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Show me the positive! What do you love about being a med student or a resident?


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This is an excerpt from a post I wrote in 2009 (!):

Yes, a medical career is not unique in helping people (in fact I'd say all jobs help people). But I think it is unique in the sheer impact you can have on that central part of people's existences - their health. In what other field do people entrust you with the most intimate details of their lives, allow you to delve physically into their bodies, make decisions regarding interventions that will affect them for better or worse? Every time I write a prescription, I still feel a slight awe that people will go out and take these drugs (with their attendant side effects) merely because I said it would help them. 

http://forums.premed101.com/topic/30557-pro-forma/

 

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-having a direction--this is true as soon as you get into med school.  Life feels like there is more of a career direction than pre med school.

-guaranteed high income.  This is over 90% true as soon as you get into med school.  You can sabotage yourself (so into a field with no jobs, not match in carms), but for almost everyone you will be making a top 1% income within 10 years as soon as you get accepted to med school

-it can be satisfying and interesting.  I'm more of a pessimist, so Ill throw in the caveat that often its not, but if I worked in an office I would probably say its never satisfying or interesting, so this is a step up

-you can be your own boss (not true in all specialties to some extent).  If you do outpatient work you can pretty much set your own schedule in my field. 

-prestige.  I hate to bring this up, but it does help.  Meeting new people?  As soon as your in med school or further, no one will question that you are successful career wise (except others in medicine perhaps).  This doesn't usually matter so much or make a difference, but sometimes its great.  Or at least less frustrating than when youre in grad school or undergrad and no one understands what youre doing

-job security.  Once you are independently practising, you will likely always have a job.  The only ways you wont is if you seriously misbehave, become too ill, or some other super rare circumstance.

Others will discuss helping people etc, this can also be true, I'm a bit pragmatic about it though.  Like I could have been a nurse or an accountant or whatever and also helped people; so tbh I don't see that as exactly a major aspect of my day to day.

 

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I love the cohort of students I am with - I have definitely made some life long friends.

I really like learning, so there is never a shortage of that to do...

There really isn't much pressure on us, so it doesn't take much to impress or just live up to expectations. 

The many directions my life could go in, with almost assured stability. I feel like the world is my oyster ya know


 

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Almost all of it. I love the constant learning, the interaction with different people all the time. The mental stimulation of it, and the feeling you get when things click and a new skill goes from something you do awkwardly to something you’re good at. Also I’ve had some really profound patient interactions which have influenced me a lot. 

 

I also love the mentorship tradition in medicine. I’ve had a number of staff who have really helped shape the sort of doctor I will be and they have been so kind and willing to give of their time to mentor me. 

Its been a really good path for me. 

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9 hours ago, Birdy said:

 

 

I also love the mentorship tradition in medicine. I’ve had a number of staff who have really helped shape the sort of doctor I will be and they have been so kind and willing to give of their time to mentor me. 

This is a really nice point.  In residency there was often a focus on what staff would make your life miserable, but now that I'm done, its almost impressive that some staff teach you a crazy amount; some in a relatively short amount of time.  Like theres 3-4 staff that if I hadn't worked with them, my career might be totally different.

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1 hour ago, goleafsgochris said:

This is a really nice point.  In residency there was often a focus on what staff would make your life miserable, but now that I'm done, its almost impressive that some staff teach you a crazy amount; some in a relatively short amount of time.  Like theres 3-4 staff that if I hadn't worked with them, my career might be totally different.

Totally. I didn’t realize how much I’d enjoy emerg until I worked with a few of our emerg staff who made it probably one of my most valuable learning experiences through all of med school. I went on to do two electives in emerg and did paeds emerg during my paeds core. I’m now planning to have emerg coverage as a part of my practice and am probably going to go for a +1. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I enjoy most of the patient interactions that I have.  One of the hard parts (depending on your perspective) about medical school and residency is you need to learn in a variety of settings, including the ones that you enjoy and the ones that you don't enjoy.  As you advance in your training you usually get more flexibility to spend more time doing the things that you like to do. In many fields (unfortunately not all) there is even more flexibility after you finish training to practice in the areas that you like.  I am in psychiatry and really enjoy outpatient care.  I recognize that getting adequate training in the emergency department, in the acute inpatient setting and in the chronic inpatient setting are all important as this will give me the experience to handle my more difficult outpatient cases in the future. But by and large, most cases seen in outpatient psychiatry aren't super complex (by psychiatrist standards) and respond well to treatment.  Even with the areas that you don't like as a resident, once you realize that as a staff you will bill for every case you seen, instead getting paid the $4-5/hour you get regardless of work load for being on call as a resident, it seems a lot more positive.

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Realizing and knowing that you're "in" medicine is one of the best privileges I often forget about. 

