BTW while we're at it: Aren't you guys worried about killing patients at all(or doing serious harm)?
Every day of my life, buddy.
Maybe I've developed a bad way of thinking about this dilemma, but here's what I'm thinking.
When you're inexperienced, there's a system of graduated responsibility. The intern/resident won't let you do anything or let you work independently if he (or she) doesn't think you're ready. In fact, he'll probably re-check everything you've done, because you have earned that trust. The tendency is to underestimate the medical student, because it decreases the probability of a false positive as it were. The worst thing would be to place trust on someone who hasn't developed enough to be able to bear it.
Furthermore, it may be due in part to the fact that there is so much to know and learn. The important things get repeated so many times, that you'll know them if you work hard and keep going.
Furthermore, you have to consider this. What's the probability that you're not "good enough?" The question is not "am I the best possible physician ever." That's just ridiculous. In my medical school class, I'm probably in the bottom 5% in terms of raw intelligence. However, I think I'm strong enough in fund of knowledge, general reasoning, etc. that my morbidity and mortality will be good enough to do some good for the patients who walk through the door provided that I keep working my butt off for the next few years.
There are patients to be seen, and somebody has to see them.
There's a difference between "the good" and "the good enough." It was sobering for me to realize that I may just be good enough.
Sometimes I think that most med students are either more mature than me, have better coping mechanisms ,are just cut out for it or simply do not think about it much but it seems that most simply aren't bother with it much.
The fact that you're even asking this question means you're more mature than most. In my (admittedly limited) experience, conscientiousness is an important attribute for a physician.
Didn't you guys ever wish you were in a profession were you could wake up ,go to work without having to make big time decisions that might haunt you for a long time?To me it just seems like such a huge stressor but then again I definitely am a little compulsive/obsessive so maybe I just don't think like a normal person.
The thought had crossed my mind. I like medicine and medical school, though.
The thing that kept me in medicine most of the time was that helping people must be worth it in the end but the pressures and responsiblities just seem so high I wonder how most cope with it. I often envy guys in business or other professions who seems to have much less stress with their work (to me a meeting a deadline, or putting together a good presentation seems like way less stress than making serious health decisions but maybe that's just me).
Those guys also don't get the opportunity to heal. It's sometimes hard to remember that it's a great privilege to take the history, lay hands on someone, and heal an ailing patient.
However, I imagine when one of those guys rolls down the street in his Bentley checking the time on his platinum A. Lange & Sohne, he doesn't really give a **** about any of that.
