years old and a college freshman. My major is genetics. My backup is genetic counselor, but it's not something I see myself doing. I cannot imagine being anything other than a doctor.

 

[Shams al Deen]

What's the whole thing with 'doctors waste their youth in school'. In any field where you wanna make hundreds of thousands of dollars, you will be working your butt off in your 20s without much compensation. This isn't unique to medicine. Nobody successful spends all of their 20s partying or backpacking through Europe.

 

[Inventor of Post-Its]

Give me a profession and I'll give you a group of people who are absolutely miserable in it. This is not unique to medicine, nor is it indicative of your personal future satisfaction.

 

[Make Or Break]

Give me a profession and I'll give you a group of people who are absolutely miserable in it. This is not unique to medicine, nor is it indicative of your personal future satisfaction.

Balloon artists. Go.

 

[resiroth]

What's the whole thing with 'doctors waste their youth in school'. In any field where you wanna make hundreds of thousands of dollars, you will be working your butt off in your 20s without much compensation. This isn't unique to medicine. Nobody successful spends all of their 20s partying or backpacking through Europe.

Couldn't agree more. Look at academia. Phd (5 years) post doc (3 years) tenure track (10 years). Hooray. Youth gone etc etc.

Law is terrible unless you're at Harvard/Yale from what I understand.

People point to investment banking but they work 80-100 hours a week for years upon years, even more burnout and only in the end a small fraction truly make it.

Generally successful people will work hard as hell in their 20s, regardless of profession.

Medicine (non surgical) seems much more forgiving.

 

[Lucca]

You've done some shadowing and volunteering so just try to keep getting as much experience as you can in conjunction with whatever advice you get here from the MS/resident/attendings to figure out if it's for you. When I was a freshman I spent many hours talking to profs about academia, talking to upperclassmen about working in industry for CS, learning about business and finance, etc. I learned a lot from them and as I gathered more clinical and research experience I realized that all of those other industries would not be the best fit for me in the same way that being in the hospital and interacting with patients felt just right. Put yourself out there, be honest with yourself, set some realistic expectations and then you'll have your answer.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Couldn't agree more. Look at academia. Phd (5 years) post doc (3 years) tenure track (10 years). Hooray. Youth gone etc etc.

Law is terrible unless you're at Harvard/Yale from what I understand.

People point to investment banking but they work 80-100 hours a week for years upon years, even more burnout and only in the end a small fraction truly make it.

Generally successful people will work hard as hell in their 20s, regardless of profession.

Medicine (non surgical) seems much more forgiving.

Not everyone is an attorney or IB. PhDs and the like have bad job prospects but they aren't working the same hours as medical students and residents.

Most people with 4 year college degrees are still able to go about a somewhat normal life, finish work at 5 pm, go out with friends, buy a house, start a family etc. While we do get myopic in medicine and assume no one works as hard as we do, its somewhat naive to assume that all success means working more than 40 hours/week and that you can't earn 6 figures without an advanced degree. There are plenty of people that are able to do just that.

Medical training is not just about being busy in your 20s but, depending on the speciality, extending that into your mid (or beyond) 30s.

 

[Goro]

My clinical colleagues LOVE being a doctor. One of them is around 70 and he gets most excited and enthusiastic when he's talking about "Medicine, and 2) medical education.

Okay, I have been watching this site for a little bit and finally want to ask a question.

Being a doctor is all I can think about, and all I have ever wanted to do. I don't even spend a moment thinking about the money. I just feel this hole in my heart or something - a BURNING desire to be a doctor. There's nothing else I'd rather do. I want to help the sick. Period. I've even shadowed a couple of doctors and volunteered in the ER, and that has made me want to be a doctor even more.

The problem is that I've been reading articles and posts against being a doctor. For example, one article stated that 9 in 10 doctors discourage becoming one. It also said that 300 doctors commit suicide a year. A post I saw on a different website was that of an internist who was talking about how miserable she is and how much she hates her patients and colleagues?

