Does anyone actually LIKE to see sick people everyday?

[Guest linghy]

Hi Everyone

 

(I’m sorry, I hope the title of this post doesn’t offend anybody)

 

I am seriously considering Med-school in ON. But I would like to know if I should seriously RE-consider.

 

Why? Because I don't actually LIKE to see sick people for the rest of my life. Do you have to do that to be a good doc?

 

I do like helping people, who doesn't? But I don't know if I can stand seeing people suffer. The first time I volunteered at the hospital, I had to go to the Palliative nursing unit on errands, and I was shocked when I saw those patients. I don’t know how to describe my feeling, but I felt sort of terribly sad, and I couldn’t stand it. I just wanted to get outta there.

 

I am going into 3rd year in September, currently in Honours Biology program. I love biology and chemistry, and I love school. My cumulative GPA is 3.98, according to their conversion table. I am not smart, but I work hard. I’m applying this year, and I think I have some chance of getting an interview. But I really don’t know what to do if they ask me: “do you want to see sick people everyday for the rest of your life?” The truth is I don’t really want to, and I will tell them that, because it’s the truth.

 

I would love to do medical research, that’d be my dream—but I don’t even know if I’m smart enough to do that (getting high marks doesn’t mean anything), and plus, don’t you have to get into med-school first?

 

What should I do? Please help.

It’d be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[Guest peachy]

You most definitely do not have to go to medical school to do medical research! Check out the list of researchers at the University Health Network in Toronto. Many of the researchers there have MD's only, many of PhD's only, and many have both

 

Graduate school is the normal route if you want to have an academic research career. Why not approach a professor at your school who is doing some interesting medical research, ask if you can work in their lab this year (maybe you can get credit for it), and see how you like it?

 

In fact, you might want to go visit (or email) some profs (or graduate students) that you had last year for your biology courses, tell them you're interested in medical research but that you don't know how someone gets into the field, and listen to what they have to say.

[Guest aneliz]

From the tone of your post, it sounds like you are really unsure that you want to do medicine....

 

Unfortunately, the 'job description' of a doctor involves dealing with 'sick people'..whether they are palliative care patients, people that are acutely ill, people with injuries, chest pain, addictions, mental illness, etc. If it is possible to do to your body you will see it. And sometimes you won't want to see it...when you are on call and you would really rather be home eating dinner or it is 3 in the morning and somebody is paging you to come see a 'sick person' and you would rather be sleeping... Sick people don't keep to a 9-5 schedule...you are going to be dealing with people in the middle of the night, in the middle of the weekend, in the middle of the summer and even in the middle of Christmas day...

 

Ask yourself if you are willing to do this.

 

Why do you want to apply to medicine? Is it because you enjoy school and it seems the pinnacle of academic achievement? (its not...but that myth is still out there alive and well!) Is it something that is expected of you by parents or teachers? Does it seem like the 'thing to do' because you have the GPA to have a decent shot?

 

If you want to do research, do it. Someone that wants research won't be happy doing medicine...and contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be brilliant to do research...it is mostly about working hard and having some good mentors while you are learning the ropes. And, there are plenty of people doing very exciting medical research that DON'T have an MD...in fact, there are probably more PhD's that don't have an MD doing medical research than MD's!

 

I personally would suggest that you NOT apply this year, because your uncertainty would more than likely be picked up by an admissions committee and would effectively torpedo your application. Finish your 3rd year and during the year do some more volunteer work, get some research experience and think about things. There is no hurry to get in. If you are still interested next year at this time, then apply. You won't have hurt your chances at all...in fact you may improve them by having the year to really think about what you want and why. And, if you truly want to do some research as well as medicine, finishing off your undergrad will be much better for you in the long run. Most MD's that do research have at least an MSc to go with their MD...and it is pretty hard to get into a Master's or PhD program without a completed undergrad degree.

 

Good Luck!

[Guest Hilde]

from what I can gather from your post, you are without a doubt an extremely bright student and your stellar grades (which I never got in university) will certainly get you through a lot of doors in research and medicine. I do know individuals facing the same crisis, not knowing whether medicine is really for them. I hear people telling me the only reason they are applying to med is because they have the marks, however they don't really know what they are in for, the emotional, mental aspects of it dealing with unique patients everyday. :\ I agree with the previous post, your uncertainty in pursuing med because you are uncomfortable in a hospital setting can very well be picked out by the admissions committee. My advice to you is just to pick something that you truly enjoy, something that you won't have to think twice before launching into it. It will make you a very happy person trust me. If medical research is your calling, go for it.

I'm sure you will be very successful.

 

Good Luck :lol

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Actually yeah, I do enjoy working with sick people when I can do something (anything) to make the situation better. But it just plain absolutely down to the nitty gritty sucks when you can't. . . which isn't uncommon. I didn't get into this profession to interview and examine healthy people just to waste their time.

