Guest ikaj Posted May 3, 2003 Report Share Posted May 3, 2003 Hi, I have a question for all u future doctors- why did u choose to become a medical doctor over all the other health related professions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UofCMeds2005 Posted May 4, 2003 Report Share Posted May 4, 2003 Interesting question - to play god of course Just kidding! Personally, I love science and I love people. So, basically it is the perfect field to experience both on a daily basis. And of course most type A personalities like a challenge and the search for never ending knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TimmyMax Posted May 4, 2003 Report Share Posted May 4, 2003 I like the possibility of cutting other human beings with my scalpel and even have the chance of it being of theraetuic use to them! (dun, diddile unh, diddle unh, diddle unh, shiny scalpel! Dunh, diddile unh, diddle unh, diddle unh, gonna do some cuttiing! Timmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted May 4, 2003 Report Share Posted May 4, 2003 Timmy, didn't I hear you say that you were here for the $$$? Everybody knows that MD's make way more $$$ than other health care professionals....especially surgeons, they make more $$$ than anybody! And you get to be God and do some cutting with your shiny scalpel while you are at it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest therealcrackers Posted May 4, 2003 Report Share Posted May 4, 2003 What was it that Dr. Rieder said to us? You do three things to patients in various combinations; talk to them, cut on them, and give them drugs. Sounds like Timmy's interested in option #2; I personally am interested in the myriad aspects of #1 and #3 to improve people's lot in life. Especially if they can be used as preventive measures... and as far as the money goes; unless you're doing cataract surgery before they change the fee schedule, or you're in the States, you're working @#%#@#$@ hard for that $$$... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted May 4, 2003 Report Share Posted May 4, 2003 Timmymax, you are a budding Dr. Kelso (the head honcho in Scrubs) For me, fundamentally the reason was that at the end of the day I wanted to be able to go home and say I'd made a difference in someone's life or at least done good in the world (man, those days when I can't do anuthing for any of the patients I see are going to suck. ) But of course, there's more to it than that as there are other professions where you help people. I thoroughly enjoyed my science classes in High School and University, but enjoyed other classes as well and saw medicine as a great career that would have some basis in science but require other types of thinking and background knowledge. And as for other health care professions, I wanted something that had a lot of variety academic wise, was academically challenging, and I really wanted the ability to diagnose and prescribe treatment. . . basically I wanted to be able to call some of the shots. 20 years into my career I think I'd have problems having some punk kid 3rd year clerk boss me around who has only had two years of lectures compared to my 20 years of experience boss me around, or even for that matter a resident ordering me around (ok, that is a total exageration - as a clerk I have NO intention of bossing any of the other health care professionals around, but I hope you get my drift.) Finally, in terms of lifestyle issues my father was an MBA executive for 27 years with a National corporation. We might say all we want here that if you really want $$ do an MBA, but from my experience my father was constantly worried he'd say the wrong thing to a boss or he would be laid off in a recession, and his career would be vamoose. Medicine is a relatively secure profession. Unless you date or sleep with a patient, or commit an act of outrageous negligence that is more a matter of immoral judgement than negligent practice, you are secure with medicine. I'd rather not personally be pushed into retirement in my early 50s, with tons of productive years left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest faqir9 Posted May 4, 2003 Report Share Posted May 4, 2003 "unless you're in the states"???? um, you don't think doctors in the US work hard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ibraheem Posted May 4, 2003 Report Share Posted May 4, 2003 hey faqir9 do you live in Canada, NB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TimmyMax Posted May 5, 2003 Report Share Posted May 5, 2003 Dude, I'm so much more like Todd than Dr. Kelso. Although I would one day looooove to be Dr. Cox to some poor, I mean, fortunate newbie! Timmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest j282 Posted May 5, 2003 Report Share Posted May 5, 2003 UWO MEDS was your father pushed into early retirement? 27 years seems on the low end of corporate jobs. In the case of medicine, I have heard of physicians being forced into retirement. Not really from lack of demand for services or other external economic factors, but rather from stress and health conditions resulting as manifestations from stress. Some have left the profession after 15 years, which in my opinion is a shame and a cry out to a system that perhaps needs fine tuning. Back to the question, why become a doctor? 1. DONT do it for the chics (you won't get any just because your Dr. Doe instead of Doe, that myth existed in the 60's to 70's) everyone today knows that docs are trading in their stable of exotic cars for the reliable ford taurus. 