Medicine Advice from a Med Student?

Hello guys,
can anyone that's been studying/currently studying Medicine tell me if the courses are significantly anatomical?
I'm considering working as a psychiatrist but in order to be good at something, you have to be "comfortable" with it and I am not very fond of surgeries etc.
Does medicine has extreme anatomical... details?

Thanks so much! Sorry for my ignorance

Hello guys,
can anyone that's been studying/currently studying Medicine tell me if the courses are significantly anatomical?
I'm considering working as a psychiatrist but in order to be good at something, you have to be "comfortable" with it and I am not very fond of surgeries etc.
Does medicine has extreme anatomical... details?

Thanks so much! Sorry for my ignorance

Although I can't really speak for all med schools (as I only attend one), the general vibe I get is that there has been a recognition in the last 5-10 years or so of the importance of anatomy teaching, due to a general lack of anatomical knowledge from graduates coming out.

That's interesting - my impression was the precise opposite That unless you talk to the anatomy guys, the overall impression was that anatomy beyond the basics can be picked up when doing surgery, with little need before. Different approaches.

for example we can get away with answers like 'flexor compartment of the thigh' as opposed to actually having to know the names of muscles.

It definitely varies by medical school. We do very little anatomy comparatively. Far from none clearly, but for example we can get away with answers like 'flexor compartment of the thigh' as opposed to actually having to know the names of muscles. It does get a little more detailed when you consider nerves, arteries, veins, organs, plus embryology and histology etc, but easily handleable i'd say.

I hope that clarifies matters for you. Ironically I made this post because I needed an excuse to procrastinate whilst doing...anatomy revision

Although I can't really speak for all med schools (as I only attend one), the general vibe I get is that there has been a recognition in the last 5-10 years or so of the importance of anatomy teaching, due to a general lack of anatomical knowledge from graduates coming out. So I'd say yes, the courses are all likely to be anatomy heavy (and rightly so), possibly even increasingly heavy in that regard.

You have to realise that with the system the way it is, you will have to spend a few years at least working in general medicine, and anatomy is much more relevant for psychiatry than you would think. The brain affects the whole body, so a psychiatrist will have to know the anatomy just as much as the next guy.

During the first two years of medicine you'll have a lot of anatomical theory thrown at you. Muscles, bones, nerves, organs, the whole deal. That's the gross anatomy. You'll also do some microanatomy too (so anatomy of cells, tissues, etc). Mostly, it's a case of rote memorising it. Anatomy is a fairly marmite subject in my experience, you certainly don't need to love the subject to be a good medical student or a good doctor.

Like anything else, the more you use it the better you retain it. I'm pretty certain most psychiatrists who are well into their career paths no longer have great recall of anatomical details the same way they might have done at med school. But then again, I'm sure most surgeons and radiologists are the same way about biochemistry or histopathology. It's just not relevant to their day to day jobs anymore.

However, before you arrive at the point when you specialise in psychiatry you need to get through five years of medical school and two years of foundation training, both of which will require you to know clinical anatomy which is relevant to medicine and surgery. There is no getting around that, you cannot study or practice medicine and be totally clueless about anatomy. Even something as simple as giving someone an injection to the upper arm can have bad consequences for the patient if you don't understand the anatomy of the region you're injecting into.

Long story short, you will not be expected to have the same level of anatomical knowledge as an anatomist or developmental biologist...but you clearly do need to know what you're doing.

I hope that clarifies matters for you. Ironically I made this post because I needed an excuse to procrastinate whilst doing...anatomy revision

It definitely varies by medical school. We do very little anatomy comparatively. Far from none clearly, but for example we can get away with answers like 'flexor compartment of the thigh' as opposed to actually having to know the names of muscles. It does get a little more detailed when you consider nerves, arteries, veins, organs, plus embryology and histology etc, but easily handleable i'd say.



That's interesting - my impression was the precise opposite That unless you talk to the anatomy guys, the overall impression was that anatomy beyond the basics can be picked up when doing surgery, with little need before. Different approaches.

See, we have loads of surgical reg's in doing anatomy demonstrating because they weren't taught it well enough at Uni! Guess it just depends what Uni you go to!


----

Tom

Thanks so much for your reply. I think that anatomy can be pretty interesting, although I have some issues regarding how close a student comes into this knowledge. Do you see the organs themselves, in laboratories or virtually, in great detail?

Erm, well i guess in literally microscopic detail yes. I'm not entirely sure what you are asking. The depth of knowledge is manageable. The methods of teaching include textbooks, dissection room teaching, taught living anatomy, lab work looking through microscopes, lectures and tutorials. Does that provide some answer?

I really appreciate that you spent time to write such a guiding answer; thanks so much. I wish you good luck with your revision!
Also, do you apply your anatomical knowledge on practice to a great extent?

Meaning, do you conduct many experiments that are related to such stuff? In my school, we dissected a cow's heart for example, and it was an interesting yet "weird" experience.

Thanks! Which uni are you studying to? Surgery, that's one thing I could NEVER do!

Truth is I put it in a quite confusing way, but you managed to provide me with a pretty useful answer.
To be honest I am making this question because I do not have a strong stomach; it is not that I am not disgusted, it's only that I'm not enthusiastic about dissecting stuff in laboratories and such medical stuff that I've heard about.
This is my preoccupation because I think that in order to be genuinely devoted to what you do you should not be vexed by such details that may arise. So I would like to be prepared about the stuff being done outside of theoretical textbooks