Downsides of being a doctor
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Original post by hopes
I feel as far as med school goes, each person's reflection is obviously subjective to their experiences. Personally, after finishing my first year, although at times it was tough, I would say I literally chilled at least 70% of the time and did most of my work consistently throughout the year say 2 hours or so a day and then crammed for exams 10-15 days prior to it.
Being at a PBL university, everything you do is on your own 'terms'. Truthfully, I didn't attend a lecture since October so would only really go in for my PBL sessions, clinical skills which was 4 hours a fortnight and some basic science teaching 6 hours a fortnight. So really, I was hardly in uni!
Once you get here, you will find a way to fit everything you want in. I went to the gym 5 times a week without no problem and had plenty of time to sit around and watch films. But I am guessing that will change next year!
Being at a PBL university, everything you do is on your own 'terms'. Truthfully, I didn't attend a lecture since October so would only really go in for my PBL sessions, clinical skills which was 4 hours a fortnight and some basic science teaching 6 hours a fortnight. So really, I was hardly in uni!
Once you get here, you will find a way to fit everything you want in. I went to the gym 5 times a week without no problem and had plenty of time to sit around and watch films. But I am guessing that will change next year!
oh wow, sounds like you had a blast in the first year! How's PBL for you? I suppose im more of an integrated one tho. Wont you miss out on the basics if dont attend the lectures? Will that make it harder for PBL sessions? (Which med school are u in btw)
All the best for next year!
Comparing my salary development (am a management consultant) with my friends who are doctors, it seemed they had a pretty decent starting salary but then didn't climb the ladder as quickly. Also, I believe it is quite difficult to reach top salaries (150k+) as a doctor, while it's within reach with a business degree.
I think a lot of med students don't go to sacrifice a lot of years of their life for the guaranteed job. I can admit myself that helping people or saving life is very uplifting experience.
These are the downsides mentioned by my friends:
Long training and sleepless nights memorizing material you will forget after some years.
Poor salary as a resident(in my country)
Forced relocation where you are needed. You may end up in small 1k+ town :}
You have to spend a night each week on the call mode in some hospital. Especially surgeons who may need to do surgery at night.
Sometimes you receive psychological abuse from patients. Also, a lot of patients are very needy and sometimes it pisses you off because you need time to cool off.
Also, in my country, doctors are payed well but usually don't progress in salary too much. A decent youtuber can earn more money a month than doctors here Recently there was a video of one pal who bought a house with this money.
These are the downsides mentioned by my friends:
Long training and sleepless nights memorizing material you will forget after some years.
Poor salary as a resident(in my country)
Forced relocation where you are needed. You may end up in small 1k+ town :}
You have to spend a night each week on the call mode in some hospital. Especially surgeons who may need to do surgery at night.
Sometimes you receive psychological abuse from patients. Also, a lot of patients are very needy and sometimes it pisses you off because you need time to cool off.
Also, in my country, doctors are payed well but usually don't progress in salary too much. A decent youtuber can earn more money a month than doctors here
Recently there was a video of one pal who bought a house with this money.Original post by Democracy
Well I'm still a med student, but I'd say the following can't be much fun:
Long training pathway
Having to complete exams long after you're technically done with formal education
Working awkward/unsociable hours
Emotional stress
Having to relocate according to the jobs which are available to you
Constantly being on the receiving end of abuse from the right wing media and ******** politicians
Travelling? You mean on holiday? Or as part of work? I think annual leave for junior doctors is 5 weeks per year which is pretty much in line with most other jobs tbh, and actually better than some.
Long training pathway
Having to complete exams long after you're technically done with formal education
Working awkward/unsociable hours
Emotional stress
Having to relocate according to the jobs which are available to you
Constantly being on the receiving end of abuse from the right wing media and ******** politicians
Travelling? You mean on holiday? Or as part of work? I think annual leave for junior doctors is 5 weeks per year which is pretty much in line with most other jobs tbh, and actually better than some.
That list, bar the last item, is true for pretty much all professional jobs.
Original post by Valentas
I think a lot of med students don't go to sacrifice a lot of years of their life for the guaranteed job. I can admit myself that helping people or saving life is very uplifting experience.
These are the downsides mentioned by my friends:
Long training and sleepless nights memorizing material you will forget after some years.
Poor salary as a resident(in my country)
Forced relocation where you are needed. You may end up in small 1k+ town :}
You have to spend a night each week on the call mode in some hospital. Especially surgeons who may need to do surgery at night.
Sometimes you receive psychological abuse from patients. Also, a lot of patients are very needy and sometimes it pisses you off because you need time to cool off.