So whenever I'm in a slump, I come on to this forum and realize that I never have to re-write the MCAT or wait for an e-mail letting me know I got an interview/offer of admission. It makes me so happy knowing that I am to out of the rat race that determines whether I'm going to be a doctor or not.

Also what I love is that once you're "in", you're kind of on this conveyer belt/escalator- you'll make it to the end unless you do something grossly negligent. Despite recent problems with CaRMs, most medical students upon graduation are given a job with a decent starting salary, decent benefits, paid vacation, paid maternity leave, outstanding job security, and guaranteed yearly income increase (you get a raise every year in residency). We really take that for granted. Yes residency is a hell-hole (depending on the specialty), but there are other people who studied as much as we have, payed as much in tuition as we have and don't have the perks that we have (job security, guaranteed job advancement, and guaranteed projected income).

A great example are lawyers. They write their LSATs, go to law school for three years, and have to fight tooth and nail for a decent articling position (i.e. they aren't guaranteed one). Even if they have an articling position, an unreputable position will make it harder for them to further advance their careers. Even if they have a good articling position, almost a third of them are not asked to return to the firm (i.e. fired). They probably work as many hours as residents do without the job security. We have system-level support measures in place so that academic institutions are obligated to train us to be competent, and pay us a liveable salary. Even if we aren't cut out for the specialty, we are never dropped and left to figure it out on our own. There are program directors and PGME faculty to ensure we go into another specialty that will allow us to finish our training and practice as physicians.

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4 hours ago, BoopityBoop said:

Realizing and knowing that you're "in" medicine is one of the best privileges I often forget about. 

So whenever I'm in a slump, I come on to this forum and realize that I never have to re-write the MCAT or wait for an e-mail letting me know I got an interview/offer of admission. It makes me so happy knowing that I am to out of the rat race that determines whether I'm going to be a doctor or not.

Also what I love is that once you're "in", you're kind of on this conveyer belt/escalator- you'll make it to the end unless you do something grossly negligent. Despite recent problems with CaRMs, most medical students upon graduation are given a job with a decent starting salary, decent benefits, paid vacation, paid maternity leave, outstanding job security, and guaranteed yearly income increase (you get a raise every year in residency). We really take that for granted. Yes residency is a hell-hole (depending on the specialty), but there are other people who studied as much as we have, payed as much in tuition as we have and don't have the perks that we have (job security, guaranteed job advancement, and guaranteed projected income).

A great example are lawyers. They write their LSATs, go to law school for three years, and have to fight tooth and nail for a decent articling position (i.e. they aren't guaranteed one). Even if they have an articling position, an unreputable position will make it harder for them to further advance their careers. Even if they have a good articling position, almost a third of them are not asked to return to the firm (i.e. fired). They probably work as many hours as residents do without the job security. We have system-level support measures in place so that academic institutions are obligated to train us to be competent, and pay us a liveable salary. Even if we aren't cut out for the specialty, we are never dropped and left to figure it out on our own. There are program directors and PGME faculty to ensure we go into another specialty that will allow us to finish our training and practice as physicians.

I'd say the barrier to entry to law school isnt as high as medical school though. I'd guess the vast majority who get into medicine would get into law school no problem. Especially when lots of school simply look at GPA and LSAT score etc. I mean its with many things really, if the barrier to entry isnt as high then the job security, pay etc naturally follows a downward path. Another example is teaching school, not a high barrier to entry( but extremely important profession) and initially has poor job security and salary. But once you make it in somewhere and get steady, it improves a lot more and benefits etc. May take on average 5 years though post teaching school to get to that stable point for some. 

For many people even with great stats on paper, they still don't get in after a few attempts if the interview does stack up or no interview at all due to lack of ECs.  Really varies.

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49 minutes ago, JohnGrisham said:

I'd say the barrier to entry to law school isnt as high as medical school though. I'd guess the vast majority who get into medicine would get into law school no problem. Especially when lots of school simply look at GPA and LSAT score etc. I mean its with many things really, if the barrier to entry isnt as high then the job security, pay etc naturally follows a downward path. Another example is teaching school, not a high barrier to entry( but extremely important profession) and initially has poor job security and salary. But once you make it in somewhere and get steady, it improves a lot more and benefits etc. May take on average 5 years though post teaching school to get to that stable point for some. 

For many people even with great stats on paper, they still don't get in after a few attempts if the interview does stack up or no interview at all due to lack of ECs.  Really varies.

Is that Canada specific? I would think entrance into law school vs. medical school in the states are of similar difficulty. Yet US-MD graduate experience the same basic support (i.e. salaried residency, NRMP match, paid leave...etc etc).

