What are you looking forward to in medical school?

[Planes2Doc]

Truth. I have no idea what you're saying here.

Just as @mehc012 said, it's the tarsal tunnel in anatomy. I'm not sure if any schools will do the lower extremities early on. So in that case, except for the few "I love anatomy" fan boys and girls, you'll grow to hate gross anatomy real fast.

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[NickNaylor]

Anyone else assess strangers in their mind everywhere they go and talk to the tv when House is on?

I also pray that someone gives me the opportunity to exercise my CPR skills heh

Doing CPR on someone is a terrible experience and not something to look forward to. Enjoy that 30% success rate and breaking 2-3 ribs as you watch someone die in front of you.


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[mehc012]

Just as @mehc012 said, it's the tarsal tunnel in anatomy. I'm not sure if any schools will do the lower extremities early on. So in that case, except for the few "I love anatomy" fan boys and girls, you'll grow to hate gross anatomy real fast.

What's wrong with loving anatomy?!?
Also, I'm somewhat confused...are you saying we'll hate anatomy because we're not doing the lower extremities? Iz confused.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

Just as @mehc012 said, it's the tarsal tunnel in anatomy. I'm not sure if any schools will do the lower extremities early on. So in that case, except for the few "I love anatomy" fan boys and girls, you'll grow to hate gross anatomy real fast.

What was your prior involvement with planes?

 

[CardiologyPrincess]

Doing CPR on someone is a terrible experience and not something to look forward to. Enjoy that 30% success rate and breaking 2-3 ribs as you watch someone die in front of you.


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I deal with death all of the time at work, this will not phase me and I'll gain experience. Doing CPR on someone is not a terrible experience as you've tried to save their life. not doing it is terrible!

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

I have a new favorite poster. ^

 

[NickNaylor]

I deal with death all of the time at work, this will not phase me and I'll gain experience. Doing CPR on someone is not a terrible experience as you've tried to save their life. not doing it is terrible!

Well then all the best to you. I hope you get to save some lives. Before then, perhaps do some looking into outcomes of CPR and the results of education interventions with respect to DNR orders. It just might change your mind.


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[ChEMD]

Absolutely! Never understood why that's an insult. I feel like I'm suffocating if I breathe through my nose.

The last thing I want to do when there's a bad odor in the room is breath through my mouth. Smelling it is bad enough, but tasting it? That's just gross...

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

The last thing I want to do when there's a bad odor in the room is breath through my mouth. Smelling it is bad enough, but tasting it? That's just gross...

Is not breathing an option? Do they teach you how to not breath in med school? The specific case that we're discussing makes me want to vomit a little, just thinking about it.

 

[Planes2Doc]

What's wrong with loving anatomy?!?
Also, I'm somewhat confused...are you saying we'll hate anatomy because we're not doing the lower extremities? Iz confused.

Gross Anatomy is the academic equivalent of hazing. The amount of material you have to learn is huge. This is the most often failed course if one were to fail a course during first year. You will have to spend all of your free time in the anatomy lab sifting through fascia on the cadavers. People are very excited initially, but it gets old really fast. Then a majority of people begin to hate the course. Since lower extremities usually come later in the course, you'll most likely end up hating the course before you ever get there. That's what I meant by my post.

What was your prior involvement with planes?

I worked in airline management. The travel perks were fun, but the salary sucked. It was essentially a dead-end job, and the hell that medical school is currently putting me through is worth doing over spending the rest of my life in a corporate dead-end job.

Sorry to sound like a Debbie Downer, but a majority of pre-meds have absolutely no idea what they are getting themselves into. If they knew what medical school was really like, I bet a lot would not do it. For me, it was worth it since I already had two corporate jobs and saw what the corporate world had to offer. People on SDN also make it seem like being a successful entrepreneur is easy like 1-2-3. It's not. Also, the investment banking/Wall Street careers ship has long since sailed. Medicine is the best opportunity to make a just about guaranteed good living and do meaningful things. But wow, there were so many days where I was driven to low-points that I never thought were possible, and all I wanted to do was quit. I'm glad I didn't, since I see where the people I left behind in corporate America are.

