Basically, what signs would indicate that one shouldn't go to medical school, even if it's something that they've been planning for a really long time?
When should one realize that medical school is not for you?
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deleted127837
They want to do something other than medicine.
In answer to your title: they should realize it before they're put in charge of other peoples' well being. As it is, though, a lot of people that would make great non-academic physicians never make it because of the rigors of the admissions process, and a lot of people who should be in PhD programs or on Wall Street end up making it. Etc etc.
In answer to your title: they should realize it before they're put in charge of other peoples' well being. As it is, though, a lot of people that would make great non-academic physicians never make it because of the rigors of the admissions process, and a lot of people who should be in PhD programs or on Wall Street end up making it. Etc etc.
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Making threads like this.
But, seriously, have you shadowed docs? Hated it? Loved it? Get exposure and gauge your interest based on that.
But, seriously, have you shadowed docs? Hated it? Loved it? Get exposure and gauge your interest based on that.
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1. You aren't interested in working hard for the rest of your life.
2. Your focus is on something shallow such as "making $" or "helping people", rather than some genuine interest in a particular aspect of the tasks you perform in medicine.
3. You are disappointed that med school is nothing like Greys Anatomy or Scrubs.
4. Your parents want it more than you do.
5. You start clinging to the old "what do they call the guy who graduates last in his med school class" line.
6. You look bad in white.
7. You don't like to roll up your sleeves and get dirty.
8. You have to ask strangers on SDN whether you should go to med school.
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This.
There was a MS4 on a med school student panel I went to that said, "If you can imagine yourself happy doing anything other than medicine, then do that." This is why undergrad is such a great time to explore and study random things instead of just medicine-related courses.
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Depends on the person, I suppose. But if someone can't articulate clearly to him/herself why it is they're doing it, I think that's the point where they should think about it a little harder. It's all about going into it for the right reasons (HINT: It's not money, prestige, or because their parents are making them).
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But at the psychology board, they said not to go into it if you can't imagine doing anything else! And when I talked to a musician, they said not to go into it if you can't imagine yourself doing anything else, and...
I'm not saying you should go to med school just because you have nothing better to do, but there are exceptions to this rule. Besides, you can't perform surgery or prescribe meds as a hobby 😉
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In some cities there are guys sticking knives into people and distributing narcotics on every street corner, so potato, potato.
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Not to be difficult, but I think your double negative changed what you were trying to say 😀
I should mention that the MS4 on that panel didn't seem happy about her experience with med school and actually said that it was parental pressure that pushed them to do it (and this student attended a top-tier school). But their point was that if you can imagine yourself happy doing something other than being a physician, then do that. It doesn't mean you have to completely detach yourself from medicine (public health, science research, some fields of engineering, etc are all options...)
And surgery and drug dispensing can be a hobby... although you may be trespassing into questionable legal territory 😛 (or retain legality and become a vet, dentist, or pharmacist)
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"helping people", rather than some genuine interest in a particular aspect of the tasks you perform in medicine."
im really confused about this. shouldn't "helping people" be the basis or is the fundamental of being a doctor?
what if i wanted to help kids because it makes me happy, is that not valid? or is that selfish?
and at what point does one really discover their genuine interest in medicine besides "helping people"?
im really confused about this. shouldn't "helping people" be the basis or is the fundamental of being a doctor?
what if i wanted to help kids because it makes me happy, is that not valid? or is that selfish?
and at what point does one really discover their genuine interest in medicine besides "helping people"?
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Haha! Or House.
What? An MD is not a license to break into people's houses? Oh noes, how ever am I going to find pertinent information about my patients!? 😱
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If you want to help kids, go participate in an after school program. Helping people is just one aspect of medicine, and if all you want in life is to help people, then medicine is going to be a disappointing career.
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This. It's nice when it happens, but this better not be your primary drive or you will hate this job.
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aah i see.
as you can see I am new to this. I haven't begun to venture or shadow any doctors, but is there a thread where people post why they are in this field?
-what is everyone's primary drive for medicine?
-do you think most pre-meds are in it for the wrong reasons?
