What are some "cool" and "unique" things you can do as a physician?

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noregistration said:
Things like Doctors Without Borders

Great opportunities and types of careers a physician can lead that aren't the typical hospital or private practice jobs?
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I met Lou Ann Freer (sp?) who runs the clinic at the base camp of Mt. Everest and does expedition medicine. It was pretty bad ass.

There are a ton of interesting jobs out there, but they're all going to have drawbacks (travel and $$, mostly). That said, they're definitely worth exploring if you're interested.
 
Yeah I definitely see how $$ would be less, which I am fine with. I also know would be fine with traveling and actually consider this to be a perk!

But yeah, things like running the clinic at the base of Mt. Everest would be incredible.

Anyone here of more opportunities like this?
 
You can be a space doctor (flight surgeon for NASA).

Apparently there are loose plans for a mission to Mars. Presumably they'll want to send a doc.
 
coffeebeanjenn said:
You can be a space doctor (flight surgeon for NASA).

Apparently there are loose plans for a mission to Mars. Presumably they'll want to send a doc.
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It really doesn't get much cooler than that. But that'll be like one dude out of all of us.
 
Acoustic said:
It really doesn't get much cooler than that. But that'll be like one dude out of all of us.
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And... how many years does it take to get to Mars? As long as you still think it'd be cool being gone for 15+ years.
 
st2205 said:
And... how many years does it take to get to Mars? As long as you still think it'd be cool being gone for 15+ years.
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18 months round trip? That doesn't seem that bad. And this article mentions some sort of crazy laser propulsion that could cut the trip down to 39 days (presumably one-way).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4379611...ong-mission-mars-could-kill-you/#.T-PKRGt5mK0

And if we ever build a moon colony, we'll need moon doctors. Gingrich 2012!!

(ps kidding about Gingrich)
 
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You could do what I plan to do if I'm still unmarried when I finish residency: buy a big luxury RV and travel the country doing locum tenens work, living out of the RV. A few weeks to months of work at a time, interspersed with scenic road trips across America, sojourns in the national parks, etc.
 
coffeebeanjenn said:
You can be a space doctor (flight surgeon for NASA).

Apparently there are loose plans for a mission to Mars. Presumably they'll want to send a doc.
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Quick point: a flight surgeon is a doc FOR astronauts. A doc who goes up is just called an astronaut.

No doubt medicine is the closest thing there is to a back door to NASA. A big chunk of their recruits are medical, but unlike engineering or flight no one regards the space programs as the natural peak of a medical carrier.

The military has some cool medical jobs : flight surgeon, underwater medical officer, and medical officer on a ship are all cool in their own ways.
 
Write books!
 
Trismegistus4 said:
You could do what I plan to do if I'm still unmarried when I finish residency: buy a big luxury RV and travel the country doing locum tenens work, living out of the RV. A few weeks to months of work at a time, interspersed with scenic road trips across America, sojourns in the national parks, etc.
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Realistically that's probably just as cool as it gets. Space doctor would be awesome, but I'm betting your step 1 has to be out of this world for that one.

Locum tenens around the country would be legit. If only it was possible to finish all this schooling and still be early 20s...
 
Acoustic said:
Realistically that's probably just as cool as it gets. Space doctor would be awesome, but I'm betting your step 1 has to be out of this world for that one.

Locum tenens around the country would be legit. If only it was possible to finish all this schooling and still be early 20s...
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Da daump dump.
 
vasca said:
As a university teacher? Or a traveling road doctor giving PCP consult everywhere?

While being a traveling physician would sound sexy, the US requires you to have a valid license that's only useful for 1 state. You'd have to pass the requirements of each 50 states in the US to get a license that's legally valid everywhere. The other problem would be where to give consult. Would you set up a moving clinic in the RV? It would have to pass sanitation requirements and you'd need to find a legit way to dispose of used needles which isn't cheap.
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What a noob lol. Locum tenens is basically temp work for physicians. So no, not out of your RV. You work in a normal health care setting. He was just saying that he would live out of a RV as he traveled the country. Not sure how locum tenens deals with licensing though.
 
Acoustic said:
What a noob lol. Locum tenens is basically temp work for physicians. So no, not out of your RV. You work in a normal health care setting. He was just saying that he would live out of a RV as he traveled the country. Not sure how locum tenens deals with licensing though.
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Most locums agencies that contact you for jobs will assist you with licensing. It's hard to get licensed in all 50 states, but you can certainly hold licenses in 5-6 states, if you want.
 
vasca said:
Be a "Green Angel" doctor in Mexico, those doctors are badass 10/10. They work with the mexican army in cartel controlled areas, do first aid assistance to the wounded during gun battles and are trained to have no fear of death. They had an article on the net a couple months back about a doctor that surgically removed an undetonated hand grenade that got lodged inside of the mouth of a civilian that luckily didn't blow up.

Not a job for the faint of heart.
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haha this is cool as **** but definitely not trying to endanger my life lol

being a doctor in antarctica would be super cool to. im sure there are some. and if you could do it only for 9 months or so, it would be crazy. i hear the type of people that work in antarctica are incredibly unique
 
The media is always looking for physicians to write, speak, or produce articles, segments, and programs. One great thing about being a doctor today are the multiple avenues one can take to help educate the general public. I've enjoyed doing this through writing and TV, others have podcasts and radio shows.
Some physicians enter the speaking circuit, giving talks to organizations and schools. I'm not one for a lot of travelling, but this is also something different and beneficial to the community.
 
do what i do and am pretty much my own boss! i do mission (aboriginal) health checks, OBGYN checks/deliveries, transfers (hospital, different mission camps etc) its awesome.
 
tonyyounmd said:
The media is always looking for physicians to write, speak, or produce articles, segments, and programs. One great thing about being a doctor today are the multiple avenues one can take to help educate the general public. I've enjoyed doing this through writing and TV, others have podcasts and radio shows.
Some physicians enter the speaking circuit, giving talks to organizations and schools. I'm not one for a lot of travelling, but this is also something different and beneficial to the community.
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With an MD you can peddle garbage information like Dr. Oz too! :laugh:
 
BushDoc20 said:
do what i do and am pretty much my own boss! i do mission (aboriginal) health checks, OBGYN checks/deliveries, transfers (hospital, different mission camps etc) its awesome.
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I heard about this recently from a dentist who does similar dentist things. I didn't know it was an option for MDs. Do you work with an organization, or are you really on your own? How did you get involved with this kind of work?
 
smq123 said:
Most locums agencies that contact you for jobs will assist you with licensing. It's hard to get licensed in all 50 states, but you can certainly hold licenses in 5-6 states, if you want.
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Any particular reason it would be hard to get licensed in more than 5-6? I was under the impression that once you've passed Step 3, it's just a matter of filling out the paperwork and paying the fee.
 
mars...there will only be one dude (or female) at the base of mt. everest too...
 
Trismegistus4 said:
Any particular reason it would be hard to get licensed in more than 5-6? I was under the impression that once you've passed Step 3, it's just a matter of filling out the paperwork and paying the fee.
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I think the issue comes up with keeping the CME requirements in order. If many of your states have similar or the same requirements you are probably okay, but it may happen that you have to do more CMEs because of different state requirements. Probably want a nice spreadsheet or calendar system to keep track and provide reminders!
 
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