Is It Possible To Finish Med School Without Becoming Too Salty Or Cynical?

[ACHQ]

Interestingly I finished medical school without being salty or cynical but not residency.... super salty and cynical for sure in the later years of residency. 
 

staff life is great though. Still salty and cynical (mostly residual from training) but I have come to appreciate how lucky and blessed I truly am. Things may not have worked out *exactly* the way I planned/wanted/imagined/dreamed (which is probably a good chunk of the reason for the cynicism and saltiness) but in hindsight things probably turned out *better* and for that I’m happy.

a lot of cynicism and saltiness comes from the fact that we fantasize/idealize medicine to the point of a wet dream, and when it doesn’t meet those lofty expectations we get upset. We have to start giving premeds and medical students realistic portrayals of medicine so that saltiness and cynicism is minimal (although I doubt it’ll ever be zero) 

[Haribo7173]

No. 

But tbh, I’m probably more burned out than anything.

[InstantRamen]

I finished med school very cynical and burnt out. I didn't think I could get any worse... But it did.

[1D7]

I finished medical school without being too salty/cynical. I was used to "customer-service" & work hierarchy so I never really had many problems dealing with unreasonable patients or following expectations.

In residency, I became very salty & cynical in the early years and have been slowly recovering since. For those who are hospital-based (e.g. IM, surgery, radiology, anesthesia), I honestly do not believe it is possible to go through the system without becoming jaded to some extent. At baseline we are responsible for patients in a highly imperfect & over-stressed system. On top of that you have to deal with unreasonableness/unprofessionalism/unfairness from nurses, admin, and other physicians while sleep-deprived & overworked. It's an environment that will challenge even the most resilient individuals.

[Bobthebuilder]

it is not medical school that makes you cynical. It is the healthcare system. A mentor was teaching us about the few factors correlating with happiness at work (or anywhere else for that matter) and as an attending for many years the only factor he still struggled with was ''a sense of control over what you are doing and the outcomes''. In most healthcare systems, having an impression of control over what happens to your practice or patients you are taking care of can be challenging. 

Neways. my 2 cents. 

[MedicineLCS]

It's not even the healthcare system personally, it's seeing how the entire social welfare system broke down and the healthcare system is left to backstop everything. I had an older staff tell me the last time she thought everything actually "worked" was in the 70s! You hear the saddest possible stories day in day out and see the "penny wise thousand foolish" decisions the system makes and it strikes you as incredibly foolhardy. We will literally spend 1,000s of dollars a day keeping someone in hospital trying to figure out community housing/support... We see the problems, the nurses know the problems, the social workers know, etc, yet we keep on trucking along.