The Love of Medicine?

[da3mite]

After going in and out of pre-med the past couple of years, I've been wondering about the love of medicine/science and how much this matters as a healthcare worker. I'm concerned about pursuing medical school or a physician assistant program because I feel as if I'm relatively apathetic towards the science of medicine. However, part of me still wants to follow one of those two tracks because I have a passion for helping people, I've loved working in physician offices/hospitals, and I'm comforted by the potential job security.

Thus, I ask, does one have to love medicine to become a doctor or PA? Or is the fondness for all of those other factors enough? Would med school chew me up and spit me out if I'm not inspired by much of the subject matter (even if I'm very good at school)?

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[Psai]

how can you be apathetic to the science of medicine? you don't even know any of it. when you discover what most of the people you thought you wanted to help are like, you will probably change your mind. if you want to think of yourself as a "healthcare worker", you're not cut out to be a doctor. job security may be there but do you want to be some administrator's lackey? or have some sleazy businessman take 50% of the money you earn with their "management company"?

 

[da3mite]

I was just using "healthcare worker" as an ambiguous term about working in medicine. I'm mainly asking if loving science is totally necessary to become a doctor---in other words, does a science passion have to be present?

 

[DermViser]

I was just using "healthcare worker" as an ambiguous term about working in medicine. I'm mainly asking if loving science is totally necessary to become a doctor---in other words, does a science passion have to be present?

What do you mean not like science? Do you hate only the hard sciences? I think there is a difference between that and hating for example, science applicable to humans --- Physiology, for example. Needless to say, you have to have some sort of inquisitiveness, at least for medical school, bc medicine is a life long learning profession and you will be reading at the very least when you certify and recertify till the day you stop practicing.

If that's not your thing - you can probably do PA. I don't believe PAs have to recertify once they pass the PANCE.

 

[CaptainSSO]

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[TraumaLlamaMD]

I think there are a number of jobs out there where you can help people (that being a fairly generic term) without the level of debt and large chunk of time that attending medical school entails. Medicine doesn't just skirt around physiology, anatomy and other sciences - they're its very foundation. Being a doctor doesn't mean you have to do hardcore basic science research for the rest of your career, but you will spend a large amount of pre-med and medical school learning these concepts, and the rest of your career applying them.

At the end of the day, getting through pre-med, medical school and residency is a long road, and one I'm not sure I'd recommend if you know up front that you're not passionate about it. Like others have suggested, PA is a possibility, or have you considered becoming an RN if patient interaction and relationships are what excites you?

 

[Jabbed]

To be fair, when you say that you're "apathetic to the science of medicine" I'm pretty sure that you mean that you're "apathetic to organic chemistry, cell molec, etc". Take a look at any highly regarded intro pathophys book. If you still don't find it at all interesting, medicine might not be for you.

Enjoying the clinical environment, basic altruism, and the desire for job security are otherwise good supporting reasons to become a physician (or PA).

 

[styphon]

Per the PANCE website, PA's need to recert every 6 years, but taking the "PANRE" recert test.

Anyways, if you hate medicine - do something else. There are lots of fields that help people besides medicine (despite what these forums may tell you). A few off my head: Social Worker, Mental Health Counselor, Social/Community Advocate, Policy Advocate, being part of a Not-for-Profit organization, (some) lawyers.