2. Don't do it for the money, read CURRENT news articles, doctors are not raking it in. Plus anyone that would pay 150K in loan, spend 6-14 years of potential earning years in school for the income that doctors earn, doesn't quite understand what's going on. Do it for the love of the human body and its systems. (if you don't love it, you will be tortured in med school) Do it to understand the science behind human functioning. Do it because you love interacting with people, even when they are swearing at you and blaming you and your incompetence in treating their cancer as the cause for their death bed condition. Do it because you understand these people aren't a pain in the ass but crying out for your help. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted May 5, 2003 Report Share Posted May 5, 2003 Yes, he was pushed into an early retirement. That's a large part of my point. This isn't uncommon - I have many other friends whose fathers experienced the same thing. Once they get past a certain age, exectives are sometimes quite often seen as over the hill and lacking in fresh ideas. Yes, physicians sometimes are forced out of practice for health reasons. But rarely at 54, and overall the frequency is much lower than I you would see in someone in business or engineering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest j282 Posted May 5, 2003 Report Share Posted May 5, 2003 Oh man that really sucks :rolleyes I hope your dad lands on his feet and into another position that will actually value the contributions that someone with his background can provide. Has your Dad considered starting his own business? At this point he must have a strong capital base (executive for many years) upon which he can launch a venture. It's a shame because I think a person with several years of experience would make a much larger contribution relative to a new grad who is a little wet behind the ears. I think of myself (terrified of clerkship) and how ill prepared I feel relative to a seasoned physician. Anyways, I wish your Dad the best of luck. A smart guy like that should land his dream job soon enough Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted May 5, 2003 Report Share Posted May 5, 2003 Oh, yeah this actually happened quite a while ago! Fortunately he had teaching experience from teaching in the CGA program at U of O (actually, most of the lectures were in the med school building!) He's now teaching economics and marketing in both the CGA program and at Algonquin. I think he also does a variety of other jobs and projects he can get his hands on (ie driving sleigh rides) that he enjoys. But there were a few rough years where he wasn't sure what to do. He had his pension, but to this day it is nowhere what it would have been had he been able to stay on until 60 or 65. And to be doing nothing at 54 is painful. . . those ads showing early retirement as living life by pool bar aren't very accurate. And I think as my father did eventually find meaningful employment his situation is better than most. For a couple of years he was a wee bit worried he might end up going from planning the country's long distance rates to flipping burgers or mowing lawns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sally2001 Posted May 5, 2003 Report Share Posted May 5, 2003 uwomed- was your dad at bell by any chance? sorry if this is a personal q, but as i read your response it just seemed to be such a familiar story.while people i know one generation up (ie my parents' colleagues) worked at bell, it seems to be a very real trend with that company, and probably others, but i'm more familiar with bell. in fact, one was asked "so you retired...." and he responded "actually, bell retired me" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest j282 Posted May 5, 2003 Report Share Posted May 5, 2003 I'll guess that it was Nortel. I'm glad to hear he bounced back Out of curiousity what did his other friends who were forced to retire end up doing? I would imagine that a situation such as facing job loss at that age would be devistating. I guess somehow you move on. My mom is in the same situation and she is really worried right now about the employment situation. She sees alot of layoffs in her department and relates the experience to a battle field. Interestingly she is a CGA who did her MBA at Western many moons ago. Is this similar to your Dad? Another point to note is that there is alot of talk about "just go for your MBA and make the big bucks" but growing up I never felt we were rolling in mad cash or anything. I think our lives were no different than anyone elses. Perhaps another myth perpetuated by the MBA program directors. Anyways Take care j Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted May 5, 2003 Report Share Posted May 5, 2003 It was in fact Bell, but my Dad knows a few people at Nortel who ended up in the same situation. There's similar stories throughout all the major corporations, in all sectors of the economy. And my Dad did his MBA a De Gruyt, but other than that the story is similar. In fact, this scenario really is not uncommon in a wide host of careers, which was my original point. . . I found the stability to be an attractive aspect to medicine, though I will reinforce the fact it was not the most important part of the decision. Stability is all well and good, but I could see the fact that you're guaranteed a job in the field being a downside if you hate your line or work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest faqir9 Posted May 5, 2003 Report Share Posted May 5, 2003 ibraheem, no j2, I think most would disagree with you -- being a doc still carries weight, for a variety of reasons, with many of the opposite sex. Also, many doctors never see a human body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sally2001 Posted May 5, 2003 Report Share Posted May 5, 2003 j282, i'm not really sure what your mom's situation is, but what i have heard quite a few mid-50s ppl who took early retirement from the govt and the private sector do is become a consultant. sorry about that convoluted sentence. maybe she can work with price waterhouse or ernst and young and those other companies that