Also I'd argue that teaching has only been an over saturated population in the recent decade (in cities in Ontario). There are PLENTY of full-time tenured teaching positions across Ontario in numerous school boards, but no graduate wants to take those jobs. They instead attempt to enter select school boards repeatedly, or choose to stay as a supply/contract teacher in a specific school board. But I guess I can also see the need for lawyers in rural regions as well - but no takers.

I see your point! It's a great one! I definitely wouldn't love school/learning as much as I do if it weren't for my teachers.

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15 minutes ago, BoopityBoop said:

Is that Canada specific? I would think entrance into law school vs. medical school in the states are of similar difficulty. Yet US-MD graduate experience the same basic support (i.e. salaried residency, NRMP match, paid leave...etc etc).

Also I'd argue that teaching has only been an over saturated population in the recent decade (in cities in Ontario). There are PLENTY of full-time tenured teaching positions across Ontario in numerous school boards, but no graduate wants to take those jobs. They instead attempt to enter select school boards repeatedly, or choose to stay as a supply/contract teacher in a specific school board. But I guess I can also see the need for lawyers in rural regions as well - but no takers.

I see your point! It's a great one! I definitely wouldn't love school/learning as much as I do if it weren't for my teachers.

Getting into law school is even easier in the US than Canada, they have WAY worse of a law school situation there.  Specifically because there are so many tiers. Getting a law degree at the bottom half of the schools, literally is no better prospects than a bachelors in ____.

BUT, i see your point regardless - i think its that insular effect of medicine, a way to justfiy pay sometimes is the long duration, and arduous journey..and the huge gov't investment into education/training (and in the case of the USA, 300-400k debt for many).

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13 hours ago, JohnGrisham said:

Getting into law school is even easier in the US than Canada, they have WAY worse of a law school situation there.  Specifically because there are so many tiers. Getting a law degree at the bottom half of the schools, literally is no better prospects than a bachelors in ____.

BUT, i see your point regardless - i think its that insular effect of medicine, a way to justfiy pay sometimes is the long duration, and arduous journey..and the huge gov't investment into education/training (and in the case of the USA, 300-400k debt for many).

Law school used to be much more of club, although it did have better job security upon graduation.  And the tier system is partly a remnant of that culture. Unlike medicine however, neither law or teaching are as heavily regulated - so universities can graduate more teachers and lawyers, regardless of actual demand.

 Conversely, regulations ensure the supply of physicians in Canada & US is much more tightly controlled - that's why medicine in general has a higher barrier of entry.  The government investment alone is not enough to justify renumeration: for example the cost of training fighter pilots is millions per year in the US, but earning are lower than physicians for example.

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1 hour ago, ellorie said:

When I’m on call and I don’t get fed I get so pissed off. 

Especially when on call!  They bill for what you do--there were definitely some nights I would make them over 1000$ in billing overnight (without them laying eyes on a patient).  Its not like theyre providing you with valuable teaching overnight lol.  I feel like I deserved a free $5-10 coffee and breakfast after that haha

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1 hour ago, ellorie said:

When I’m on call and I don’t get fed I get so pissed off. 

Yeah, that pissed me off too. It happened very rarely though. I think only once in gen surg.

The best staff to work with during my residency was when I did a radiology elective. Those guys took me out to eat lunch every single day for 2 weeks.

When I did my rural elective in residency, my rural preceptor bought me breakfast and coffee whenever I did an overnight ER shift which was 2-3 times a week.

Now I work at a clinic with my former family practice preceptor and he still buys me lunches from time to time. I should probably not mention to him I'm buying a Model S soon. I like the free lunches.

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I’ve never been huge on pizza. With med school almost done, I’m so damn sick of it. I so appreciated the staff who would let the students and residents just pick out a place to eat. I’ve discovered many good restaurants thanks to it. 

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2 hours ago, Mithril said:

Yeah, that pissed me off too. It happened very rarely though. I think only once in gen surg.

The best staff to work with during my residency was when I did a radiology elective. Those guys took me out to eat lunch every single day for 2 weeks.

When I did my rural elective in residency, my rural preceptor bought me breakfast and coffee whenever I did an overnight ER shift which was 2-3 times a week.

Now I work at a clinic with my former family practice preceptor and he still buys me lunches from time to time. I should probably not mention to him I'm buying a Model S soon. I like the free lunches.

I have to do a radiology elective where ever that was ha :)

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- You get the privilege of being involved in patient's lives and seeing things that no one else is allowed to see or do

- Let's be honest, people do often give you the benefit of the doubt or treat you better if you are in medicine

- It is nice to suddenly be talking about whether you want your salary to be in the 200s or the 400s one day

- Both a pro and a con, but you get to live in places where no other white collar professions get to live and at the same time you also often have to live in places where no other white collar professions live 

- Med students generally are a pretty awesome bunch, I at least find that I really connect with my fellow meds and you feel finally middle of the crowd for once rather than an outsider

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