Sunk costs

[Rachapkis]

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In economics, a sunk cost is a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered. One is supposed to forget sunk costs—removing any past investment from your mind—before making a decision about how to proceed going forward. If you could actually erase the past investments you’ve made to become a doctor, would you still pursue the profession?

 

[Starbuxian]

For me, it's a resounding YES!

I love the whole "helping people in the most direct way, at a time when they are most vulnerable" thing. Also, can't see myself doing anything else.

 

[Billiam95]

Only an MS3, but I'm pretty happy so far and would do it all again.

 

[Kuratz]

To me it has been extremely demoralizing to work my ass off for 9 years after college and have moved backwards financially. Honestly it’s the biggest mistake I’ve made in life and the most significant source of stress. Medicine is an utterly ridiculous proposition (especially in the post-covid era with the strides other fields have made) and I would 100% do something else if I was in my early 20s again. And the sad thing is that when you are treated like this as a trainee combined with the moral injury of medicine in general, it really makes the money the focal point. I can honestly say I’m only finishing residency and practicing for a bit after that to get out of debt. Then I am moving on. This profession has a serious problem. It’s fundamentally abusive and beats the life out of well-meaning, ambitious people. There will undoubtedly be a continued exodus of talented people to other industries.

 

[Rachapkis]

To me it has been extremely demoralizing to work my ass off for 9 years after college and have moved backwards financially. Honestly it’s the biggest mistake I’ve made in life and the most significant source of stress. Medicine is an utterly ridiculous proposition (especially in the post-covid era with the strides other fields have made) and I would 100% do something else if I was in my early 20s again. And the sad thing is that when you are treated like this as a trainee combined with the moral injury of medicine in general, it really makes the money the focal point. I can honestly say I’m only finishing residency and practicing for a bit after that to get out of debt. Then I am moving on. This profession has a serious problem. It’s fundamentally abusive and beats the life out of well-meaning, ambitious people. There will undoubtedly be a continued exodus of talented people to other industries.

I am sorry to hear about your experiences, but not surprised. I have to agree that medicine, as a profession, is undercompensated and underappreciated when compared with certain other professions. IMHO, doctors as a group are true believers who really want to do well for their patients (a good thing), are less motivated by money than members of certain other professions, and are driven to overcome obstacles to get a gold star. These traits make it easier for other groups (e.g., insurers, HMOs, etc.) to take advantage of doctors, treat them poorly, and have doctors accept that treatment (e.g, when someone in power calls a doctor a "bad dog", the doctor is less likely to question that assessment and often feels like a "bad dog").

 

[gyngyn]

I can't really recall any sunk costs (that I wouldn't have wasted in a less fruitful way!).

 

[Tangerine123]

If you could actually erase the past investments you’ve made to become a doctor, would you still pursue the profession?

Financially don't really care

Time, energy and health? I wouldn't waste that again

 

[Dantes]

Yes, but only if I could do it earlier. While many people feel it's a benefit, in hindsight I regret taking the non-trad route.

 

[theonlytycrane]

only for the fLeX

 

[GoSpursGo]

I am sorry to hear about your experiences, but not surprised. I have to agree that medicine, as a profession, is undercompensated and underappreciated when compared with certain other professions. IMHO, doctors as a group are true believers who really want to do well for their patients (a good thing), are less motivated by money than members of certain other professions, and are driven to overcome obstacles to get a gold star. These traits make it easier for other groups (e.g., insurers, HMOs, etc.) to take advantage of doctors, treat them poorly, and have doctors accept that treatment (e.g, when someone in power calls a doctor a "bad dog", the doctor is less likely to question that assessment and often feels like a "bad dog").

It seems like you came looking for a specific answer, so I’m curious why you bothered asking if you were going to pick out the answers which confirm your preconceived opinion?

More than anything else, my advice would be that premeds really Observe what the docs do during their shadowing and clinical experience. Talk to them, ask them what they enjoy and what frustrates them. Then make a decision about whether the benefits outweigh the negatives. Remember, there are problems in any profession, so the question shouldn’t be whether you should do medicine or not but rather should you do medicine vs some other specific option?

For the record, I love my job 🙂

 

[EthylMethylMan]

I can only speak for myself, but when I was in my initial medical specialty, I was feeling career regret pretty hard. I’ve since made a significant lateral shift to a different specialty that is a much better fit for my personality. Now I’m very satisfied with my job, granted it’s still very early on. I think at least some of the docs out there who regret medicine would be happy as physicians in different specialties. So I think you gotta really know yourself well and what is or is not a good fit for your personality type, work-life balance goals, etc. I think if we did a better job counseling med students on that, we’d have a good deal fewer docs with career regret.