Also, in my country, doctors are payed well but usually don't progress in salary too much. A decent youtuber can earn more money a month than doctors here Recently there was a video of one pal who bought a house with this money.
These are the downsides mentioned by my friends:
Long training and sleepless nights memorizing material you will forget after some years.
Poor salary as a resident(in my country)
Forced relocation where you are needed. You may end up in small 1k+ town :}
You have to spend a night each week on the call mode in some hospital. Especially surgeons who may need to do surgery at night.
Sometimes you receive psychological abuse from patients. Also, a lot of patients are very needy and sometimes it pisses you off because you need time to cool off.
Also, in my country, doctors are payed well but usually don't progress in salary too much. A decent youtuber can earn more money a month than doctors here
Recently there was a video of one pal who bought a house with this money.Which country are you from? Oh wow, popular youtubers must be living the dream, since they dont have the 9-5 and get enjoy at the same time. Sometimes I envy people who are like that but then again, each of us have different paths to take
I qualified 30 years ago but there are many downsides. Life as a junior doctor is exhausting, things have changed since I was a junior doc, more shift patterns, no on call from Fri am until Mon pm but you still are expected to work long hours and make huge numbers of important life saving decisions early on in your career when you feel poorly equipped to do so.
You do have people moaning at you and expecting you to sort their lives out, even the nonmedical aspects of their lives like housing, relationships etc (I'm a GP).
When I entered medicine I thought I wanted to work with people, after 30 years of working with people I think they're over rated. I'd probably go into physics or engineering now, but alot of people fancy a change of career and get fed up of their jobs
Yes you are well paid, but when you look at the ability of people choosing to do medicine we are motivated intelligent people who would have ended up in well paid jobs if we hadn't become doctors. We earn far less than company directors/ city boys etc but with our organisational and risk management skills could probably have succeeded at those careers if we wished.
On the plus side you have a huge range of medical careers to choose from, although I think the current medical career structure tries to make people specialise too early. You can also work all over the UK, and I did a year in New Zealand, had friends who worked for VSO and others who worked on cruise ships.
The job is rewarding, but no matter how good a doctor you are you will make mistakes sometimes and get complaints, although the 2 aren't necessarily connected and most of my complaints are related to me not giving a patient exactly what they wanted eg valium, opiates, never ending sick leave, or just about not being able to keep people alive forever.
Most of medicine isn't saving lives. It's dealing with chronic disease and reconciling people to the fact that their bodies are aging and failing. Drugs and surgery can help this but we're still all going to die.
Once you are in a medical career as a consultant or GP your opportunities for travel are much reduced, but then the same is true of most permanent jobs. You do your travelling before you get your career post and then just go on holidays.
You'll probably find that when you get older and have kids you're not that bothered about travelling all over the place anyway and get bored of endless superficial conversations with strangers and different varieties of biting insects. If you want to keep travelling you could work for VSO or MSF or work in a ski resort or cruise ship.
You do have people moaning at you and expecting you to sort their lives out, even the nonmedical aspects of their lives like housing, relationships etc (I'm a GP).
When I entered medicine I thought I wanted to work with people, after 30 years of working with people I think they're over rated. I'd probably go into physics or engineering now, but alot of people fancy a change of career and get fed up of their jobs
Yes you are well paid, but when you look at the ability of people choosing to do medicine we are motivated intelligent people who would have ended up in well paid jobs if we hadn't become doctors. We earn far less than company directors/ city boys etc but with our organisational and risk management skills could probably have succeeded at those careers if we wished.
On the plus side you have a huge range of medical careers to choose from, although I think the current medical career structure tries to make people specialise too early. You can also work all over the UK, and I did a year in New Zealand, had friends who worked for VSO and others who worked on cruise ships.
The job is rewarding, but no matter how good a doctor you are you will make mistakes sometimes and get complaints, although the 2 aren't necessarily connected and most of my complaints are related to me not giving a patient exactly what they wanted eg valium, opiates, never ending sick leave, or just about not being able to keep people alive forever.
Most of medicine isn't saving lives. It's dealing with chronic disease and reconciling people to the fact that their bodies are aging and failing. Drugs and surgery can help this but we're still all going to die.
Once you are in a medical career as a consultant or GP your opportunities for travel are much reduced, but then the same is true of most permanent jobs. You do your travelling before you get your career post and then just go on holidays.
You'll probably find that when you get older and have kids you're not that bothered about travelling all over the place anyway and get bored of endless superficial conversations with strangers and different varieties of biting insects. If you want to keep travelling you could work for VSO or MSF or work in a ski resort or cruise ship.
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