But seriously, medical school is NOT fun. If you enjoy learning about the human body, then do it in your free time. No one is stopping you. But having to learn insane amounts of material and minutiae in a short amount of time with tons of tests just about every other day is not a ****ing privilege. It's not something most people will enjoy. It pains me to see these starry-eyed pre-meds and think about the hell they will go through shortly and how their lives will change.

 

[mehc012]

The last thing I want to do when there's a bad odor in the room is breath through my mouth. Smelling it is bad enough, but tasting it? That's just gross...

90% of taste is smell. By cutting out the odor part, you remove both taste AND smell. I'm not just 'mostly breathing through my mouth' - that's my default. I'm completely blocking off my nose, like you do when you go swimming (unless you're one of those 'nose clip' people who can't just...block off their nose on their own).

 

[CardiologyPrincess]

Well then all the best to you. I hope you get to save some lives. Before then, perhaps do some looking into outcomes of CPR and the results of education interventions with respect to DNR orders. It just might change your mind.


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Heh. Everyone in my assisted living facility practically is a DNR. I give comfort meds and provide hospice care and post mortem care. I love being there for people in their final moments. I don't mean to argue with you but shouldn't a doctor have experience and don't they deal with this and DNR or full code pts etc. it happens and you can't beat yourself up or dwell when it does. It's not your fault at all

 

[mehc012]

Heh. Everyone in my assisted living facility practically is a DNR. I give comfort meds and provide hospice care and post mortem care. I love being there for people in their final moments. I don't mean to argue with you but shouldn't a doctor have experience and don't they deal with this and DNR or full code pts etc. it happens and you can't beat yourself up or dwell when it does. It's not your fault at all

No offense, but this just sounds flat-out weird.
1. there's a difference when you're the one with the responsibility
2. there's a difference between 'being there for people in their last moments' and physically assaulting the pretty-much-dead body of someone who won't ever truly be 'back', even if you do succeed, against the odds, in resuscitating them enough for the ICU.
3. Why are you being patronizing to one of the most helpful med student posters on pre-allo?

 

[CardiologyPrincess]

Lol right.

 

[CardiologyPrincess]

Anyways, I'm also excited for med school to learn more and be more hands on

 

[NickNaylor]

Heh. Everyone in my assisted living facility practically is a DNR. I give comfort meds and provide hospice care and post mortem care. I love being there for people in their final moments. I don't mean to argue with you but shouldn't a doctor have experience and don't they deal with this and DNR or full code pts etc. it happens and you can't beat yourself up or dwell when it does. It's not your fault at all

I'm glad you have that experience, but when I see someone say "not doing it is terrible!" with respect to CPR and in an unqualified manner I have to question your experience. I think it is almost a universal response to directly seeing and/or doing chest compressions to really question the value and efficacy of CPR. I'm assuming you have never done CPR based on your original comment. I have. It seems questionable whether or not you've actually seen it done. I have several times, most recently on a mid 40s woman. CPR sounds like a fantastic idea and it obviously has a place, but it is neither as glamorous nor as effective as you think it is if you have never seen it before or never spent time to learn about it. I assure you that watching someone die after dosing them with a bunch of morphine is not even comparable to CPR.

But again, good luck with the "saving lives" thing (you will fail more than half the time).


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[Zelda840]

I'm looking forward to knowing where I will be living for the next four years.

 

[mehc012]

New one: Living on the east coast (hopefully), or at least not in CA anymore!

 

[Planes2Doc]

On a positive note, it was nice not having to do the whole pre-med dog and pony show ever again. That gets old really fast.

 

[Gregor Wiesmann]

Bring it on

Thought you were OMFS............

