Making Medicine Sound Good
Today some colleagues and I gave a talk at a conference to a bunch of engineers who might want to be doctors one day. We discussed all of the things you have to do to get into medical school, why it's great to be an engineer when applying, and how we went about getting in. It was all going well until someone asked what it was we didn't know about medicine when we got into medical school. When someone asks you this question, it's hard to make medical school sound good.
When I got into medical school I thought it was going to be awesome: I thought I would get to see patients and learn how to be a great doctor; I thought I would have fantastic classmates; I thought my professors would be great mentors; and, I thought I would fall in love with a specialty that I would do for the rest of my life. For the most part, all of these things are true.
What I didn't know is that I wouldn't get to see many patients until 3rd year, I would have to sit through hours of lecture that were pitched way above my level of understanding and mumbled through by professors who would rather be operating/medicating/sleeping/etc., and that my life would revolve much more around medical school than I ever thought it would. I love medical school, but there definitely are some drawbacks that I never imagined before hand.
I fell in love with rural family medicine and think I would like to do that for the rest of my life, but I'm not always sure. I have some great mentors who are also my professors, but some of them don't really care who I am or what I do. I love many of the people in my class, but sometimes it's a bit claustrophobic to be with them every minute of the day. Alas, medical school like life isn't perfect. And I don't expect it to be.
5 comments:
I'd be horrible at one of those junkets. I tend to tell people that if there's anything they think they might enjoy doing better, give that a try first. I love my job, most days, but sometimes I wish I were able to do something else.
Spot on (both you and Nathan above). Med school is at times the holy sacred ultimate vocation thrust upon you by God Almighty Himself that the prospectuses make it out to be, and other times it's hell on earth. But hey, knowing everyone else goes through it too makes it easier.
And blogging! Don't forget blogging!
It is strange now, I look back at medical school and it seems so close in some respects, and so damn far in others. I do know that there is no way in the world I would have made it through without my "core group" of med school friends. They were my brothers and sisters in arms. Two of my good friends in school even ended up getting married!
Let's face it, med students are an odd species. Who else can so flippantly discuss dissecting human bodies over drinks and bar food? Mostly I think my brain has fuzzed out all of the bad things, for now I have fond memories of school. At the time, I know it was hell. Funny how the human brain does that.
You'll be a great doc, just keep plugging away. Just like that, you'll be graduating. It slips away quickly.
No, medical school isn't perfect. But I didn't think there were any med schools in Canada that still kept students from seeing patients until their third year!
Couz,
We get to spend time once a week with a patient or a fake patient who is really a standardized patient or with a dummy inserting airways. It's not really enough clinical exposure for me to keep my physical exam or interviewing skills up to a level I'd like them at pre-clerkship.
Post a Comment