Worried if I can handle med school

[aqua_skies95]

Hey guys! I've grown up wanting to become a doctor. I genuinely think that I do have a love for medicine. I recently was accepted to 1 DO school this cycle. During this cycle, I have begun to start having doubts about medicine. The reason that I am currently having major doubts is because I don't know if I can physically handle the burnout that can potentially come from med school/residency.

I am currently in my gap year and I've been scribing in the ER over the past few months. I feel physically and mentally burned out from scribing. I've lost so much weight because I don't ever get a chance to eat/sleep. I am definitely underperforming (very slow) as a scribe as well because I'm so tired all the time. I definitely don't have the energy to work out anymore. I feel so unhealthy. Right now - I don't obviously have too serious of a responsibility. I just have to write charts thankfully.

I value my own health as much as I value my career. I fear that if I don't take care of myself, I wouldn't be able to care for others properly.

I constantly hear about med students and residents working a crazy amount of hours a week (80 hours/week?!). Is this a myth or is it really the truth?

I don't really know what's best for me now. :/

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[AnatomyGrey12]

I've lost so much weight because I don't ever get a chance to eat/sleep.

Yeah you need to get that fixed because scribing shouldn’t be causing this sort of issue. You don’t eat or sleep and all you do is scribe? How many hours are you working?

constantly hear about med students and residents working a crazy amount of hours a week (80 hours/week?!)

80? Absolutely, and that’s only if the residency closely follows the duty hour restrictions, some weeks will be more.

 

[deleted407021]

Congrats on the acceptance!

Do you really need to be scribing so much? If you can, cut back and spend some time away from being so busy before school starts. I don't think getting burnt out with work is necessarily a sign that you can't handle med school. I stayed very busy during undergrad and burnt out really hard the summer before med school started just because I went so hard for like 5 years, but I've been totally fine in med school.


If you can, cut back and try and recover your energy a bit. Getting back into good habits will be important for when school starts.

 

[Save a life]

Yeah, honestly scribing can be stressful, especially as a new scribe trying to take in all the medical terms and how to chart. But it shouldn’t be that stressful, unless your working 80+ hours a week as a scribe, you should still have time to sleep and exercise. If you’re a new scribe, it will get better, just keep increasing your typing speed and learn the medical terms.

I found that med school is actually less stressful than working, just because you can leisurely study and the only pressure is to get through the material and show up to tests. This is just the preclinical years, I’m sure the clinical years and residency will be more demanding.

 

[HomeSkool]

Sounds to me like you're a high-functioning person who's suffering from burnout. Many of us have been there before, myself included. Learning how to identify the symptoms and address the root problem is part of becoming a physician.

Having never worked as a scribe, I can't address the demands of that job -- other SDNers will be more helpful there. But it sounds to me like you've allowed work to displace your healthy coping mechanisms. Make no mistake: med school is demanding and the hours are rough, but you can (and must) find time to take care of yourself. Start with your most basic needs: food, exercise, and companionship. If you're not eating, not exercising, and not sharing the journey with family and friends, you'll struggle and fail. If you do the right things, you'll struggle and overcome.

I'm no psychiatrist, but it sounds like you may have several symptoms of depression. SIGECAPS is a screening tool for depression (Google it) and at a guess I'd say you're at least hitting on I, E, C, A, and maybe P. Depression can be acute and situational, or it can be chronic; either way, it should be addressed. Again: not a psychiatrist, not saying you do or don't have it, but I don't think it would hurt you to get checked out.

I constantly hear about med students and residents working a crazy amount of hours a week (80 hours/week?!). Is this a myth or is it really the truth?

It's not a myth, but it's not always the truth. Some residencies -- IM and general surgery come to mind -- notoriously work those 80-hour weeks continuously. When I was a resident, however, ~60 hours was more typical. Now that I'm an attending, it's more like 50-55. That's not to say I didn't have nasty little stretches, though: a few times during my residency, I put in 100+ hours in a week. And a couple times I went as many as 17 straight days without a day off, working 30-hour shifts every fourth day. Last week, I put in 84 hours at work (but I also get this entire week off without burning any of my vacation time). Those really nasty little stretches were the exception, not the rule. I got through it and so can you.

With great demands come great rewards. I have the best job in the world: I get paid very well to wear pajamas and play in the OR all day. (And I don't have to round. Bonus!)

TL;DR: Medicine is great, but it's demanding. Figure out how to take care of yourself. If you don't, the path will look like this:

If you do, you'll see that it's really this:

 

[deleted407021]

Sounds to me like you're a high-functioning person who's suffering from burnout. Many of us have been there before, myself included. Learning how to identify the symptoms and address the root problem is part of becoming a physician.

Having never worked as a scribe, I can't address the demands of that job -- other SDNers will be more helpful there. But it sounds to me like you've allowed work to displace your healthy coping mechanisms. Make no mistake: med school is demanding and the hours are rough, but you can (and must) find time to take care of yourself. Start with your most basic needs: food, exercise, and companionship. If you're not eating, not exercising, and not sharing the journey with family and friends, you'll struggle and fail. If you do the right things, you'll struggle and overcome.

I'm no psychiatrist, but it sounds like you may have several symptoms of depression. SIGECAPS is a screening tool for depression (Google it) and at a guess I'd say you're at least hitting on I, E, C, and A. Depression can be acute and situational, or it can be chronic; either way, it should be addressed. Again: not a psychiatrist, not saying you do or don't have it, but I don't think it would hurt you to get checked out.


It's not a myth, but it's not always the truth. Some residencies -- IM and general surgery come to mind -- notoriously work those 80-hour weeks continuously. When I was a resident, however, ~60 hours was more typical. Now that I'm an attending, it's more like 50-55. That's not to say I didn't have nasty little stretches, though: a few times during my residency, I put in 100+ hours in a week. And a couple times I went as many as 17 straight days without a day off, working 30-hour shifts every fourth day. Last week, I put in 84 hours at work (but I also get this entire week off without burning any of my vacation time). Those really nasty little stretches were the exception, not the rule. I got through it and so can you.

With great demands come great rewards. I have the best job in the world: I get paid very well to wear pajamas and play in the OR all day. (And I don't have to round. Bonus!)

TL;DR: Medicine is great, but it's demanding. Figure out how to take care of yourself. If you don't, the path will look like this:
View attachment 226861
If you do, you'll see that it's really this:
View attachment 226862

Good advice but I just have to say, I saw that first image and my brain thought it was an US lol