 

[tiedyeddog]

I deal with death all of the time at work, this will not phase me and I'll gain experience. Doing CPR on someone is not a terrible experience as you've tried to save their life. not doing it is terrible!

It's a little different when it's in a pediatric hospital and the kids parents are screaming in the background.

CPR in the hospital setting is far different from the nursing facility setting.

 

[Godspeedyou]

Thought you were OMFS............

I thought the 6 year residency brings an Ob/Gyn rotation


A hole is a hole as they say

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

I'm glad you have that experience, but when I see someone say "not doing it is terrible!" with respect to CPR and in an unqualified manner I have to question your experience. I think it is almost a universal response to directly seeing and/or doing chest compressions to really question the value and efficacy of CPR. I'm assuming you have never done CPR based on your original comment. I have. It seems questionable whether or not you've actually seen it done. I have several times, most recently on a mid 40s woman. CPR sounds like a fantastic idea and it obviously has a place, but it is neither as glamorous nor as effective as you think it is if you have never seen it before or never spent time to learn about it. I assure you that watching someone die after dosing them with a bunch of morphine is not even comparable to CPR.

But again, good luck with the "saving lives" thing (you will fail more than half the time).


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I think the thing that threw me off with her post was the "I hope I get to use my CPR skills!" I've been an ED tech at a level 1 trauma center and teaching hospital for quite some time now, and I'm head tech on the trauma team. when we have a cardiac arrest come in, there isn't a soul around who wants to do CPR, nevermind someone who's just praying for a chance that day to use their "CPR skills". and I won't even get into the days when young kids come through the door. needless to say my morale after those isn't the best, but you deal how you have to.

CPR just flat out does not save lives, rarely if ever. I've been on top of a dying persons chest more times than I'd like to discuss performing compressions, and I can assure you that it certainly wasn't me who saved the ones that come back. To say you want dying people to come through your door so you can perform CPR just sounds very strange to me lol, maybe I took it the wrong way.

Also, this is neither here nor there, but I've also witnessed many med students come through our ED on rotations, and most of these people just nervously sit in the corner during rapids and traumas, especially if it's their first time getting any real clinical experience. I wouldn't expect to suddenly become House because you got into med school. this is also kind of why I think more med schools should go the PA school requirements route and require a certain amount of clinical hours to be considered, but that's neither here nor there. just my $0.02.

 

[NickNaylor]

I think the thing that threw me off with her post was the "I hope I get to use my CPR skills!" I've been an ED tech at a level 1 trauma center and teaching hospital for quite some time now, and I'm head tech on the trauma team. when we have a cardiac arrest come in, there isn't a soul around who wants to do CPR, nevermind someone who's just praying for a chance that day to use their "CPR skills". and I won't even get into the days when young kids come through the door. needless to say my morale after those isn't the best, but you deal how you have to.

CPR just flat out does not save lives, rarely if ever. I've been on top of a dying persons chest more times than I'd like to discuss performing compressions, and I can assure you that it certainly wasn't me who saved the ones that come back. To say you want dying people to come through your door so you can perform CPR just sounds very strange to me lol, maybe I took it the wrong way.

Also, this is neither here nor there, but I've also witnessed many med students come through our ED on rotations, and most of these people just nervously sit in the corner during rapids and traumas, especially if it's their first time getting any real clinical experience. I wouldn't expect to suddenly become House because you got into med school. this is also kind of why I think more med schools should go the PA school requirements route and require a certain amount of clinical hours to be considered, but that's neither here nor there. just my $0.02.

But I got into medical school! I WANTED TO SAVE LIVES!


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[bakedbeans18]

I'm looking forward to studying in a curriculum where each grade actually matters. Perhaps one of the most infuriating thing for many of my undergrad and grad classes was that the goal was to achieve mastery of a subject, only to do a memory dump 5 months later. It will be nice that everything will build on the previous thing in medical school, and that my exam studying and grades will actually have implications for the future - it's no longer just a big bag of BS. Also, stethoscopes.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

This thread is one giant @DermViser target range.