 

There are a few ways to practice medicine without sick people, particularly depending on what you mean by "sick." Research is one. Lab medicine is another. Pathology patients aren't sick, though that's because they are dead (or you're examining a biopsy sample.) Community Health is another field where you theoretically could avoid direct interaction with sick people. Ophthalmology patients often aren't 'sick' in the traditional sense. And there's always Cosmetic procedures. So it IS possible to avoid sick patients.

 

But I think if you seriously don't like working with sick people, I'm not sure medicine is a good idea. You still have to get through clerkship and residency, where you will be working with sick people. And not to mention the fact the vast majority of professions in medicine do involve contact with patients with one ailment or another. . .

[Guest Megs]

You know, I had this friend in undergrad who was very bright, had excellent marks and, thus, felt compelled to try for medicine because she could, even though research was her 'true love'. I thought it would have been such a waste for the research community for her to get into med school when research is what she was interested in. She is doing research now, and loves it. And you know, if an MD is still haunting you after a couple more degrees under your belt, you can always apply then!

[Guest strider2004]

I'm going to go against what everyone else is saying. In medicine, yes, you are theoretically dealing with 'sick' people. However, that does not have to be your job. You also don't have to be a pathologist or dermatologist to do that. Primary care deals with treating people out in the community. They are the first line to see the people with coughs, cuts, rashes, whatever. It also deals with preventative medicine. Hypertension has been shown to increase risk of stroke, heart disease, whatever. As a primary care physician, a great deal of your work is to PREVENT adverse outcomes so you treat the risk factors. You try to reduce hypertension, you lower cholesterol, you help control blood sugars. You try to PREVENT these people from getting sick. These will be the healthiest people in healthcare you will ever see.

 

Now for research...yes MDs can do research and yes, you don't have to have an MD to do research. This can be done with a PhD if you want to run your own lab. What kind of research would you like to do? If you would like to work with human patients, then haivng an MD would make things easier because you already have access to a hospital and would probably have fewer hoops to jump through (though the ethics board will still make you jump through plenty of hoops). If you want to deal with animals, then an MD might not be too helpful.

 

I too had the conflict about medical research. I was applying for grad school and med school at the same time and had some partial funding for grad school (OGS). In the grad school interviews, I mentioned my dilemma and one investigator gave me some good advice. Grad school will always be there for you. If you go into med school and decide that you don't like it, grad school will always be willing to accept you. However, if you choose grad school and don't like it, it's much harder to get into med school. If you have the 2 options, pick the harder one to get into and then you can fall back if you need to. Don't work the other way around. So, I chose medicine.

 

I have no intention of giving up research, however. I intend to get my masters in epidemiology and study disease patterns. Almost every physician in an academic centre is doing some kind of research. You kinda have to, actually. All specialists do some kind of research in their training be it lit reviews or labwork.

 

It's much easier to incorporate a PhD/MSc into your medical career than the other way around.

[Guest cracked30]

If you didn't want to be in medicine after that volunteer experience, you absolutely should not go into medicine. You clearly don't see yourself caring for these people, at a time when they need the most care.

[Guest bcdentalgirl]

I've had some exposure to palliative care too and I agree it's depressing. At the risk of sounding glib, why not give another floor a try? Try the maternity ward for the flipside of the coin.

[Guest strider2004]

I do not agree with cracked30. There plenty of people in med school who wouldn't want to be in palliative care for the rest of their lives. It's a difficult field to be in because you know that you're not going to save these people from death - only improve their quality of life for a short while.

 

I think most surgeons work because they want to be able to fix people - right away! This is probably why you want to be in medicine as well. You want to see the improvement in a person's life because you were there to intervene. That's the major draw of medicine. The goal isn't to deal with sick people. It's to FIX sick people. That's a big difference. The faculty is also so vast that you can play any part of health care that you wish. I truly believe that there's a part for every type of person. So don't decide against medicine because you've seen one tiny aspect of it. I'd say about 40% of medicine I wouldn't want to do for the rest of my life. And if I was forced to do it, I might change careers. BUT, I don't have to make that change. I can choose what I want to do, see? Cool eh?

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Hmm. . . I disagree on the FIXing bit. I think "dealing with sick people" IS more appropriate. Truth is, there's tons of times you can't do anything. It feels great when you can do something, but I've seen so many physician-patient interactions where the physician diagnosed the problem, but then found there was absolutely nothing they could do. . . or doing something might be worse than the disease iteself. I don't think you can approach medicine with the idea you're going to fix everything, or you'll end up as disillusioned as Roy Basch at the end of Bk II of "House of God."

 

Man - surgeons have it so easy. If they can't do the snip snip, chop chop quick fix their consult is finished - no dealing with the aftermath.