FAO Plasticsurgeon and any other doctors/medical professionals

[elmnick]

I'm currently applying to study medicine at uni (in the UK) and I want to be a doctor. But I've heard some points of view that being a doctor is not all its cracked up to be in terms of work/life balance, job satisfaction etc and the reality of it all is starting to worry me a little (especially now I have interviews and a good chance of getting in). Obviously I've done a lot of research and work experieince and for the most part it has encouraged me to be a doctor, but I'd be grateful for any other opinions.
For any doctors, do you think being a doctor was the right choice and why/why not?

 

[azanon]

1. Are you religious? This job is very fulfilling to the soul. You feel complete, you feel like you're doing gods work, you get this high that feels so heavenly.

meaning if you're not, really great? What's going to give one a bigger high; doing God's work or playing God? I think the answer is obvious.

 

[KontrollerX]

"Its not blood I cant handle, its having to turn an obese patient over and debriding their sacral ulcer"

Good god man I looked that up because you mentioned it and I think I'm going to be fvcking sick.

LOL, you are an iron man for dealing with this sh!t.

How do people get those anyway?

Just by being overweight? Having diabetes or what??

 

[elmnick]

Thanks a lot, am I doing it for the money, no not at all, honestly if I wanted money i'd do economics or something. And not for the glory idea either, although maybe the idea of being highly respected is more of a reason than I'd care to admit.
What I'm scared about is that I'd be dedicating my life to medicine, and have no free time and be constanly knackered and stressed out for ever. I'm also worried about whether I'm maybe going in to medicine to be like my dad, who I do look up to and am very similar to, but I don't think thats really why and my family have certainly never put any pressure on me to medicine, in fact the more they discouraged me the more I thought about wanting to do it.
I'm not religios no, but the doing good is definately something that appeals to me, I can't stand the idea of working in finance or law just because its hghly lucrative, if I didn't be a doctor I'd probably do biology/zoology and do something conservational or environmental. But being a doctor does have a lot of appeal and all those reasons you describe are reasons I want to go into it, its just ****ing scary that the reality of it is approaching and at 17 i'm making a decision which will determine the rest of my life to a great extent.

 

[mahon83050]

I think Doctors and those in the medical field are the only people who deserve the actual money they get. Why the hell are people on Wall Street getting 100K bonuses why doctors get none? A person on Wall Street does not enhance or save lives, doctors certainly do.

You guys really do make a difference and should be worshiped somewhat.

If I were to go into the Medical field, I would of chosen Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. These people literally change facial shapes by correcting the positions of the jaws and in return change peoples lives.

I think Plastic Surgery is another lucrative and rewarding field. Every year, plastic surgeries increase and there has been like a 400% increase in surgeries over the last decade or so. There are always going to be ugly people around, so until they can manipulate "ugly genes" prior to a baby being born, the cosmetic surgery boom is going to continue.

 

[Precursor]

I'm definately going to work in medicine. I spent a lot of time at the hospital as a kid. I am still a senior in HS but i will definately try my best.

Some courses worry me, especially organic chemistry. My uncle complained that the course almost killed him. And now he is out of practice, but he owes around 150,000 dollars.

Plastic Surgeon, how did you manage to overcome those obstacles? Do you owe a large debt for the years at med school?

 

[Amorican23]

I havent been around here in a while but saw this thread and thought i'd try to help out. I'm also in my first year out of medical school and am doing a medicine internship this year begore going on to a 3 year ophthalmology (eye doctor/surgeon) residency next year.