 

[NickNaylor]

I'm looking forward to studying in a curriculum where each grade actually matters. Perhaps one of the most infuriating thing for many of my undergrad and grad classes was that the goal was to achieve mastery of a subject, only to do a memory dump 5 months later. It will be nice that everything will build on the previous thing in medical school, and that my exam studying and grades will actually have implications for the future - it's no longer just a big bag of BS. Also, stethoscopes.

Until you find out that preclinical grades pretty much don't matter barring pursuit of a very competitive specialty, and even then the importance is minimal.

You think things will matter, but much like undergrad "doesn't matter" and is simply a stepping stone to the next step, so is medical school. In many ways what you do "doesn't matter" though it's obviously much more relevant compared to your typical undergrad education. Each step is simply another vantage point to see how much further the rabbit hole goes - and it goes deep. But you are by no means ready to be a physician once you get that nice MD.


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[ExtremeProton]

You're going to be one of those doctors who cites some HIPAA ballocks to get out of letting premeds shadow, aren't you?

LOL it sounds like you're speaking from personal experience.

 

[okokok]

But seriously, medical school is NOT fun. If you enjoy learning about the human body, then do it in your free time. No one is stopping you. But having to learn insane amounts of material and minutiae in a short amount of time with tons of tests just about every other day is not a ****ing privilege. It's not something most people will enjoy. It pains me to see these starry-eyed pre-meds and think about the hell they will go through shortly and how their lives will change.

Hearing things like this from SDN and underclassmen at the med school I'm starting at in the fall is why I'm not really looking forward to med school. I'm looking forward to a career in medicine, but I'm kind of dreading school.

 

[ChEMD]

Hearing things like this from SDN and underclassmen at the med school I'm starting at in the fall is why I'm not really looking forward to med school. I'm looking forward to a career in medicine, but I'm kind of dreading school.

Don't worry about it, not everyone hates medical school. I've actually had a lot of fun so far, and I've really enjoyed what I've learned. If you actually enjoyed the school part of up undergrad, then I don't see any reason why you wouldn't enjoy medical school. Is it a lot of work? Of course! But if you actually enjoy learning, then you'll probably have a pretty good time. There will be times that you are thinking "why do I have to learn all of these little details", and it doesn't help when you come here on SDN and read how so many upperclassmen are talking about how they felt their first 2 years in med school were useless. But the key is to not fall not fall behind. It's so much easier to learn these small details (in addition to being less stressful) when you use spaced repetition instead of trying to cram it all in a few days before the test. Some people may not have the discipline though to do that, and maybe that's why they are more stressed.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

Don't worry about it, not everyone hates medical school. I've actually had a lot of fun so far, and I've really enjoyed what I've learned. If you actually enjoyed the school part of up undergrad, then I don't see any reason why you wouldn't enjoy medical school. Is it a lot of work? Of course! But if you actually enjoy learning, then you'll probably have a pretty good time. There will be times that you are thinking "why do I have to learn all of these little details", and it doesn't help when you come here on SDN and read how so many upperclassmen talking about how they felt their first 2 years in med school were useless. But the key is to not fall not fall behind. It's so much easier to learn these small details (in addition to being less stressful) when you use spaced repetition instead of trying to cram it all in a few days before the test. Some people may not have the discipline though to do that, and maybe that's why they are more stressed.

Were you a practicing engineer before med school?

 

[ChEMD]

Where you a practicing engineer before med school?

Nah, I wasn't.

 

[deleted407021]

LOL it sounds like you're speaking from personal experience.

lol not personally, actually. I have known of many instances in which other premeds were turned down. After being educated on HIPAA by the medical assistant where I work,I can confidently say that the excuses they make are mostly nonsense.