Is it really that horrible? I have not seen anything in my experience to suggest this. I mean, I have seen a few disrespectful patients, but that's it. I don't know anymore. Reading these articles and posts have seriously discouraged me and placed me in a situation of self-doubt. And I don't know what to think anymore.

If being a doctor is miserable, then I truly have nothing left. I'll have to be a teacher or something. So, can anyone tell me how bad it really is, if you are one of these doctors?

 

[RedPhys]

What's the whole thing with 'doctors waste their youth in school'. In any field where you wanna make hundreds of thousands of dollars, you will be working your butt off in your 20s without much compensation. This isn't unique to medicine. Nobody successful spends all of their 20s partying or backpacking through Europe.

Perhaps premeds just like to moan and groan the loudest, but I think it refers to the idea that a lot of premeds do box-checking, which boils down to a lot of activities they don't really enjoy doing, unlike students who go on to pursue a doctorate and are, generally I'd imagine, interested in their activities (research?) as it pertains directly to their field of interest.

 

[sithmoo]

personally, my suggestion to the OP: if you haven't really considered much else outside of medicine, consider exploring other careers while you're in college just in case something piques your interest; if you still keep coming back to doctor, make it your mission.
I came to the med school party a little late (I'm 27) but I am glad I had the chance to explore and make sure it's really what I want to do

 

[gyngyn]

It's the best decision I ever made.

 

[resiroth]

Not everyone is an attorney or IB. PhDs and the like have bad job prospects but they aren't working the same hours as medical students and residents.

Most people with 4 year college degrees are still able to go about a somewhat normal life, finish work at 5 pm, go out with friends, buy a house, start a family etc. While we do get myopic in medicine and assume no one works as hard as we do, its somewhat naive to assume that all success means working more than 40 hours/week and that you can't earn 6 figures without an advanced degree. There are plenty of people that are able to do just that.

Medical training is not just about being busy in your 20s but, depending on the speciality, extending that into your mid (or beyond) 30s.

My point is that very few people make 6 figures at 30 without putting in some serious hours in their 20s. Yes there are few exceptions, but plenty of doctors make >250k. How many people make 250k at 30 without pulling 60-80 hour weeks? If you want to be "successful" you'll have to put in long hours. If you know of a career pathway that is no more than 40 hours a week, pretty much 0 unemployment and nets you 200k+ at graduation (if you desire it) let me know.

Now, whether this is a life to aspire to is another question. I sure as heck wouldn't pursue medicine just for the paycheck (not that it's not enough, it's just that if I had a choice between programming 40 hours a week for 80k and 80 for 250k I would choose the 80k option.)

The reality is that the average college graduate is making 45k on graduation, if they manage to even get a job. 9 to 5 is basically a pipe dream these days, and is getting rarer by the day. The only people that fair well without anything other than a college degree are engineers, which work fairly hard (50 hour weeks) and aren't representative of the average college graduate. Even in comp sci my friend graduated with a great GPA at a great school and is making 55k in a city for 40 hours a week. I mean, that's okay, but he won't be able to afford a house in the burbs on that salary (or college funds/retirement/potential rainy day funds), and that's freakin comp sci! Humanities majors are currently in education programs and we all know what glamorous lifestyles teachers have.

The job market is grim out there, and medicine looks pretty great by comparison (in terms of security, it definitely isn't all sunshine and rainbows).

My overall point is that if someone feels disillusioned with medicine it shouldn't be because of the paycheck. There are clearly a lot of sacrifices lifestyle-wise, but those are inherit in "top" careers (law IB phd etc.) the difference is that plenty of people drop out of IB whereas pretty much no one can do that easily in the short term with medicine due to debt.

The PhDs that make it work as hard as residents in my experience. 12 hour time points, 7 day work weeks etc. the average phd candidate doesn't work that hard, but the average phd doesn't get a tenured position (something like 17% make it these days). I like my odds in medicine more.