love experienced people for contract work. might be rewarding. uwomed- i could have sworn i was just talking to your dad last week (but i know it wasn't, hehe). it was a colleague of my dad's who got the same deal from bell after 28 yrs of service, did his mba from ottawa u. he certainly wasn't very pleased about being "asked to leave". i worked at nortel for a while and have been tried to get into bell, anyway, besides all the other factors, one major reason for job satisfaction is Respect. People desire to be respected and valued for their hard work, sacrifice and dedication. doctors probably see it most from their grateful patients but i'm sure they are rewarded (not financially) in other ways as well. in the corporate sector you can be working like a dog and all you get is more harsh criticism, sometimes in front of others, and well, it makes you feel bad about yourself. i've seen it happen to others. my apologies for taking this thread off on a wild tangent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest j282 Posted May 6, 2003 Report Share Posted May 6, 2003 Hey Sally: Thanks for the tip. I'll pass that along to nervous Mom BTW what do you do at Bell? Have you been in the workforce for a long time? I guess your Dad's probably fairly concerned about his own employment situation. Take care Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest strider2004 Posted May 6, 2003 Report Share Posted May 6, 2003 UWOMED2005, I think I met your dad a month ago in Ottawa while I was doing a cardiology elective at the Heart Institute. If it's the same person, he's a really good guy. I learned a lot from him. Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted May 6, 2003 Report Share Posted May 6, 2003 That's funny - my Dad mentioned he met a student from Queen's doing an elective at the Heart institute. Small world! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sally2001 Posted May 6, 2003 Report Share Posted May 6, 2003 hi there j282, i don't work at bell, sorry if that wasn't clear. i was trying to get into bell because i thought it would be a neat place to work and get some experience but unfortunately bell is going through some downsizing as well (though at a much smaller scale than nortel) and isn't hiring very much. i've been in the workforce for 2-3 yrs which isn't long at all, right now i'm working on a graduate degree, part-time. my dad isn't at bell; he's in the govt so his job is fairly secure, thankfully. the colleague is actually one of his old friends, so that's how i know about it. the more i hear about bell, it sounds like such a cut-throat environment. it seems that the people who have even made it up to 20+ yrs there have done fairly well; they have a history of forced resignations as well nortel, grew out of bell's r&d arm as bell northern research. it spun off of bell and then bce enterprises sold it's holding in nortel a few years ago. it was basically the equipment manufacturer for bell and other phone and communications companies. it was a great place to work when things were going well, and when things turned bad, it was awful. the proverbial "axe" was always hanging and some times you just felt like "enough already! give me the notice and i'm gone!". so it was pretty tense. about the mba thing - i just heard on the radio that only 60% of this year's harvard mba graduating class has secured job offers averaging US$87K. they have paid about US$117K just to get their coveted degree. so, um, yeah, job security is a pretty major issue with the current economy, but there are a lot of other factors that will make you look forward to working each day. best of luck to your mom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted May 6, 2003 Report Share Posted May 6, 2003 Yeah, I play rugby with a lot of guys from Ivey, the Western MBA school and have had a unique perspective on the subject. When I first joined the team, there was a certain swagger to a lot of the guys and I heard a lot of stories of guys getting signed to contracts for $250k or even $250k (US) per year with signing bonuses. That's all gone. . . most of the people are sweating over the fact they are sitting on $100k+ debts and many are graduating with no jobs in sight. Some medical specialties are grossly underpaid and Canadian MDs are getting a bum deal relative to their US partners, plus there's the whole issue of debts, overhead, being in school so long, etc. . . but, when push comes to shove, physicians don't have as much to complain about as some careers do. Man how much do I hate overpaid athletes and CEOs who mess up their company and still get their bonuses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MayFlower1 Posted May 6, 2003 Report Share Posted May 6, 2003 Hey Sally, I'm also an ex Bell-Northern Research / Nortel / Nortel Networks guy...our division got the axe about 2.5 years ago...yuk...but...also, as you've correctly pointed out...good in a way...at least we knew what our fate was. I worked in a multi-disciplinary design group as a human factors engineer and product design manager in Ottawa...what were you doing? Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sally2001 Posted May 6, 2003 Report Share Posted May 6, 2003 hi peter, i was an optical system designer in optical LH (long haul). it was the darling of the company when we (they) made that $15B contract with worldcom. the designers were practically dancing in their cubicle aisles! a year later it was another story, walking through some areas or towers was like passing through a ghost town. i was at the baseline&merivale location in ottawa, how about you? uwomed- i hear you about those ceos with the sweet severance deals. there was a recent article in the online canadian business magazine that had jean monty of bce collecting US$65K in pension PER MONTH 8o cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.