-do you guys think most people's reasons are superficial?
it's also kind of crazy how in Architecture my basis to continue to graduate school is to help cities/people/slum communities/third world countries/environment through design, but many people think it's unrealistic and shouldn't be a primary drive? makes me really think whether my pursuit in these fields are really for me if I am just too generic.
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Ahh, I see what you're saying. I'm just saying that, if you want to do well in any field, it has to be something you love. Regardless of whether or not you love something else too is irrelevant, in my opinion (unless you love it more). I.E. If someone loves medicine, but could also see themselves being, like, an engineer or something, they should go into medicine if they think they'll be happier doing that. As long as someone follows their passion, I think's whatever they choose is the best field for them. Sorry, I think I'm having trouble putting my thoughts into words
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There's a reason Mother Theresa didn't bother going to med school in order to help lepers.
Most people who are happy in medicine have a Genuine interest in the job description. The surgeon who likes cutting, the orthopod who is a true carpenter, the Neurologist who likes figuring out the pathology based on the clinical presentation, the IM doc who likes managing complicated diabetics, the cardiologist or urologist who is fascinated by the fluid dynamics aspects of the plumbing. And so on. Everyone who doesn't have this childlike fascination with medicine and their role in it pretty much ends up frustrated or negative. You simply can't do it with the goal if "helping people" any more than you can do it to "make bank". Those are nice perquisites IF you get them, but if it's the driving force you will quickly become one of the whiners in medicine.
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👍
Every job involves helping people, to some extent or other. A person should make career choices based on what they legitimately enjoy, and how they would enjoy making a contribution.
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I'm not sure it's simple. As I go into each baby's room, I go about, with the help of my team, doing things like adjusting ventilator settings and writing IV nutrition orders. These things do not fascinate me. What fascinates me is that by doing these things well and treating infants and their parents with compassion and care, that infants for whom I care will go home and hopefully thrive. Or, if they have a lethal problem, can be cared for appropriately.
As such, I would not say that my motivation in medicine is simply described as either a fascination for the job or a desire to help people. Rather, it is the patient by patient job of helping people through detailed management, that, quite realistically, is not necessarily always fascinating to do. Every day I am doing patient care, I look at chest X-rays to evaluate, amongst other things, the position of the endotracheal tube. I often must make adjustments to that well before a radiologist has reviewed the film. I don't find that a fun or particularly fascinating task. I do find it a critical one to ensure that I am doing what I want to do, which is "helping people."
In other words, simplistic motivational descriptions don't work for me. I enjoy what I do, but the details of it are enjoyable because they help me to accomplish the end purpose that matters which is helping people.
As such, I would not say that my motivation in medicine is simply described as either a fascination for the job or a desire to help people. Rather, it is the patient by patient job of helping people through detailed management, that, quite realistically, is not necessarily always fascinating to do. Every day I am doing patient care, I look at chest X-rays to evaluate, amongst other things, the position of the endotracheal tube. I often must make adjustments to that well before a radiologist has reviewed the film. I don't find that a fun or particularly fascinating task. I do find it a critical one to ensure that I am doing what I want to do, which is "helping people."
In other words, simplistic motivational descriptions don't work for me. I enjoy what I do, but the details of it are enjoyable because they help me to accomplish the end purpose that matters which is helping people.
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I would still argue that you enjoy what you do, in a global sense, not in an ETT position by ETT position sense, and that helping people is just the happy by-product in some (hopefully many) cases, but not your driving force. If it were your primary driving force, you'd be frustrated most of the day. there's routine and scut in every specialty, but not enough to undermine the fun if you consider it fun in the first place.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I think this might be relevant.
I think this might be relevant.
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I'm pretty sure you've said the exact opposite of this a year or two ago.
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No, i think you are mistaken. this has been my position since I came to SDN. I frequently state money and altruism the two nice perqs if you can get them but absolutely cannot be your motivational drivers - they are shallow and will not sustain you.
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I will try once again to explain my motivation and if I fail, then I will have to acknowledge that I am not doing a good job of expressing myself in this setting and leave the discussion for another time.
