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Why do people aspire to study medicine? (i.e., why is so competitive?)

Reply 20

JointVenture

13

Touche

OOoooooooh! Don't let the medics hear you say that! :eek:

Its a well known fact :rolleyes:

Reply 21

originalname

AnthonyShock

Well then you'll end up buckling under the high-pressure of the job if you don't really want to do it. There are other things you can do that can give you money and prestige like being the dictator of Bolivia or being a common tart. What the heck, do both! :biggrin:

I've considered medicine because I'd love to have a job where I can meet different people and give them advice (I like listening to people and giving advice.) It is a bit of a stretch for me but I haven'y started A-levels yet so let's wait and see how things turn around. :smile:

...you've not even started applying for med school, so how would you know that he's going to buckle under the pressure? :/

Reply 22

Touche

15

Beska

It's true. I have a consultant that lives across the road from me, he's a "Mr." and is absolutely ****ing loaded and only works a single day a week - from home.

He's my idol. :proud:

You get a medical degree -> Dr
You pass the MRCS (surgical postgraduate) exams -> Mr.
You pass any other postgraduate exams and you keep Dr.

It's a throwback to the old days (think medieval times) when physicians thought operating was below them and left barbers (yes the guys who cut hair) to clean up soldiers after battles. In 1540 the Company of Barber-Surgeons was formed. In the 1700s the surgeons split to form the Company of Surgeons and in 1800 that became the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS = member of the royal college of surgeons). The surgeons have kept the Mr to distinguish themselves from physicians who wanted nothing to do with them back in the day.

Most consultants will not be Mr as most consultants are not surgeons. That does not mean they are inferior to surgical consultants.

And I have MRCS so I'm a Mr... but I ain't loaded... and I'd be foolish to think that I'm superior to a consultant physician :wink:

Reply 23

Elles

17

Touche

You pass the MRCS (surgical postgraduate) exams -> Mr.

Ahem.

Or -> Ms, Miss or Mrs. See above. :p:

Reply 24

originalname

Touche

You get a medical degree -> Dr
You pass the MRCS (surgical postgraduate) exams -> Mr.
You pass any other postgraduate exams and you keep Dr.

It's a throwback to the old days (think medieval times) when physicians thought operating was below them and left barbers (yes the guys who cut hair) to clean up soldiers after battles. In 1540 the Company of Barber-Surgeons was formed. In the 1700s the surgeons split to form the Company of Surgeons and in 1800 that became the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS = member of the royal college of surgeons). The surgeons have kept the Mr to distinguish themselves from physicians who wanted nothing to do with them back in the day.

Most consultants will not be Mr as most consultants are not surgeons. That does not mean they are inferior to surgical consultants.

And I have MRCS so I'm a Mr... but I ain't loaded... and I'd be foolish to think that I'm superior to a consultant physician :wink:

Did you know that there was another split, a long time after the surgeons left the company of barber-surgeons?

Reply 25

Touche

15

Elles

Ahem.

Or -> Ms, Miss or Mrs. See above. :p:

Ahh yes, I hear in some places women are now allowed into theatres? What's the world coming to?! :p:

originalname

Did you know that there was another split, a long time after the surgeons left the company of barber-surgeons?

Hehe, I was trying to keep it simple :smile:

Reply 26

originalname

Touche

Hehe, I was trying to keep it simple :smile:

So you know of the new college then?

The all singing, all dancing college of barber-streisands?

hrhrhr

Reply 27

Touche

15

originalname

So you know of the new college then?

The all singing, all dancing college of barber-streisands?

heh, maybe my eyes are wonky but I thought you said before (or was that an edit?) :smile:

Reply 28

7589200

18

main reasons
----------------
stable career
decent salary
repsect of the society
able to help people
exciting career, constantly changing, interesting

other reasons
--------------
"because its medicine" - associate prestige of going to medical school.
and then maybe some parental pressure of getting into such a great career.

not in rank order.

Reply 29

somethingbeautiful

18

For me; Because I genuinely want to help & discover new things *Cliche*, but it's true.
Also, I always have plans, I'm one of those people whose bedroom is always tidy and whose diary is always in order. I need to know where things are going - I need neat tidy plans and I could have decided to take any other science related degree but...
1. It wouldn't be my passion
2. It wouldn't give me a definite career plan.
With Med I know that I've got 5 years/then 2/training etc etc and I know where i'm going.
With other degrees I wouldn't have a clue what career I would be destined for or what direction my life would be going in after 3 years of my undergrad.
I know you can never know what your future will be but at least it gives me a vague idea of what I'll be doing for the next 10ish years. Plus if I want it this much I'm more likely to suceed with it than settling for another degree that maybe I'd have a better chance of getting onto.
Oh well - it makes sense to me =]

Reply 30

originalname

Touche

heh, maybe my eyes are wonky but I thought you said before (or was that an edit?) :smile:

Yeh :P Till I realised barbara was from the 1960s.