 

[Salt Salt]

For example, one article stated that 9 in 10 doctors discourage becoming one. It also said that 300 doctors commit suicide a year.

That 9 out of 10 figure is grossly inaccurate. Google these things; don't just trust random articles at their word. (In fact, good rule of thumb: be suspicious of any "9 out of 10" statistic. Things are rarely that clean.)

And "300 doctors a year" is a meaningless statistic. What you need is the percentage of doctors who commit suicide, compared to the percentage of the general population.

People on SDN always start these panicked threads about whether doctors are happy, but one thing I've always noticed is that these people rarely address the question empirically. Even adcoms on here only offer anecdotal evidence.

 

[palatopharyngeus]

Give me a profession and I'll give you a group of people who are absolutely miserable in it. This is not unique to medicine, nor is it indicative of your personal future satisfaction.

That 9 out of 10 figure is grossly inaccurate. Google these things; don't just trust random articles at their word. (In fact, good rule of thumb: be suspicious of any "9 out of 10" statistic. Things are rarely that clean.)

And "300 doctors a year" is a meaningless statistic. What you need is the percentage of doctors who commit suicide, compared to the percentage of the general population.

People on SDN always start these panicked threads about whether doctors are happy, but one thing I've always noticed is that these people rarely address the question empirically. Even adcoms on here only offer anecdotal evidence.

qft

medicine offers great compensation, great job security, and an array of specialties from which you can choose based on your personality/interests. on top of that, its arguably one of the most respected professions out there and one in which you are undeniably helping others.

bottom line: no job has the magical power to make you "happy" or "miserable". a job is just one aspect of your life. pick something youre interested in and move on.

 

[group_theory]

Being a doctor is all I can think about, and all I have ever wanted to do. I don't even spend a moment thinking about the money. I just feel this hole in my heart or something - a BURNING desire to be a doctor. There's nothing else I'd rather do. I want to help the sick. Period. I've even shadowed a couple of doctors and volunteered in the ER, and that has made me want to be a doctor even more.

I understand. I am 18 years old and a college freshman. My major is genetics. My backup is genetic counselor, but it's not something I see myself doing. I cannot imagine being anything other than a doctor.

The question is - why do you have a burning desire to be a doctor? What is it about the profession that makes you want to enter it? (don't answer, save it for your personal statement, this is more of a rhetorical question). People that go into the profession with unrealistic expectations (or worse, idealized expectations) will surely be disappointed when expectations do not meet with reality. You have to love what you do. Otherwise, it will eat you alive (no matter what your overall salary is, or debt, or income to debt ratio)

I love what I do. Yes, there are days/nights that are long, and giving up some weekends and some nights every month suck. There are days I wish I have a regular 9-5 job (with weekends). I laugh when my non-physician friends on facebook complain about working a weekend (they work 1-2 weekends a year). There are parts that suck - the paperwork/documentation that is prevalent throughout healthcare. It sucks having to come in the middle of the night for medical emergencies. It sucks working on weekends when it's nice out. It sucks filling out forms for insurance companies/PBM/prior-authorization reviews/medical necessity for utility restoration, etc. But in the end, I love what I do, and while there are down sides, I enjoy what I do, I enjoy the positive impact I have on patients and their families, I love teaching medical students and residents (and try to remind them of the basic sciences that they have forgotten and show them clinical relevance), and the paycheck is nice 🙂

 

[caffeinemia]

Medicine was my back up plan actually. I wanted to be a stay at home hubby married to a cutthroat attending. However, it didn't work out. She wanted me to be the surrogate mother to our children.

 

[NeuResurgens]

For example, one article stated that 9 in 10 doctors discourage becoming one.

That is the stupidest thing I've heard since anti-vaxxing.

Shadow a few doctors and ask them. It will be pretty clear whether medicine is right for you or not.