Medicine does have its pros and cons. Its extremely frustrating a lot of times, especially in a hospital setting, because a very large percentage of people who come in have chronic diseases like renal failure, heart failure, diabetes, COPD that you can help them manage but can't really fix. And with problems like these a lot of responsibility falls on the patient in eating right, taking their medications like they are supposed to, and following up regularly. When this doesn't happen you have people who are in and out of the hopsital constantly...there are several patients that i have admitted and discharged 5-6 times in a single month. When dealing with situations like this its very frustrating and your work can feel like a huge waste of time. Caring for people who won't or can't care for themselves is not easy. On the other hand there are patients who you feel really good about helping and getting back on their feet, and its these experiences that keep you going. Also the hours can be rough...i am just getting done a month in the ICU with overnight call every 4th night...which means come in at 7am, see your patients, round, work the rest of the day and have all the other interns sign their patients out to you at around 5pm. Then take pages, fix problems, run codes, do admissions all night, where you might get an hour or so of sleep in between, then see all your patients again, round, and finish your work the next day before signing out. This turns out to be 7am to about 12 or 1 pm the next day, so like 30 hours straight, every 4th day. You really start to wonder what you did this for when its 3am, you're tired as hell, your pager is going off like crazy, there are admissions waiting for you in the ER, and a patient is coding all at the same time.

I only have a year of this though, them ophthalmology residency is not as demanding, and as a practicing ophthalmologist it's really sweet. I plan on specializing in refractive or oculoplastic surgery, where the money is good and a lot of doctors can get away with working 3-4 days a week. Specialties like surgery, medicine, ob/gyn, tend to have very long hours, while dermatology, ophthalmology, radiology, and a few others have much fewer.

The perks that plasticsurgeon talked about are real too. I walk around the hospital and 50-60 year old people adress me as "sir." People take your word as gospel. People automatically gain a ton of respect for you when you tell them you're a doctor. This can definiitely be cool and you can tell a lot of doctors love it and walk around like they own the world, but its not something i'm entirely comfortable with. i don't like to introduce myself to patients as dr. so and so and a lot of times would prefer people not know what i do. i even lie to girls and tell them i do something else sometimes. There are a ton of nurses, medical students, and other girls all over the hospital that are just there for the taking too.

overall, medicine is a long road, very time consuming, and a real pain the the ass at times. And i'm about $200,000 in debt from school loans. But its rarely boring and very rewarding at other times too. There are also a ton of different fields in medicine, so a medical degree opens a lot of doors for you, and you can decide what you want to specialize in based on your needs and personality.

 

[Bogs1212]

Organic is not even THAT bad actually it's very simple when you look at it I don't understand how people bit** and complain about classes sometimes. If you expect to do something "big" or "tough" you better be mentally equipped to handle EVERYTHING your thrown at especially classes like Organic. I'm in Organic II right now as I speak and even though I barely go to class (I study on my own time) I still have a solid A the only thing I need to do is pass the final and I'll be set. If you don't dedicate yourself to something how DO you expect to survive.

1 tip I WOULD give you if you want to go to Med-School is to get a BS in something unique, something different something that makes you stand out from all the other students. Majority of people do a BS in Biology that plan to go to med-school which is fine and dandy but if you do something challenging like Chemistry or Physics (if you get a BS in Physics any Med-Shcool will accept you on the spot) you have a lot of better chances of getting in and will be ahead of the pack. I don't know how it is in U.K but keep this in mind if it's helpful and afcourse you can always ask a or THE PlasticSurgeon.

P.S:- Mr.Surgeon I was reading something in the Health & Fitness section about how milk is actually BAD for you, they have a whole 2 page thread on it but if I find it I will PM you the link because I would lke your opinion on the subject.

This dude has no clue what he's talking about. If you get a BS in physics any med school will accept you on the spot??! Ha!

What you need to focus on in order to get into med school (in order of importance):

1. Highest MCAT possible
2. Highest GPA possible
3. Clinical experience (shadowing doctors, volunteering in hospital)
4. Volunteering experience (general volunteering, medically related volunteering, whatever)
5. A solid personal statement with a convincing reason on why you want to go to medical school
6. Letters of Recommendation
7. Secondary application essays
8. Interview skills
9. Research experience (this can be either very important or not important at all, depending on the school you apply to)
10. Your "Fit" within the school. (is the school you are applying to research heavy, or are they more focused on primary-care issues? How is the patient population like surrounding the school? Are they ethnically diverse/poor/rich/primarily white?)