 

[mehc012]

Don't worry about it, not everyone hates medical school. I've actually had a lot of fun so far, and I've really enjoyed what I've learned. If you actually enjoyed the school part of up undergrad, then I don't see any reason why you wouldn't enjoy medical school. Is it a lot of work? Of course! But if you actually enjoy learning, then you'll probably have a pretty good time. There will be times that you are thinking "why do I have to learn all of these little details", and it doesn't help when you come here on SDN and read how so many upperclassmen are talking about how they felt their first 2 years in med school were useless. But the key is to not fall not fall behind. It's so much easier to learn these small details (in addition to being less stressful) when you use spaced repetition instead of trying to cram it all in a few days before the test. Some people may not have the discipline though to do that, and maybe that's why they are more stressed.

I love the actual learning part (seriously, I just about threw a party when it came time to buckle down for MCAT studying) and I thrive on stress/being busy. When my schedule is not over-crammed, I get a bit depressed and I actually accomplish less, do less fun stuff, and feel less successful.
Is SRS working out in med? I ask because after I decided to go MD, I browsed the Allo forums pretty extensively. I found I was dismayed by all of the 'binge learn, rinse, repeat, AGHHH STEP I CRAM!' anecdotes, so I started training myself to use Anki as I went, in hopes I could minimize at least a bit of that cycle.

 

[CardiologyPrincess]

Haaaaaaa you ALL Took what I had said the wrong way.

What I meant was id like to be the hero to save someone like in public or a choking victim
I was taught that CPR does save lives. And you're right I clearly have not ever performed compressions on a dying body before

 

[Mad Jack]

Anyone else assess strangers in their mind everywhere they go and talk to the tv when House is on?

I also pray that someone gives me the opportunity to exercise my CPR skills heh

For the first bit, that's definitely just you. As to the second, you'll get to see plenty of CPR later, don't rush it. Someone dropping in front of you now will just make you realize how incompetent you feel when SHTF.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

What I meant was id like to be the hero to save someone like in public or a choking victim

"I can be your hero, baby."

 

[CardiologyPrincess]

Smh

 

[Mad Jack]

Doing CPR on someone is a terrible experience and not something to look forward to. Enjoy that 30% success rate and breaking 2-3 ribs as you watch someone die in front of you.


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30% at a decent hospital maybe. Prehspital and administered by an amateur, my mind would be blown at a 10% success rate, and even most of those will probably have profound deficits.

 

[ChEMD]

I love the actual learning part (seriously, I just about threw a party when it came time to buckle down for MCAT studying) and I thrive on stress/being busy. When my schedule is not over-crammed, I get a bit depressed and I actually accomplish less, do less fun stuff, and feel less successful.
Is SRS working out in med? I ask because after I decided to go MD, I browsed the Allo forums pretty extensively. I found I was dismayed by all of the 'binge learn, rinse, repeat, AGHHH STEP I CRAM!' anecdotes, so I started training myself to use Anki as I went, in hopes I could minimize at least a bit of that cycle.

A lot of people do go through the cram, binge, forget cycles, and many people can actually be pretty successful doing it (at least for individual tests). I definitely don't like to do that though, spaced repetition works, it just takes some discipline to study every single day.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

A lot of people do go through the cram, binge, forget cycles, and many people can actually be pretty successful doing it (at least for individual tests). I definitely don't like to do that though, spaced repetition works, it just takes some discipline to study every single day.

Seems like a given to do one's optimum on step 1?

 

[Mad Jack]

I think the thing that threw me off with her post was the "I hope I get to use my CPR skills!" I've been an ED tech at a level 1 trauma center and teaching hospital for quite some time now, and I'm head tech on the trauma team. when we have a cardiac arrest come in, there isn't a soul around who wants to do CPR, nevermind someone who's just praying for a chance that day to use their "CPR skills". and I won't even get into the days when young kids come through the door. needless to say my morale after those isn't the best, but you deal how you have to.

CPR just flat out does not save lives, rarely if ever. I've been on top of a dying persons chest more times than I'd like to discuss performing compressions, and I can assure you that it certainly wasn't me who saved the ones that come back. To say you want dying people to come through your door so you can perform CPR just sounds very strange to me lol, maybe I took it the wrong way.