 

[Kardio]

I have to agree that medicine, as a profession, is undercompensated and underappreciated when compared with certain other professions.

Specialty-dependent, it’s somewhere between top 5% to 1% of earners in the US - one of the wealthiest countries in the world - where physicians are already paid significantly more than any other country. I know physicians who hopped through residencies in multiple countries just to get a spot in any US program.

Training is long and grueling. Moral injury is real. Debt load is awful. Some people are overly demanding. All of that being acknowledged - its only undercompensated if you compare yourself to an extremely small group. There are people in that extremely small group who harbor similar feelings towards an increasingly small group who out-earn them. With that worldview, you’ll never win.

 

[redalert]

As someone who had a career before med school, the whole medicine thing made no financial sense. I'm worse financially now than I was 10 years ago and still in training. I still enjoy medicine but honestly feel more tired day by day. The light at the end of the tunnel is what keeps me going at this time.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

I don’t really understand the people who complain about it though especially trying to compare to finance, consulting, tech jobs. Like if you want to do those things then quit med school or residency and do them. Mainly a problem on reddit rather than sdn

 

[Angus Avagadro]

I definitely would back then. I probably would now, but the extra noise from insurers, hospitals, and disgruntled patients who have to wait 3 weeks to.see me or get an mri would weigh heavy on me.

 

[Rachapkis]

It seems like you came looking for a specific answer, so I’m curious why you bothered asking if you were going to pick out the answers which confirm your preconceived opinion?

More than anything else, my advice would be that premeds really Observe what the docs do during their shadowing and clinical experience. Talk to them, ask them what they enjoy and what frustrates them. Then make a decision about whether the benefits outweigh the negatives. Remember, there are problems in any profession, so the question shouldn’t be whether you should do medicine or not but rather should you do medicine vs some other specific option?

For the record, I love my job 🙂

I really didn’t come in looking for a specific answer. I responded to Kuratz because he was the only person up until that time that provided a detailed response to my post. Based on my anecdotal observations, K’s experiences and feelings are not uncommon. I know of several doctors who’ve said similar things. However, on the flip side, neither is yours—and I’m glad you love your job. I know several doctors who find their practice to be noble, rewarding and lucrative. With respect to that last point (compensation), I suspect that how one feels about it is influenced by specialty choice, loan amounts, and prior experiences that color what one believes to be a good salary. I asked the question because I was curious how the majority of my SDN peeps would respond.

 

[Putkernerinthehall]

There are miserable people in just about every profession. Most all jobs have downsides, annoyances, and intolerable situations (some of one's own making, some not). Finance, Engineering, Construction, Manufacturing, Teaching, Nursing, and on and on. It's really a question of comparing alternatives and figuring this out early on.

That said, there are happy people in most every profession too. Maybe folks need to more seriously consider specialty choice and $$$ versus work/life balance, etc. I understand Pediatricians are some of the happiest doctors yet they make less than most other specialties.

As someone noted above, we've got it pretty good....going to practice medicine in the US. You've had to work for it but, frankly, you've won the lottery.

 

[operaman]

For me, absolutely 100% would do it again. I’ve ended up with a stupidly amazing life and it just keeps getting better.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are tough times and frustrating days for sure. It’s not all puppies and rainbows. I’m on call right now and call still sucks even in the best of situations.

But I enjoy the work immensely. I get paid ridiculously well. Work life balance is tough, but most weekends are free and most days I leave the office around 3-4pm with all notes done. Some days I get crushed and the hours are longer. Sometimes I win; sometimes the hospital wins.

I can’t really think of anything that pays remotely as well as this does that would enjoy doing. I can think of lots of things I would enjoy doing but they don’t pay worth squat. Maybe if things start sucking more in the future I’ll rethink things, but for now life is pretty good.

Things that helped me get here aside from just stupid dumb luck (which was most of it):

1) entered med school as a 2nd career. All my non med friends hated their jobs and were envious of ME! Harder at 22 when everyone else thinks their first job is so perfect. Easy to feel like you’re missing out when all your friends seem so happy.

2) lots of shadowing and time spent seeing the day to day. I focused on the boring parts, not the cool case fun parts.

3) working another job(s) first helped me differentiate what sucks about medicine in particular from what sucks about every job. I think this is a big one. I hear many complaints about medicine - the admin, the hours, the paperwork, etc - that I’ve heard everywhere I ever worked. There’s a reason they have to pay us to do it.

4) went in to med knowing what I wanted to do. It wasn’t just “be a doctor” but rather to be a very specific kind of doctor that would let me combine all the things I enjoy most. I was then lucky enough to get to do just that despite it being ridiculously competitive.

It’s a long road for sure and it’s not for everyone, but it’s not a bad life. My partners all seem pretty happy and most of the docs I work with seem that way too.