Your major is IRRELEVANT. Med schools DO NOT care what you major in. When it comes to coursework, all they care about is your GPA.

 

[CGE333]

I am not a doctor but my wife is a pediatrician (have to admit I did not read all the replies). The money is good, med school and residency are tough. I would say that most people that are Doctors had some sort of calling to that profession. If you do not, you can still do it but it will be tougher. Once you get done with residency, (depending on the kind of dr you are) it is a pretty easy life. My wife is on call 1 out of every 5 weeks, which means that during the on call week we may get calls at all hours of the night, some times zero calls and sometimes 5-6 calls between midnight and six in the morning. But other than that it is pretty easy. Not only that but it is a pretty respectable position. Not sure about it in the UK, but in the US I read an article in the NY Times a couple of months ago that dentists (that own their own practices) actually make more $$$ than the average doctor. I believe in the article it said that average dentist that own their own practice makes around $300K US.

I have an MBA and when I read those #'s for a day and a half I walked around thinking about whether I should go to dental school

 

[Nip/Tuck]

I think Doctors and those in the medical field are the only people who deserve the actual money they get. Why the hell are people on Wall Street getting 100K bonuses why doctors get none? A person on Wall Street does not enhance or save lives, doctors certainly do.

You guys really do make a difference and should be worshiped somewhat.

If I were to go into the Medical field, I would of chosen Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. These people literally change facial shapes by correcting the positions of the jaws and in return change peoples lives.

I think Plastic Surgery is another lucrative and rewarding field. Every year, plastic surgeries increase and there has been like a 400% increase in surgeries over the last decade or so. There are always going to be ugly people around, so until they can manipulate "ugly genes" prior to a baby being born, the cosmetic surgery boom is going to continue.

Wow are you high? Economists are one of the most important parts of SOCIETY. Where do you think the doctors get their equipment and supplies? Without a proper management and a steady flow of goods the whole medical system would collapse. That said I think doctors should be paid more since it's a hard f*cking job and it takes a lot of skill to be a good one.

I'm actually thinking of switching majors. Plastics surgeon sounds like a great job.

 

[ketostix]

2. Social Status. Once people find out you're a doctor everyone kisses your ass. Everyone. Once the white coat comes on, people don't think you are human anymore. Everyone clears out of your way, pharm reps take you out to eat at classy places for free... I tell anyone what I do and all of a sudden my value shoots up 20 notches. Even above celebrity status. I mean cmon even Britney and Justin have doctors who they trust with their lives..

3. Girls. Do you know how many nurses, physician assistants, patients, any female at that hospital have made themselves available to me? I swear some invite me into their rooms and try to lock the door and seduce me. This has happened 3 times in the last 5 weeks. Do you know how many emails I get on match.com? It must be every womans fantasy to marry a doctor. I even have mothers emailing me to date their 18 year old daughters! i can pull up a good 6 or 7 cell phone numbers of 18/19 year olds on my phone because their mom tried to hook us up. Even when I go out to clubs I just pull out my business card and it has my name and right under it says "General Surgery." Its just too easy.

I wanted to highlight that for anyone who doubts status and money isn't a huge , powerful factor with women. I mean it's common sense and common knowledge but there's some people here that don't believe it. But I wanted to quote it from PlasticSurgeon, a guy with firsthand experience of it. I don't see any tactic or game that has this kind of effect on women.

 

[seth03]

So are you a doctor or an admission director or what? I've never heard anybody say that you can get into med school without a degree in science of some sort or math, unless you're some sort of child prodigy.

One thing you should know in case you aren't familiar with the process: although you can major in whatever you want, you need to take the four main pre-med courses (Physics, Organic Chemistry, General Chemistry, and Biology)--and earn at least a 3.5 average in these courses overall to remain decently competitive. Some med schools require calculus, statistics, biochem, or other classes, but these schools are in the minority.

 

[seth03]

sorry double post