Also, this is neither here nor there, but I've also witnessed many med students come through our ED on rotations, and most of these people just nervously sit in the corner during rapids and traumas, especially if it's their first time getting any real clinical experience. I wouldn't expect to suddenly become House because you got into med school. this is also kind of why I think more med schools should go the PA school requirements route and require a certain amount of clinical hours to be considered, but that's neither here nor there. just my $0.02.

What you deal with in the ED isn't the same animal as what happens in an ICU or a witnessed patient going down on the floors. The odds of successful resuscitation are pretty good when you catch a patient early- I don't exactly keep score, but ICU ACLS at my place is probably 50-60% effective, and the patients we get back almost never have deficits. On the floor, if it's witnessed, you probably have very similar odds, but if it's unwitnessed, your odds might be closer to 30% because of the downtime.

In my year as a tech in the ID prior to what I do now, we probably got 1 out of 10 people back- these patients often came in via basic units and thus didn't get the drugs they needed, had minimally qualified bystanders working them for a few minutes, and often had completely unknown causes of arrest, all things that work against us pretty heavily. Don't let the ones that come in from the outside make you think ACLS is ineffective- it can be very effective, but low downtime, promptly starting resuscitation, and quality ACLS are critical to getting them back, and more importantly, getting them back in one piece.

 

[bakedbeans18]

Until you find out that preclinical grades pretty much don't matter barring pursuit of a very competitive specialty, and even then the importance is minimal.

You think things will matter, but much like undergrad "doesn't matter" and is simply a stepping stone to the next step, so is medical school. In many ways what you do "doesn't matter" though it's obviously much more relevant compared to your typical undergrad education. Each step is simply another vantage point to see how much further the rabbit hole goes - and it goes deep. But you are by no means ready to be a physician once you get that nice MD.


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Thanks....very, erm, 'inspiring'. The only thing that really stuck out at my was 'holes' and 'deep'.

 

[WillburCobb]

30% at a decent hospital maybe. Prehspital and administered by an amateur, my mind would be blown at a 10% success rate, and even most of those will probably have profound deficits.

I have to go through the inpatient census where I work everyday and anytime I come across a patient who had CPR either in the field or the hospital I keep an eye on them to see the outcome. IIRC in the past 2 years 4 have had a somewhat successful outcome. One, who prior to procedure was completely independent, crashed post-op ended-up having a 3 month long stay (for what generally is a 1-2 day hospitalization). Since discharge 5 months ago he's been bouncing back and forth between the hospital and nursing home 2-3 times/month. Now that's what I call quality of life!

 

[ChEMD]

Seems like a given to do one's optimum on step 1?

I would assume so, but I can't really comment as I haven't taken step 1 yet haha. I use Firecracker to keep myself thinking about topics that I've already learned, so I feel like I've forgotten a little less than some of my peers. The goal is to have less content review during my actual step 1 studying so I can focus more on practice questions. We'll see how it ends up working out.

 

[Mad Jack]

I have to go through the inpatient census where I work everyday and anytime I come across a patient who had CPR either in the field or the hospital I keep an eye on them to see the outcome. IIRC in the past 2 years 4 have had a somewhat successful outcome. One, who prior to procedure was completely independent, crashed post-op ended-up having a 3 month long stay (for what generally is a 1-2 day hospitalization). Since discharge 5 months ago he's been bouncing back and forth between the hospital and nursing home 2-3/month. Now that's what I call quality of life!

You never know though. We had one guy we successfully brought back in the ICU four times. I was relieved 30 minutes into the fourth one, went home figuring he was done for, as the thinking was he'd thrown a massive PE. Came back on shift the next week, and there he was, sitting up drinking coffee, watching the morning news. I must have had a look on my face like I'd seen a ghost, so he asked me what was up and we went on talking about how rough of a stay he'd had. He was totally intact though, despite well over an hour of combined downtime. Quality ACLS man, it makes all the difference.