I have been doing my job for over 20 years as an attending. I enjoy it, but it is a hard and sometimes stressful job and working 24 hour shifts where I am continuously busy is not a barrel of laughs. Nor is critical care medicine in general. I continue to do it because the outcome of my work is a way of helping children and I believe I can still contribute meaningfully to this outcome. It is that outcome that is enjoyable after 20 plus years, not a byproduct of the fascination or enjoyment of adjusting ventilator settings. I work the longer shifts when I no longer am obligated to do them to keep my job as it is a substantial source of income.
Overall, I believe young physicians should believe that helping people is a key motivating factor, but not the only one, in choosing their careers. Of course there are other ways of helping people, but medicine is a unique one. I believe we are motivated by many things, including a sense of purpose, in choosing medicine, and that over the long haul, the outcome of our work, helping people, is an important motivator. Thus, there is no simple relationship between helping people and enjoyment, etc as motivators for medicine. Wanting to help people goes in step with enjoying the job, they are not separable or categorizable as primary motivators.
Hope that helps explain my view. If not, the failure is mine in providing an inadequate explanation.
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I get what you are saying, but would suggest that in many specialties if you gauged your daily worth by how many people you "helped", in a tangible sense, you might be frustrated indeed. For instance the hospitalist that cant do much for many of his patients because his patients are all either too far gone in the disease process, intractable substance abusers or simply noncompliant.
There are thus other, more valuable motivators at play. Actually enjoying the job, for many, trumps the helping people card IMHO. You are lucky in that you accomplish both more frequently. But I'd suggest that if you had a long stretch where much of what you did didn't accomplish much in terms of patient outcome, you'd still not hate your job. Because the job, in and of itself has some allure beyond the happy by product of helping people. As IMHO it needs to.
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I've had a wide variety of jobs up to this point in my life, and I think I've experienced what you're talking about here with many of those jobs.
My jobs have usually been fun at first and even exciting. Who hasn't wanted to deliver the mail or drive a city bus, right? But the excitement of the job can ebb and then what is there to enjoy? With some of those jobs, I found other reasons to enjoy them or feel satisfied with the work I was doing when the excitement wasn't all that high. I'm hoping that practicing as a physician, in whatever capacity I eventually choose, will be exciting at times, but probably satisfying on a deeper level as opposed to being a "barrel of laughs".
Now I'm rambling. Lol
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OP, there really is no "right" reason for wanting to become a doctor.. there are general trends but in the end, it is usually a personal reason... often times based on one's own life experiences, whatever they may be.
In terms of when you will know, having changed from a different career, it took me a while to realize I no longer wanted to pursue past career - for some it takes a while they realize they want medicine, for others not so much... it really varies. Try to get some meaningful clinical experiences and also explore other options to see what you connect with most. You can always go on to work after graduating and take more time to solidify your decision.
In terms of when you will know, having changed from a different career, it took me a while to realize I no longer wanted to pursue past career - for some it takes a while they realize they want medicine, for others not so much... it really varies. Try to get some meaningful clinical experiences and also explore other options to see what you connect with most. You can always go on to work after graduating and take more time to solidify your decision.
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hey get some exposure to the field like working in a med office or volunteer work for the red cross. try volunteering at your local hospitals. it's a start and from there you can get a birds eye view of the field of medicine. this is great start, sharing your thoughts can help you along the way
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Correct.
It basically comes down to what will keep you "going" in the field until the day you retire. I don't have one reason for going into medicine but multiple and I even accumulate more reasons as time goes by.
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While there are probably multiple good reasons to go into a career like this and no single correct answer, I would suggest that "helping people" is too nebulous nd superficial a reason, not much better than "making bank". It's the flip side of the same superficial coin -- there had better be more.
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So basically "helping people" is a source of motivation in a broad sense, but one should actually put some thought and effort to actually finding out what "helping people" will involve (through shadowing and clinical volunteering/work experience perhaps) and if possible find a way to have these activities coincide with something you actually do have an interest in. For eg (forgive the simplification): You want to help people, you have a fondness for math/physics/chemistry and are interested in their application via technology to medicine...so you pursue radiology...?
And also understand that sometimes there is no "helping people" to it...especially when the people are beyond help or are not particularly interested in being helped....
