10 things you need to give up to be a doctor

[Mrs. MD, Esq.]

10 things you need to give up to be a doctor

Mrs.MD - I'm glad your journey has been a largely positive one. I'm just angry when I read stuff like that, and yes, I should avoid it. I just keep thinking I'll stumble upon something that's positive and constructive about the career...but that kind of thing doesn't garner a lot of attention no matter where it's posted. And yes, I also approach a lot of stuff with the assumption that it's all going to be horrible and a huge disappointment. And then articles like that or comments here or elsewhere reinforce it...but there's a lot I can do to taper my intake of that stuff - I can choose to not read it! I just let myself vent a bit because it's frustrating and seemingly getting worse. I want better for my husband and myself and whatever our future may hold and sometimes it seems like that's asking waaaay more than medicine can ever give us.

Not trying to hijack/make this about me - I just had a little outburst...sorry about that!

Oh I wasn't saying I thought you were wrong or making it about you...I actually agree with you. I had no exposure to these articles pre residency but they would have freaked me out. I floated along during med school since we were long distance I was largely unaffected and did not know what to expect. To a large extent, I'm grateful that I didn't feel jaded before the experience as it were. At the end of the day though, some people will have good experiences and some of will have bad. You're attitude about it controls a little bit (for a normal middle of the road experience) but I would say it's mostly luck to end up in a good program with supportive mentors.

It's never all rainbows and sunshine. There are days (more often recently) that DH comes home and hates his job and wishes he wasn't doing this...but he'll, I have those days/weeks about my career path too!

ETA also, let's be honest, how often does ANYONE post/write about when life is humming along perfectly (or close to). I think it's hard not to get a skewed perspective from that issue alone!

[WolfpackWife]

Oh I wasn't saying I thought you were wrong or making it about you...I actually agree with you.

Oh I know!! I didn't take it that way. I was sort of back peddling because I was sort of embarrassed that my initial reaction was pretty knee-jerky. But I've seen a lot of posts in the past week or so and I read this one (by my own choice!) and was like WHY?? WHEN WILL IT END? I know there are so many experiences and paths that people can and have taken. *sigh* it just seems like so much sometimes...I just had a moment of snapping!

You're so right!

[MAPPLEBUM]

It's never all rainbows and sunshine. There are days (more often recently) that DH comes home and hates his job and wishes he wasn't doing this...but he'll, I have those days/weeks about my career path too!

ETA also, let's be honest, how often does ANYONE post/write about when life is humming along perfectly (or close to). I think it's hard not to get a skewed perspective from that issue alone!

Hey! I'll say it. It's all rainbows and sunshine here [right now.] Sure, I haven't eaten solid foods in a week, but that's a personal problem. !

Maybe I haven't said this on iMSN before, but our schedule / income now? I could be happy with this for the rest of our life. First year of residency was TOUGH. That was the learning curve. But now? I feel lucky. None of my siblings go on...3 ? vacations a year? We're not making a big dent in our loans but it's more than some of my friends pay in rent. And we contribute to retirement accounts. I have great health insurance, and don't need to budget the hell out of my life. I'm doing better than most of my friends.

I thought this article was stupid.1) Not looking to be rich....in Europe. So this entire article is based on the European medical system? I get it, don't call doctors rich, but at least admit they sure make a hell of a lot more money than the majority of the American population. 2.)Change the world? How old are we? 19? 4.)A good night's sleep? Are you referring to the person in medicine or their spouses? 8.) Creativity???? I'll just stop there.

stupid article.

[spotty_dog]

I think it was designed to discourage early 20-somethings who are pursuing medicine for the wrong reasons, and in that it seems to do its job okay with a modicum of truth. Otherwise, the points were irrelevant to a post-training physician (yes, he got his ego damaged a few times during med school and residency, and schedules were out of his control, but post-training he gets kudos constantly and can request any time off) and inapplicable to certain specialties (not only does DH not do night float, he hasn't worked nights in years; also he can live basically anywhere he wants.)

I think the "in Europe" was because the author was in Egypt, he was talking about the fact that European doctors are less well-paid than the reputation of the American doctor would have you expect. And notice that all the respondents are from African and Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

[bobk]

I think it was designed to discourage early 20-somethings who are pursuing medicine for the wrong reasons, and in that it seems to do its job okay with a modicum of truth.

That was my take on it as well. I don't think it was all that negative, rather a dose of reality for people with unreasonable expectations.

[ladymoreta]

I agree with Poky's take on that list. Life is actually pretty great right now for DH (and for me). I know that could change at any time, but that's true for other jobs as well.

[ides]

I disagree with creativity. The others, yeah. Also the amount of creativity depends on the speciality.

[MAPPLEBUM]

I definitely disagree with the creativity part. Sure, it might not be like this if DH goes into PP over academics but to give one example, DH is working on a project to change eye exams in the ED. What they're doing right now just isn't effective. He's won a big grant and is working with other residents and docs around the country on the thing. That's pretty damn creative IMO. And it was his idea.

I also wanted to comment on the location / moving one. As far as I know isn't the goal to find a kickass job out of training and build that practice throughout your career? I guess it depends on specialty but that's really the goal my husband's field. So, sure you have to move around for a few more years than the typical college grad but then once you finish training you really are supposed to settle down.

I guess I'm just tired of all these woe is me articles about medicine. Sure, we'll be coming out of training with WAY more debt and *possibly* lower income than DH's father did but then again is that really true? Right out of the military FIL's first job started him at 80k. (Average starting salary today for general ophthalmologist is 2-250k) He's retiring from that same practice next year and has done VERY well. But he didn't put his head in the sand and hope he'd make a lot of money. They built that practice from 3 to something like 15 docs plus all the bells and whistles (optical shops, multiple locations, etc). Even if a doc fresh out of training never makes much more than 100-200k that's still a VERY good life. Maybe no sports cars, but that's still a very good life. My parents raised 7 kids on a fraction of your lowest earning physician. I'm not worried about my future.

[Pollyanna]

Blech, whine, whine, whine. Not impressed with this at all. Plug in ANY job to these categories and you will find that you give up parts of your life for most jobs. Oh hell, plug in motherhood or fatherhood into these categories. You can even pretend you're a rock star and whine about these same things ("I've lost all creativity because I have to make the music the record label wants, not the stuff that speaks to my heart"). Whatever. Yes, medicine is not an easy career choice but neither is real estate agent, or consultant, or big law attorney, or cop, or nurse....I don't know, I just can't get on board with this line of thinking.

I much prefer articles like this: http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2014/07/...s-doctors.html