 

[NickNaylor]

Thanks....very, erm, 'inspiring'. The only thing that really stuck out at my was 'holes' and 'deep'.

Haha. I didn't intend that to be hugely negative, just realistic. I think medical school >>> undergrad in terms of the work in spite of all of its negatives.


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[mimelim]

Doing CPR on someone is a terrible experience and not something to look forward to. Enjoy that 30% success rate and breaking 2-3 ribs as you watch someone die in front of you.


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No offense, but this just sounds flat-out weird.
1. there's a difference when you're the one with the responsibility
2. there's a difference between 'being there for people in their last moments' and physically assaulting the pretty-much-dead body of someone who won't ever truly be 'back', even if you do succeed, against the odds, in resuscitating them enough for the ICU.
3. Why are you being patronizing to one of the most helpful med student posters on pre-allo?

Try ED thoracotomies...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resuscitative_thoracotomy

The numbers are generous. The survival numbers at even the best centers are about 10%. Forget breaking 2-3 ribs. We are cracking the patient's chest in the ED. I've done 3 and assisted on 4 others. Had two survive to the ICU and one leave the hospital alive. Still nothing more gratifying than putting your hands on someone and saving a life, I'd say an order of magnitude higher when you stick your finger in their pulmonary artery to plug a bullet hole and get wheeled up to the OR while on top of the patient. Not a single one of those experiences were terrible. And while I would never wish ill on others, it is something that I look forward to on trauma call. I don't want people to get hurt, but I want to be there when they do.

Yes, I am jaded. When you constantly deal with death, it happens. A bad night, you might have 3-4 deaths on trauma call. CVICU? I lost 4-5 this week. To be honest, if it is the natural course a particular pathology, it really starts to not bother you. It can't. If it did, you couldn't function in that environment. Yes, the young kids or sudden unexpected deaths haunt you, but that is more than made up for by the rest of the experience. At least, for me it is. Not everyone is built the same or enjoys the same aspects of medicine.

 

[mimelim]

My thoughts on looking forward to medical school...

What I looked forward to most coming out of undergrad was learning more practical things. I was a Physics major and the majority of my upper level education was relatively abstract. Of course the pre-clinical years of medical school turned out to have little to no relevance to my practice of medicine, but that is a separate issue. What I have enjoyed a lot is working my butt off and learning things and then applying them in the hospital. Certainly more so as a resident than in medical school, but being able to help provide good health care and improve people's lives IS rewarding. Seeing a tangible product from your hard work IS rewarding.

 

[NickNaylor]

Try ED thoracotomies...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resuscitative_thoracotomy

The numbers are generous. The survival numbers at even the best centers are about 10%. Forget breaking 2-3 ribs. We are cracking the patient's chest in the ED. I've done 3 and assisted on 4 others. Had two survive to the ICU and one leave the hospital alive. Still nothing more gratifying than putting your hands on someone and saving a life, I'd say an order of magnitude higher when you stick your finger in their pulmonary artery to plug a bullet hole and get wheeled up to the OR while on top of the patient. Not a single one of those experiences were terrible. And while I would never wish ill on others, it is something that I look forward to on trauma call. I don't want people to get hurt, but I want to be there when they do.

Yes, I am jaded. When you constantly deal with death, it happens. A bad night, you might have 3-4 deaths on trauma call. CVICU? I lost 4-5 this week. To be honest, if it is the natural course a particular pathology, it really starts to not bother you. It can't. If it did, you couldn't function in that environment. Yes, the young kids or sudden unexpected deaths haunt you, but that is more than made up for by the rest of the experience. At least, for me it is. Not everyone is built the same or enjoys the same aspects of medicine.

I appreciate your perspective and am sure my own would change if I saw a success. Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity. But I otherwise agree with your post in its entirety. However, I highly doubt that was the thought process behind the person I responded to based on her other comments.


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