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Why you should not go to medical school

blogs.law.harvard.edu

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Re: Why you should not go to medical school

#21

Post by mahyarm »

logjam wrote: post #19

I practice, but most of this article rings true for me as well, and I think most of my colleagues would consider me pretty idealistic. Residency training is mostly cheap labor for hospitals. Working 36 hours straight every third or fourth night (common when I was a resident) saves teaching hospitals from hiring night floats or other coverage. Trying to make any kind of important decision for another human's medical c…

It's ironic that it doesn't have to be this way at all. It's counter productive other than it makes someone richer. Doctors want to keep their high prices with artificial barriers such as these and the glamor keeps the supply relatively high.

Re: Why you should not go to medical school

#22

Post by arn »

chime wrote: post #2

One could say the same for any given field from sports to programming to business to pet-sitting. It's a hard knock life for us all. None of these reasons should have stopped any decent doctor from taking the path. The single reason would be: Don't go into medical school if you care more about money and an easy-going life than the actual field and people involved. And the same applies to every single field.

"None of these reasons should have stopped any decent doctor from taking the path. "

Here's part of the problem. You don't know what it's like to be a doctor, until you become a doctor. I think that's somewhat unique to the field. You can go into it with the right intentions, but it's not like people doctor as a hobby or as a passion and then decide to go into it. It's not like being a musician, or a programmer, sports or pet sitting.

Re: Why you should not go to medical school

#24

Post by inportb »

mahyarm wrote: post #21
logjam wrote: post #19

I practice, but most of this article rings true for me as well, and I think most of my colleagues would consider me pretty idealistic. Residency training is mostly cheap labor for hospitals. Working 36 hours straight every third or fourth night (common when I was a resident) saves teaching hospitals from hiring night floats or other coverage. Trying to make any kind of important decision for another human's medical c…

It's ironic that it doesn't have to be this way at all. It's counter productive other than it makes someone richer. Doctors want to keep their high prices with artificial barriers such as these and the glamor keeps the supply relatively high.

Yeah, it does make the lawyers and insurance vendors richer...

(no offense intended; wealth is good!)

Re: Why you should not go to medical school

#26

Post by codexon »

The reason why it is so hard to become a doctor is because the AMA restricts the number of applicants and schools that can create doctors so wages can remain artificially high.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/25/american-medical-associatio...

http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2009/06/physicians-incomes-an...

Re: Why you should not go to medical school

#27

Post by tryitnow »

arn wrote: post #4

So, surprisingly, this rant is more or less accurate, imo. (I went to med school, residency, fellowship) I mean some things stronger than others, but it hits on the major negatives as you go through training. I know a lot of these rants tend to romanticize how hard people's own professions are in a "no one else has it this hard" type stance. We see similar "how hard it is to be a programmer" type rants as well. But,…

I sometimes wish I had gone to medical school - now is an amazing time to be in healthcare. Technology has the potential to have a huge impact.

Here's the problem: most intelligent driven people are not going to be satisfied with "having a regular job, enjoying life, etc" Sorry, it's just not built into us. Sure, we want those things, but we also want that sense of achievement or of making a valuable contribution to something bigger than our immediate concerns (e.g. a big impact startup, saving the world, or cure someone's illness). The key to health is not losing sight of the "regular things" in life while still pursuing our ambitions.

In medicine it's sometimes hard to see the positive impact you're having. Or maybe you don't think you are having a positive impact. If that's the case then figure out what the problem is and hack it.

One thing that won't fly is pining away for a "regular life" - If you were really going to be satisfied with that you would have taken that route a long time ago.

Believe me, there are people with regular lives who are wishing they went to medical school....

Re: Why you should not go to medical school

#28

Post by bootload »

niels_olson wrote: post #16
chime wrote: post #2

One could say the same for any given field from sports to programming to business to pet-sitting. It's a hard knock life for us all. None of these reasons should have stopped any decent doctor from taking the path. The single reason would be: Don't go into medical school if you care more about money and an easy-going life than the actual field and people involved. And the same applies to every single field.

> One could say the same goes for any given field Please name a sport, business, or other profession that involves staying up 40 hours straight unshowered, unfed, on a routine basis, for years, trying to not die or get anyone killed. I can think of only two: medicine and the military. I do both. They're roughly equal. Given the choice between residency and deployment, I would need more information. edit: Actually, I'…

"... Please name a sport, business, or other profession that involves staying up 40 hours straight unshowered, unfed, on a routine basis, for years, trying to not die or get anyone killed. ..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infantry

Re: Why you should not go to medical school

#29

Post by niels_olson »

arn wrote: post #8
verisimilitude wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm dental myself (waay easier than med in my opinion), but I do have friends in med. (Well, people I used to spend time with before they got socked with residency). So, I'm curious: were you _relieved_ to be able to take a different path than working as a doctor?

It's the sort of thing you aren't fully aware of while you are in it. After I quit practicing, it really felt like an enormous weight had been lifted. Just due to the responsibilities involved. People ask me if I miss it. I do not. That said, I don't want to make it sound like it was terrible. There was a fair amount of job satisfaction and rewards as well, like most things, and at the time I felt like I enjoyed it.

arn, thanks for sharing, truly. I'm a general medical officer in the Navy (Navy still puts docs to work after internship, applying for residency later. The work is mainly fast-track or urgent care style triaging and treating).

I'm currently facing the choice of extending my current tour a year then going back to residency or taking a another two-year tour with the Marines and going to Afghanistan. I'm married with kids in California, so I could conceivably do either without moving the kids. Clearly, we have different paths, but why did you opt for the web over practicing? Along those lines, what was your fellowship? Where are you now? (Read: if you are in SoCal, I will take you to dinner of your choice in exchange for the conversation).

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