I came across "Why you should not go to medical school - a gleefully biased rant" by Ali Binazir a while back and found it quite interesting so I thought I would share :)
As a medical school graduate, the author made his own comprehensive list of what it means to go to medical school:
Here are his ten reasons NOT to go:
1. You will lose all the friends you had before medicine
2. You will have difficulty sustaining a relationship and will probably break up with or divorce your current significant other during training.
3. You will spend the best years of your life as a sleep-deprived, underpaid slave
4. You will get yourself a job of dubious remuneration
5. You will have a job of exceptionally high liability exposure
6. You will endanger your health and long term well-being
7. You will not have time to care for patients as well as you want to.
8. You will start to dislike patients - and by extension, people in general.
9. People who do not even know you will start to dislike you.
10. You're not helping people nearly as much as you think.
The ONE reason he came up with for why you should go into medicine was...
You have only ever envisioned yourself as a doctor and can only derive professional fulfillment in life by taking care of sick people.
Definitely recommend reading his rant. Interesting take on the medical profession. Sadly, most of the things he touches on are true... like the fact that you will not have time to care for patients as well as you want to. However I would like to stay the optimist that I am and end with saying that you only need ONE reason to go to medical school. If you want it bad enough the rest become challenges that you want to improve when you become the doctor you envision to be.
During my first semester at Saba, I wrote down the things I wanted to accomplish in my life as a doctor. The things I would like to become or people I aspire to be like. I put it in an envelope, sealed it and is in safe keeping until I graduate my residency. I want to be able to open that letter and feel like I became what the 'naive' me dreamed of - when I had the future in front of me.
So, yes, there are many many many hardships of going through medical school but you are giving up something for an opportunity to be happy. I think that's a good enough reason. Fulfill your dreams, don't worry about the stuff in the way.
on that inspiring note,
goodnight
Friday, November 25, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
3.4 & a quick word
Block 4 of semester 3 is done. This means 20 days until home for the christmas holidays! I can finally say that these sets of exams went relatively well (much better than any of the previous 3 exams :) ). I might just survive this stressful semester - even though I loved the material we were doing... finally more clinically centred rather than basic details.
On another note, I was reading an interesting article today from the globe and mail (read it here). It touches on the concept of over-treatment in today's medical world.
Are physicians over prescribing medications? should we deal with the common cold the 'old fashioned way' - tea and a couple days of rest? Talk about over treating symptoms with drugs has been present for many years now and is starting to become a serious problem in some cases. (Over prescribing can lead to drug resistance).
I found it interesting how they mention we should regress backwards and limit our use of new technology and innovations in the medical field. I'm not sure how to respond to this. On the one hand, I understand that, in some cases, it is better to do nothing and let your natural immune system battle it out. However, if we start restricting our use of new discoveries and technology, what is the point of research advancements? with new ideas we have to accept their consequences/ side effects.
Do you see where the conundrum lies? When do we say that over-treatment is bad and that regression is good? is it a matter of cost and government spending? do we decide on a patient - by - patient basis where history of medical illnesses is at the forefront?
the dilemma is essential to medical care decision making. As a future physician, I'm not so sure I would skip out on a CT scan for a child with minor head injuries just so I can save money and risk missing something important.
where do we draw the line? is/ will medical decisions always be restricted by money?
does the scare of being sued have anything to do with over-treatment? (eg. physicians trying to cover all their bases)
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this and get a discussion going. There are so many angles this can be approached from.
On another note, I was reading an interesting article today from the globe and mail (read it here). It touches on the concept of over-treatment in today's medical world.
Are physicians over prescribing medications? should we deal with the common cold the 'old fashioned way' - tea and a couple days of rest? Talk about over treating symptoms with drugs has been present for many years now and is starting to become a serious problem in some cases. (Over prescribing can lead to drug resistance).
I found it interesting how they mention we should regress backwards and limit our use of new technology and innovations in the medical field. I'm not sure how to respond to this. On the one hand, I understand that, in some cases, it is better to do nothing and let your natural immune system battle it out. However, if we start restricting our use of new discoveries and technology, what is the point of research advancements? with new ideas we have to accept their consequences/ side effects.
Do you see where the conundrum lies? When do we say that over-treatment is bad and that regression is good? is it a matter of cost and government spending? do we decide on a patient - by - patient basis where history of medical illnesses is at the forefront?
the dilemma is essential to medical care decision making. As a future physician, I'm not so sure I would skip out on a CT scan for a child with minor head injuries just so I can save money and risk missing something important.
where do we draw the line? is/ will medical decisions always be restricted by money?
does the scare of being sued have anything to do with over-treatment? (eg. physicians trying to cover all their bases)
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this and get a discussion going. There are so many angles this can be approached from.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Midway reflection
On Saturday night our semester (3rd) hosted the traditional midway party. The whole school is invited to celebrate getting through half our basic science training here on Saba.
I thought this would be a perfect time to link in the reflection post I've been writing about for quite a while now....
Midway. I can't believe it. and then I think again... in less than a year I will be in a hospital as a medical student doing basic procedures on real people. My heart starts beating. Is it excitement? Beating faster. Is it anxiety? A flow of questions start rushing through my head. Have I learned enough to be able to do procedures on real people? Will I remember everything? Did I study the right way? What about the things I didn't really understand?... The more scary part is that some of those questions are answered by "no". The calming thing is that I assume every medical student that goes through this gruelling training has the same questions and fears. Whew! I am not alone.
