the good. the bad. the ugly. the military

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curlycorday

Hi all,

So, here's the breakdown of what I've discovered so far about Navy HPSP:

- I was 'field selected' for this program based on my gpa/mcat scores;
- I am applying to med school in fall 2006
- I want to ultimately go into primary care and have a family
- I haven't signed anything yet, but this is what I know so far and would really like input from current military mds, etc.

So, for all other pre-meds out there, hopefully this helps:

The HPSP program: you apply, you get accepted, you are commisioned as an officer (O1 in whatever branch) and you go off to med school, you do 45 adt every year, you go to OIS, you owe year-for-year service; which as I understand it (for emergency medicine) from my recruiter is 1 GMO tour, followed by 3 yr military residency, and commitment would be 3 years (4 yr HPSP -1yr GMO tour).

So, the summary:

PROS: no med school debt, no worry about money in med school, military benefits (health insurance, dental, cheap stuff at the exchange, etc), pride/prestige of being a military officer, cheap housing, etc., no malpractice fees, you don't worry about patients paying you, your patients don't worry about filling scripts, your patients aren't insubordinate (because they are reported to their CO), paid to study for USMLE/boards, bonus for passing boards, specialty pay
PROS come down to money...

CONS: you owe years of your life, you could be deployed during GMO/Reserves, military training time, limited hospitals to work at (military/VA), Apparently some administrative issues (understaffing, etc), malpractice= time in the brig instead of lawsuit, did I miss some?

CONS come down to time and frustration...

So, here I am, trying to decide whether or not to do this... After all, I just want to practice medicine, earn enough money to make my family comfortable, and live in a nice area. I am not in the military at all-- I just know the system well because I happen to be dating a hospital corpsman. He regrets his decision to join up, but is glad that he has his license at the end of it all.

I have worked extensively in the civilian healthcare sector as an EMT, and I can tell you that I was astonished at the mismanagement there. In the ER I worked in, the management was fired, replaced, sued, and then fired again countless times. The country is in a healthcare crisis all around, so I doubt that issues earlier in this thread are unique to the military. I also spoke with military docs that seemed mixed about it. Some mentioned that no liability and obedient patients was the best. Some didn't like the constraints and rules.

Any thoughts? Hope this helps those of you in my position!
Also, any input about raising a family as a military doc????

~Corday




See one, do one, teach one.

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curlycorday said:
Hi all,

So, here's the breakdown of what I've discovered so far about Navy HPSP:

- I was 'field selected' for this program based on my gpa/mcat scores;
- I am applying to med school in fall 2006
- I want to ultimately go into primary care and have a family
- I haven't signed anything yet, but this is what I know so far and would really like input from current military mds, etc.

So, for all other pre-meds out there, hopefully this helps:

The HPSP program: you apply, you get accepted, you are commisioned as an officer (O1 in whatever branch) and you go off to med school, you do 45 adt every year, you go to OIS, you owe year-for-year service; which as I understand it (for emergency medicine) from my recruiter is 1 GMO tour, followed by 3 yr military residency, and commitment would be 3 years (4 yr HPSP -1yr GMO tour).

So, the summary:

PROS: no med school debt, no worry about money in med school, military benefits (health insurance, dental, cheap stuff at the exchange, etc), pride/prestige of being a military officer, cheap housing, etc., no malpractice fees, you don't worry about patients paying you, your patients don't worry about filling scripts, your patients aren't insubordinate (because they are reported to their CO), paid to study for USMLE/boards, bonus for passing boards, specialty pay
PROS come down to money...

CONS: you owe years of your life, you could be deployed during GMO/Reserves, military training time, limited hospitals to work at (military/VA), Apparently some administrative issues (understaffing, etc), malpractice= time in the brig instead of lawsuit, did I miss some?

CONS come down to time and frustration...

So, here I am, trying to decide whether or not to do this... After all, I just want to practice medicine, earn enough money to make my family comfortable, and live in a nice area. I am not in the military at all-- I just know the system well because I happen to be dating a hospital corpsman. He regrets his decision to join up, but is glad that he has his license at the end of it all.

I have worked extensively in the civilian healthcare sector as an EMT, and I can tell you that I was astonished at the mismanagement there. In the ER I worked in, the management was fired, replaced, sued, and then fired again countless times. The country is in a healthcare crisis all around, so I doubt that issues earlier in this thread are unique to the military. I also spoke with military docs that seemed mixed about it. Some mentioned that no liability and obedient patients was the best. Some didn't like the constraints and rules.

Any thoughts? Hope this helps those of you in my position!
Also, any input about raising a family as a military doc????

~Corday




See one, do one, teach one.

JUST SAY NO...Listen to your husband..there is a reason he regrets joining...while it is different for us officers...the same $hit usually applies to us...the only difference is that it is usually coated with an additional layer of $hit...I'm sure that if you asked 10 military docs on whether they would go the military route again if given the choice, only 1 or 2 would say yes...you will thank me later
 
curlycorday said:
Hi all,

So, here's the breakdown of what I've discovered so far about Navy HPSP:

- I was 'field selected' for this program based on my gpa/mcat scores;
- I am applying to med school in fall 2006
- I want to ultimately go into primary care and have a family
- I haven't signed anything yet, but this is what I know so far and would really like input from current military mds, etc.

So, for all other pre-meds out there, hopefully this helps:

The HPSP program: you apply, you get accepted, you are commisioned as an officer (O1 in whatever branch) and you go off to med school, you do 45 adt every year, you go to OIS, you owe year-for-year service; which as I understand it (for emergency medicine) from my recruiter is 1 GMO tour, followed by 3 yr military residency, and commitment would be 3 years (4 yr HPSP -1yr GMO tour).

So, the summary:

PROS: no med school debt, no worry about money in med school, military benefits (health insurance, dental, cheap stuff at the exchange, etc), pride/prestige of being a military officer, cheap housing, etc., no malpractice fees, you don't worry about patients paying you, your patients don't worry about filling scripts, your patients aren't insubordinate (because they are reported to their CO), paid to study for USMLE/boards, bonus for passing boards, specialty pay
PROS come down to money...

CONS: you owe years of your life, you could be deployed during GMO/Reserves, military training time, limited hospitals to work at (military/VA), Apparently some administrative issues (understaffing, etc), malpractice= time in the brig instead of lawsuit, did I miss some?

CONS come down to time and frustration...

So, here I am, trying to decide whether or not to do this... After all, I just want to practice medicine, earn enough money to make my family comfortable, and live in a nice area. I am not in the military at all-- I just know the system well because I happen to be dating a hospital corpsman. He regrets his decision to join up, but is glad that he has his license at the end of it all.

I have worked extensively in the civilian healthcare sector as an EMT, and I can tell you that I was astonished at the mismanagement there. In the ER I worked in, the management was fired, replaced, sued, and then fired again countless times. The country is in a healthcare crisis all around, so I doubt that issues earlier in this thread are unique to the military. I also spoke with military docs that seemed mixed about it. Some mentioned that no liability and obedient patients was the best. Some didn't like the constraints and rules.

Any thoughts? Hope this helps those of you in my position!
Also, any input about raising a family as a military doc????

~Corday




See one, do one, teach one.

yes, both civilian and military medicine have problems, and both can have mismanagement problems. The BIGGEST differences in my experiece are that the military problems are exponentially worse, the military gives the physician nearly ZERO authority to fix problems, and in the military, you aint goin nowhere for several years, you are a stick in the mud.

If you want to serve, do it as a civilian or get a shorter obligation.
 
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