Would being a physician satisfy people with competitive natures?

[HoboCommander]

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Throughout my life I enjoyed competing against people in chess and various sports, and entered art competitions, music competitions (and won them after spending an unusually heavy amount of time practicing).

Being a pre-med was fun, because I liked to see how I stacked up against other high-caliber students. Do doctors get the opportunity to satisfy their competitiveness? Can doctors find things to compete in against other doctors? Like do people keep track of who's the best doctor in their field? I have a burning desire to be the best at what I do.

 

[SparkleMotion]

You get to compete with yourself.

Could also try to kill less people than your peers, I suppose.

 

[MichaelRW]

Throughout my life I enjoyed competing against people in chess and various sports, and entered art competitions, music competitions (and won them after spending an unusually heavy amount of time practicing).

Being a pre-med was fun, because I liked to see how I stacked up against other high-caliber students. Do doctors get the opportunity to satisfy their competitiveness? Can doctors find things to compete in against other doctors? Like do people keep track of who's the best doctor in their field? I have a burning desire to be the best at what I do.

Well, I can only speak from what I have experienced thus far in my journey and from what I have witnessed from my peers, but so far my constant need for competition has been satisfied and I strongly believe that medical school, residency, etc. will provide me with the necessary level of competition that my type a personality requires. The high level of competition contained within the path to becoming a physician is but one of the tens of reasons that I chose medicine as a career.
So, in conclusion: So far I am pleased with the competitiveness and I hope that the trend continues.👍👍

 

[schrizto]

It always appeared to me that surgical specialties had more of a competitive attitude. But it seems that the farther you go in a career you're not really competing against other people but rather perfecting and improving yourself.

 

[Catalystik]

As an attending physician, you'll want to be sure that you have the best outcome measures for your patients. Good statistics are not something you can achieve on your own, and rather relies on how good your team is: office staff, nurses, home health care, hospital staff, social worker, dietician, physical therapist, etc. Your leadership abilities and teamwork skills will have a lot to do with your success, and thus those are some of the qualities that med school adcomms look for.

 

[Hoody]

As an attending physician, you'll want to be sure that you have the best outcome measures for your patients. Good statistics are not something you can achieve on your own, and rather relies on how good your team is: office staff, nurses, home health care, hospital staff, social worker, dietician, physical therapist, etc. Your leadership abilities and teamwork skills will have a lot to do with your success, and thus those are some of the qualities that med school adcomms look for.

this. times a billion. excelllent post. 👍👍👍

 

[Alwaysbehopeful]

From watching surgical and trauma teams at work in the ED and OR I can safely say that medicine = teamwork! It is not about what you can do because no doctor can do it all by him/herself. 99% of the time your result/action depends on the work of another doctor, nurse, PA...

I don't know, the competition amongst pre-meds was one of the main reason why I hated doing the whole pre-med thing. Throughout my life I have also competed in sports, music, academics however I feel that the role of a physician is to be altruistic and to help one another instead of compete. I like to think of bing a physician like being a marine or navy seal. You have to work together and drop your competitive mindset or no one can survive.

 

[ahmcadams]

Don't go into medicine because you need competition to satisfy your professional goals. For the most part, no one is keeping score.

That said, medical students and residents can be some of the most competitive people around, particularly in the surgical specialties, and the nature the training process, which becomes increasingly selective as one reaches the higher rungs, will ensure this stays that way for the foreseeable future.

 

[HoboCommander]

As an attending physician, you'll want to be sure that you have the best outcome measures for your patients. Good statistics are not something you can achieve on your own, and rather relies on how good your team is: office staff, nurses, home health care, hospital staff, social worker, dietician, physical therapist, etc. Your leadership abilities and teamwork skills will have a lot to do with your success, and thus those are some of the qualities that med school adcomms look for.

I thought great doctors were recognized by colleagues for treating patients well?

It's teamwork I know, but you can still compete as part of a team right? Like there are team sports like basketball, you have Kobe Bryant who is really competitive, but his success depends on teamwork and making his teammates better.

I want to go into surgery. I hope the other surgeons are really competitive too and we manage to find something where we can one up each other. The patients will benefit because it makes us all better.

 

[Catalystik]

I want to go into surgery. I hope the other surgeons are really competitive too and we manage to find something where we can one up each other. The patients will benefit because it makes us all better.

Fewer lap pads left in patient bellies is always a good competition to win.

 

[Evergrey]

I mean, the road to becoming a physician is more competitive than almost all professions -- you have to work your butt off to get INTO medical school by competing with your peers in classes and MCAT, work your butt off in med school to get good grades and USMLE score to get into a "good" residency, and then work your butt off some more to get into a "good" fellowship, where you have to perform well to get a good job.

But, once you have the job, it's less focused on being competitive and more on being a good physician (funny, you'd think the training process would encourage more compassion, but instead it encourages a killer instinct!). Of course, if you want to be competitive you certainly can -- by going into business, research, or climbing the administrative ladder.

 

[mipp0]

Fewer lap pads left in patient bellies is always a good competition to win.

Days since last lap accident: X

Brilliant. I love reading your posts catalystik.

Rather than fostering such a burning competitive spirit, you should work on your humility and ability to work cohesively in a team setting. I don't know how much exposure you've had in the OR, but the surgeon relies heavily on his peers, surgical techs, and circulating OR nurses.

The Lakers (the team I love) sucked bullocks when Kobe had the better-than-thou, pass-the-ball-to-me mentality. But when he became a more mature, lets-do-this-together leader, the Lakers did much better : )

You seem to derive a little too much pleasure from "beating" others. Find more pleasure in the act itself.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

if you like competition go into business or politic's... or something where you can really pit your mind against someone or someone's opinion.

you might be interested in pathology..

 

[QofQuimica]

Being a pre-med was fun, because I liked to see how I stacked up against other high-caliber students. Do doctors get the opportunity to satisfy their competitiveness? Can doctors find things to compete in against other doctors? Like do people keep track of who's the best doctor in their field? I have a burning desire to be the best at what I do.

Medicine is far more about collaboration than competition. You may find the first two years of med school to be competitive the way you say you enjoy, but after that, you are in large part being evaluated based on your ability to get along and work with others as part of a team. Patients, fellow students, other members of the health care team, and your superiors will not care about how good your grades are if they dislike or distrust you. Basically, if you want to be a successful physician, my advice would be that you limit your drive to compete with others to music recitals, chess games, and sports. In medicine, your goal should be to help the patient, not to win a competition.

 

[tennisball80]

if you like competition go into business or politic's... or something where you can really pit your mind against someone or someone's opinion.

you might be interested in pathology..

+1

If you like to compete against other people, business or politics is the way to go.

 

[bravofleet4]

i imagine medicine is a place you can constantly push yourself in and compete with others as in many other careers. However, I can't help right now think about law. After all, every time you go to a court it's a battle of words! You either win or lose. I'm starting to see how that could be invigorating...

 

[futureboy]

i imagine medicine is a place you can constantly push yourself in and compete with others as in many other careers. However, I can't help right now think about law. After all, every time you go to a court it's a battle of words! You either win or lose. I'm starting to see how that could be invigorating...

In can be invigorating, but it can wear on you. It's one of the reasons I'm considering medicine after several years in litigation. However, this is just me; others may relish the constant conflict. I'm a bit tired of it...