What activites should I get involved in

[gpannu]

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Ez,

HI y'all

What activties are a good way to test if medicine is the right career for you besides the usual (shadowing, research). I've been thinking about appyling overseas but I still have doubts. I've taken 2 years off after my undergrad and was accepted to law school but decided to forgo it. In the mean time i'm looking for activites to engage in that would allow me to figure out if this is what i've want. I enjoy the sciences and I enjoyed studying biology and disease etc. However before I commit I want to be sure 100%.

What else could I do that would give me some good hands on experience.

 

[DemonDeacon]

I was in your same boat.

1. Think about what kind of doctor you want to be.

2. Look up that specialty in the phone book. Call up the physician's offices and see if they are willing to take volunteers (with the HIPAA rules in mind).

Volunteering in the hospital has taught me I would NEVER be a nurse, nor could I be one. Shadowing has to be the best way to see exactly what a doctor does. Don't shadow a urinologist (sp?) if that's something you'd never want to do for the rest of your life.

Also, are you willing to put in the time? If you've finished undergrad, have you taken the MCAT, orgo, and all that good stuff?

 

[scrappydawg]

HOSPICE HOSPICE HOSPICE!!!!

I can't underscore this enough. It really developed a "good bedside manner" and tested me in a very difficult part of life. If you have an ???'s PM me. I could go on for hours of how this was a tremendous experience.

 

[DemonDeacon]

What's Hospice?

 

[scrappydawg]

Hospice is a type of assisted living for people who have been medically given 6 months to live. There are different settings, but typically it allows a patient to remain in their home with a nursing staff that visits regularly to proved "end stage care giving" or pallative medicine. Pallitive medicine deals with the regulation of pain so that a patient may die comfortably.

As a volunteer, you get to deal one on one with patients, their families, and often are in a role that is different from their nurses and doctors. Many patients have told me information that they have withheld from nurses and doctors, that I then could rely to help improve their care. I'm not going to lie, it can be tough, but it has taught me good listening skills and the importance of non-verbal cues when dealing with patients. Most importantly, it proved to myself that I wanted to be a physician and could handle some of the less glamorous/more uncomfortable parts of medicine.

 

[funkless]

Whoa. With a title like "What Activities Should I Get Involved In", I was expecting a "How do I get in" post followed by a double-barrel flame-fest.

Cool; you're not "that guy."

If you haven't already, I really recommend that you wait tables for a really high-standard restaurant. You'll learn to appreciate the nitpicky, mundane, unpleasant, seemingly meaningless, but actually really, really important stuff that will occupy MS3 thru residency. More importantly, you'll also get a keen sense for the surreal nature of human impulse and an appreciation for doing stuff for the doing's sake. Your need for attaboys will be extinguished. But, above all, restaurants provide ample opportunities to meet the kind of girls who, in turn, will provide ample opportunities to sow your wild oats before you relegate yourself to the loserdom of becoming a twoyearbookworm/lifelongworkaholic.

Peace, good luck, and tell 'em
--Funkless
sent ya.

👍

 

[scrappydawg]

Whoa. With a title like "What Activities Should I Get Involved In", I was expecting a "How do I get in" post followed by a double-barrel flame-fest.

Cool; you're not "that guy."

If you haven't already, I really recommend that you wait tables for a really high-standard restaurant. You'll learn to appreciate the nitpicky, mundane, unpleasant, seemingly meaningless, but actually really, really important stuff that will occupy MS3 thru residency. More importantly, you'll also get a keen sense for the surreal nature of human impulse and an appreciation for doing stuff for the doing's sake. Your need for attaboys will be extinguished. But, above all, restaurants provide ample opportunities to meet the kind of girls who, in turn, will provide ample opportunities to sow your wild oats before you relegate yourself to the loserdom of becoming a twoyearbookworm/lifelongworkaholic.

Peace, good luck, and tell 'em
--Funkless
sent ya.

👍

Props...true that.