I apologise for a bad attempt at a terrible joke ;<

Reply 31

AlexanderGPM

It does seem that when I got in 5 years ago it was much less competitive than it is now. I think it's what everyone else has been saying such as a stable career, high social status (although not as much in these days), helping people and of course the salary. However, I wouldn't say salary plays a big part, it's an incentive to try really hard and give so much of your time but if people were money-crazy they would do dentistry.

Reply 32

Little Pedro's Alter Ego

Laith

(by the way, in medical terms, Mr. is higher than Dr. regarding 'rank'.

What a load of bolox. I can't carry on without personally insulting you. If I did that I'd get banned and I don't particularly want that but I'm sure you get the point.

Those operations your dad carries out are quite risky for the patient. Unless he's doing them laprascopically (I think though there's only one guy doing that in the US atm) they will have their chests opened, their sternums sawed and in the case of valve repairs/replacements, their hearts opened. They're at risk of dying from infection. Some of them are on warfarin for the rest of their lives. They may have a vein taken out of their leg- another site at risk of infection. This is why cardiologists (the so called 'inferior' doctors) are called on first to try to fix the problems with stenting (and other procedures) which are much less risky to the patient. And this is what is actually important- not someone's bloody title.

If I've got any of that wrong, someone please correct me, I don't want to be giving out incorrect information.

Anyway, I want to be in a job that's interesting and, although not my initial reason for considering it, helping people is a very good aspect of it (I'm helping people now with my job but then it comes back to the interest issue).

Reply 33

Evolin

13

Beska

It's true. I have a consultant that lives across the road from me, he's a "Mr." and is absolutely ****ing loaded and only works a single day a week - from home.

He's my idol. :proud:

And oh boy, do the Mr's get annoyed if you call them Dr. by accident!

Reply 34

AnthonyShock

13

emma_wemma

Isn't it..
Mr = surgeon
Dr = other doctor?

Back in the old days surgery was like an apprenticeship (like a butcher :rolleyes:

) whereas doctors went to medical school.

Nowadays obv. both go to medical school but surgeons keep Mr and other doctors have Dr.

:yep:

x

That's interesting! I never knew that :biggrin:

lmao

Reply 35

username43584

8

Laith

You need an extra examination for the 'Mr.' title rather than the 'Dr.' title I think.

I refer to this quote from a Dr on Yahoo:

Consultants who reach a certian level in their career are no longer refered to as Dr this is after they pass certain exams. It is considered to be the highest title you can achieve as a medical proffessional.

Consultant surgeons receive the Mr title whenever they pass MRCS for various aforementioned historical reasons. Consultant physicians (who have just as high status and are every inch as important as surgeons) retain the Dr title, even when they pass their equivalent exams. The two branches of modern medicine (in the sense that it encompasses the work of both surgeons and physicans) have different origins and the differing titles reflects this and not whether one is greater than the other.

Reply 36

username43584

8

Laith

Ah ok thanks :smile:

So can a physician ever have Mr. title?

I don't think so. Not professionally, though I suppose you could use whatever title you wished in "ordinary" life (is there any legal obligation to always use Dr?)

Though I do know a GP who is a breast surgeon on a Tuesday :p:

Reply 37

ThisLittlePiggy

12

Goodness. A lot of these answers, particularly on the first page, sound like the *******s you hear from people on interview days.

"...in a clinical setting"

Bugger that. We want to help people and this is how we think we can do it.

Ps anyone heard the school of thought about how surgery should be split from medicine and taught separately? Comments?

Reply 38

Eskamo

ThisLittlePiggy

Goodness. A lot of these answers, particularly on the first page, sound like the *******s you hear from people on interview days.

"...in a clinical setting"

Bugger that. We want to help people and this is how we think we can do it.

Ps anyone heard the school of thought about how surgery should be split from medicine and taught separately? Comments?

I wouldn't be supportin the split because I believe it takes people a few years at uni (of course, theres a range to anyone who likes to point that out) to fully decide which path to go down, plus physicians need such a level of anatomy and surgeons probably need to be reminded once in a while that they chop up people rather than just legs.

but it would be fantastic to ship all the barbers out to slaughter houses and butchers shops to get some alternative experience, and hopefully mean we'd have to learn a bit less of the social and people comfortin crap thats only needed by those devoid of emotional perception skills.

Reply 39

italianstallion

1

'because I want to help people'-that's what everyone says. Don't you think that going all the way to africa to dig Water reserves would help people more?. You wouldn't have to go through five years of training to do it then

Why do people aspire to study medicine? (i.e., why is so competitive?)

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