But what if... what if I'm not ready? what if.
Clinical rotations are also supposed to be educational - hands on education. Putting students on the spot (and of course giving us the grunt work). From what I know about myself, acting in the moment and learning through seeing how it's done is one of my strengths and probably why I loved the lab portion of anatomy. I am hopeful that this will also be true in the hospital setting.
It's just so contradictory: on the one hand this 2 year basic science training is intense and seems soooo long from our final goal. But if you think of it the other way, we've only had 2 extra years than the common person on the street ... you can put a scalpel in our hand and we should be able to preform a tracheotomy because we know the anatomy. That is scary. Is two years enough? is it too much? Throwing ourselves into the hospital will be a steep learning curve, without a doubt. Especially because we will most likely be traveling from hospital to hospital for different rotations so we have to get used to each hospital, their doctors, nurses, protocols etc.
However, it's amazing how much I have learned and picked up in the last year. We had a bench-to-bedside lecture on the current research in brain tumour treatments on friday evening. We were honoured to have guest speakers Dr. Roger McLendon (Chief of Neuropathology and Surgical Pathology, Director of Anatomic Pathology Services, and Director of the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center Tissue Bank.) and Dr. David Reardon (Clinical Director of the Center for Neuro-Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer institute at Harvard where he also teaches as an Associate Professor of Medicine). The 3 hour session went into the genetics, biochemistry, immunology and neurology of brain tumours and how you can apply the integrative information into actual treatments (and even patient tailored treatments). A very informative session which really showed me how all the separate classes I have taken can be combined and applied in the real world. I was amazed at how much I understood... and remembered! I guess all the information is in there - somewhere.
Don't get me wrong, I am not doubting my choice. I am more in love with medicine and more curious about how everything works (probably more than before, if that's possible).
But, that fear. It's real.
I thought this would be a perfect time to link in the reflection post I've been writing about for quite a while now....
Midway. I can't believe it. and then I think again... in less than a year I will be in a hospital as a medical student doing basic procedures on real people. My heart starts beating. Is it excitement? Beating faster. Is it anxiety? A flow of questions start rushing through my head. Have I learned enough to be able to do procedures on real people? Will I remember everything? Did I study the right way? What about the things I didn't really understand?... The more scary part is that some of those questions are answered by "no". The calming thing is that I assume every medical student that goes through this gruelling training has the same questions and fears. Whew! I am not alone.
But what if... what if I'm not ready? what if.
Clinical rotations are also supposed to be educational - hands on education. Putting students on the spot (and of course giving us the grunt work). From what I know about myself, acting in the moment and learning through seeing how it's done is one of my strengths and probably why I loved the lab portion of anatomy. I am hopeful that this will also be true in the hospital setting.
It's just so contradictory: on the one hand this 2 year basic science training is intense and seems soooo long from our final goal. But if you think of it the other way, we've only had 2 extra years than the common person on the street ... you can put a scalpel in our hand and we should be able to preform a tracheotomy because we know the anatomy. That is scary. Is two years enough? is it too much? Throwing ourselves into the hospital will be a steep learning curve, without a doubt. Especially because we will most likely be traveling from hospital to hospital for different rotations so we have to get used to each hospital, their doctors, nurses, protocols etc.
However, it's amazing how much I have learned and picked up in the last year. We had a bench-to-bedside lecture on the current research in brain tumour treatments on friday evening. We were honoured to have guest speakers Dr. Roger McLendon (Chief of Neuropathology and Surgical Pathology, Director of Anatomic Pathology Services, and Director of the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center Tissue Bank.) and Dr. David Reardon (Clinical Director of the Center for Neuro-Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer institute at Harvard where he also teaches as an Associate Professor of Medicine). The 3 hour session went into the genetics, biochemistry, immunology and neurology of brain tumours and how you can apply the integrative information into actual treatments (and even patient tailored treatments). A very informative session which really showed me how all the separate classes I have taken can be combined and applied in the real world. I was amazed at how much I understood... and remembered! I guess all the information is in there - somewhere.
Don't get me wrong, I am not doubting my choice. I am more in love with medicine and more curious about how everything works (probably more than before, if that's possible).
But, that fear. It's real.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Unique
I'm a little disappointed in myself that I haven't posted much this semester... especially the reflective-type pieces. I've had a back log of ideas (and I know I keep saying this) but I can't seem to sit down and write a coherent blog post that is more than just describing my days here on Saba.
So, I'm going to challenge myself to sit down and do it by the end of this weekend :)
In the meantime, as a blogger I love reading and following others in this 'blog world'. (Most of my study breaks consist of this and watching TED Talks!) So, the other day I stumbled across this amazingly unique/ weird art by Matthew Cox -- embroidered X rays. Something about it is intriguing. Maybe because it is so innovative, so different or, most likely, the fact that it combines anatomy and art.
I realize it's an art that will not be appreciated by everyone but,
if nothing else, it definitely captures your attention.
So, I'm going to challenge myself to sit down and do it by the end of this weekend :)
In the meantime, as a blogger I love reading and following others in this 'blog world'. (Most of my study breaks consist of this and watching TED Talks!) So, the other day I stumbled across this amazingly unique/ weird art by Matthew Cox -- embroidered X rays. Something about it is intriguing. Maybe because it is so innovative, so different or, most likely, the fact that it combines anatomy and art.
I realize it's an art that will not be appreciated by everyone but,
if nothing else, it definitely captures your attention.
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