Studying medicine even though I'm selfish?

[Laen]

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I'll be as straight as I can. I'm fascinated by medical science, and I have no problem with blood, pus or stuff like that. I'm also kind of unemotional (I wouldn't have a problem telling bad news or such).

But, the thing is, I don't really care about helping people. I don't think many people do anyhow, but medicine seems to have an emphasis on the helping part (sometimes it seems that learning the actual science is considered an obstacle before being able to cure people). I could be a medical researcher, but I'm considering becoming an actual doctor, most likely an internist.

So the question is, do you think that being a doctor is rewarding in any other way apart from helping people? I'm interested in everything, but you should know I don't care that much about money. It's a great plus, but not enough to make a life decission.
I want to know if becoming a doctor instead of a medical researcher might be worthwhile. Maybe I'm romanticising the career a bit, but I think that staring at death and illness, and knowing people in their worst moments might be a good source of wisdom. Maybe I would actually start to care if I saw it? (although I can't be sure).

Some people talk about power and responsability that comes from being a doctor. But as far as I know as a doctor you have to follow rules and procedures. A doctor like House seems pretty cool but I don't think anyone could get away with that, no matter how brilliant.

By the way, I didn't know where else to post this, I apologise if it's the wrong section. But in my country medical school comes right after high school (like nearly every country other than the US and sometimes the UK).

 

[mikejm11]

Don't know if you are planning to apply to U.S. med schools are stay in your own country, but if you are planning to apply in the U.S., don't tell Adcoms what you just told us!

 

[Tin Man]

But, the thing is, I don't really care about helping people. I don't think many people do anyhow, but medicine seems to have an emphasis on the helping part (sometimes it seems that learning the actual science is considered an obstacle before being able to cure people). I could be a medical researcher, but I'm considering becoming an actual doctor, most likely an internist.

Why are you considering becoming an internist? There's no point to being a doctor that works with people if you don't like people. THAT's the reason why people like House don't actually exist. Grumpy people who are that smart are definitely smart enough to realize their career aspirations lie elsewhere.

If you're facinated by medical science, fantastic. Go do medical research. I couldn't care less WHY you're helping people than THAT you're helping people as a physician. But if working with people isn't for you, then there are plenty of other jobs dealing with medical science that you can do, which means that not only will you probably be happier, but you'll also not be taking a job from someone who can excel in that spot due to the bedside manner you admit you don't have.

 

[Laen]

Ok. With an MD I can do both things though, that's why I'm wondering if I would actually like to be an internist. If I don't I can still do full time research. But 95% of my peers would be aiming to be actual doctors, so maybe I could give some thought to that.

Maybe an MD and then a PhD? Perhaps it could widen research opportunities. I don't know, I find it hard to believe that so many people go down the medical road just based on altruism. But thanks for the answers.

 

[ThePursuit]

You are either a troll or naive. Either way if you have a cold, hard soul and still want to take the Hippocratic oath to spend your days serving others, try radiology where you don't actually have to demonstrate your lack of empathy to patients on a daily basis. There's better ways to make money and become educated than going through med school hell. So why in the world would you go through all that if you're not REALLY driven by the entire goal of helping and healing others? You could also try working sales for a biotech company. Those folks make bank and don't give a crap about patients.

 

[Fai]

Try looking at Pathology, then.

In my eyes, medicine is more than just science and politics, it's social too. Depending on the speciality, it's all team-work. So if you hate working with people and coming up with solutions together as a group then you should seriously consider another field.

It's definitely interesting and all, but it all boils down to if you really want to do that as a career. Also as ThePursuit stated, Radiology is another thing you can do as well.

I also cannot see anything more rewarding than saving or bettering a person's life as a doctor. But everyone is different.

I'm only a HS student here so, best to listen to the people above me. But these are just my two cents.

 

[DrYoda]

To give another perspective: helping people isn't even on the list of reasons I went to or have stayed in med school, and I'm quite happy with my career path thus far (currently a third year). There are plenty of positive things about medicine other than helping people (cool technology/procedures, not sitting at a desk all day in most cases, it's a dynamic field, good job security, good pay, having a highly technical skill set, some people really like the science part of it, you get to interact with all kinds of people, and you're the decision maker/boss [at least once you finally get out of training]).

Different things make a satisfying career for different people and for me medicine had a lot of what I was looking for, it's just that helping people wasn't on my list. Sure helping people is something that comes with the job; so is having to work at weird hours, taking call and being exposed to more and nastier pathogens than the general populace and I'm cool with all those things. I just don't get particularly excited about any of them. There's a handful of people (and a lot more if we go by personal statements🙄) who are here purely to help people, a bigger group likes it but it's just one thing on their list of reasons, and some of us really don't care. Whatever three of those groups someone falls into, it's not anyone else's business what they like about their job nor is it a bad thing to have motivations that aren't about helping others.

Edit: as an aside, I'm not going into rads or path.

 

[docB]

I agree with those who said that you might be better suited to research than to medicine. There are a lot of people in medicine who are not caring or have had it driven from us. But that's a disadvantage. If you're going in without it I'd head in a different direction.

To the person who equated a lack of empathy with a "cold, hard soul" that's a bit harsh. Some people are just not very empathic. I they recognize that then great. Empathy is not a mandatory quality in many professions and can be a detriment in some. That said, it is usually a prerequisite in medicine.

I disagree with those who pointed the OP toward rads or path. Those guys get heaps of work dumped on them every day. If you can't keep that connection between the slides on your desk and actual people, i.e. if you can't keep you sense on compassion, slogging through all those cases will wear you down.

 

[MilkmanAl]

You don't need to emotionally live and die with your patients to be a good doctor and enjoy what you do. In fact, there are a lot of reasons that being a bit aloof will help you during a career in medicine. That said, if you genuinely do not care about helping people, research or another career entirely may be worth considering.

 

[owlegrad]

I am torn. Healthcare providers really should be empathetic, but that doesn't mean wanting to help people needs to be your top reason for going into medicine. Not everyone goes into medicine wanting to hug every patient. But knowing up front that you will not get any satisfaction from helping people? That's rough. You need motivation to get through it, what will your motivation be? Money? Nothing wrong with that, but it will be cold comfort as you are racking up debt to get through school.

At any rate, assuming you do want to get into medicine, do not be this honest in the admissions process.

 

[Morsetlis]

You don't need to emotionally live and die with your patients to be a good doctor and enjoy what you do. In fact, there are a lot of reasons that being a bit aloof will help you during a career in medicine. That said, if you genuinely do not care about helping people, research or another career entirely may be worth considering.

This.

Keep shadowing doctors and getting clinical experiences. When the time comes, you'll know if medicine is right for you (the "time" is when you apply to med school, not during third year of med school lolol).