I might be starting a medical degree at the start of 2012!!!

[Squilliam]

Im going to start studying for it over the next couple of weeks so that I can pass the entrance examinations...

Im probably doing one of the most insane things in my life! Im going to spend six years of some of the hardest and most intense training you could possibly imagine, giving up a large portion of my twenties towards a goal which I could fail at any time in order to help people.

I don't really understand why im doing this insanity really. All I know is it is something that I want with all my heart. Even in those moments where im sure you're familiar, the moments where you doubt yourself I still want to do it. What is crazy is that even with six years of medical school im still willing to spend another 2-3 years specializing so I will be in my thirties before I would have finished all of my formal study.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Im going to start studying for it over the next couple of weeks so that I can pass the entrance examinations...

Im probably doing one of the most insane things in my life! Im going to spend six years of some of the hardest and most intense training you could possibly imagine, giving up a large portion of my twenties towards a goal which I could fail at any time in order to help people.

I don't really understand why im doing this insanity really. All I know is it is something that I want with all my heart. Even in those moments where im sure you're familiar, the moments where you doubt yourself I still want to do it. What is crazy is that even with six years of medical school im still willing to spend another 2-3 years specializing so I will be in my thirties before I would have finished all of my formal study.

Good luck.

 

[Squilliam]

Thanks! It's a lot of hard work but I think if I can do it I can do a lot of good for people.

 

[Grall]

You have a big incentive to make it to graduation mate, because then we'd all have to call you Doctor Squilliam... Awesome, huh?

It's tough for sure, but lots of people make it through medical school every year. I'm sure you can too! Best of luck to you.

 

[Squilliam]

You have a big incentive to make it to graduation mate, because then we'd all have to call you Doctor Squilliam... Awesome, huh?

It's the only way you can get called 'doctor' with only a bachelors degree!

It's tough for sure, but lots of people make it through medical school every year. I'm sure you can too! Best of luck to you.

Thanks! I think I'll need it.

 

[digitalwanderer]

It's an honest and good calling, but it's a biatch. Best of luck Squilliam, I need someone to prescribe for me.

 

[zed]

The profession where theres too many jobs, pays not bad as well, hundreds of dollars an hour if you wish

as youve prolly heard the stories

Kiwi doctors flying to Australia at the weekend to pocket $8000 or more for two days' work are helping both countries' health systems survive, the consultants' union says.

 

[nintenho]

Don't worry about making it through the schooling/residency years, the hardest part is getting into the medical school but staying in isn't as hard. Apparently it's vice-versa with PhD programs.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Don't worry about making it through the schooling/residency years, the hardest part is getting into the medical school but staying in isn't as hard. Apparently it's vice-versa with PhD programs.

ya the way it works around here (Canada), getting in is really the hard part. Not that I'm suggesting medical school isn't hard, just that once they have you they are inclined to make you succeed, and those likely to fail don't often get in.

 

[Malo]

The profession where theres too many jobs, pays not bad as well, hundreds of dollars an hour if you wish

as youve prolly heard the stories

lol, no wonder people can't afford health insurance.

It cost us $5500 for our son to be in the NICU for one day, to be monitored for breathing. Nothing done to him, just make sure his breathing stabilized over the first 24 hours. Over FIVE THOUSAND?

 

[zed]

lol, no wonder people can't afford health insurance.

I (& a lot of ppl here) dont have health insurance, had an operation ~6 months ago, it cost me nothing.
I have heard first hand some horror stories from ppl in the US, even with health insurance paying >100k for something not that major. But its a well known fact that the US is majorly ripped off WRT health care, something obama tried to fix recently (I forgot what happened apart from getting branded a socialist, prolly nothing).

I wish instead of pumping out lawyers, our schools should be focusing on turning out health care ppl (dentists/doctors etc)

 

[Davros]

I saw a tv movie recently apparently based on a true story, typical family, good job, house 2 cars ect wife gets ill, guy has to take time off work to get her to hospital and look after her ect.
He ends up loosing his job over it, can no longer afford insurance it runs out, has to sell the house to pay medical bills.
Wife dies, ends up living in a tiny flat and working part time in a burger bar, putting good food in the bins then retrieving it later to feed his kids. Always sneered at people on welfare and refuses to accept it untill his kids are diagnosed with malnutrition.
Very sad program actually...
and at the end of the film there were a load of related stats about how many americans this happens to each year and how many americans are a single paycheck away from being homeless.

 

[Squilliam]

lol, no wonder people can't afford health insurance.

It cost us $5500 for our son to be in the NICU for one day, to be monitored for breathing. Nothing done to him, just make sure his breathing stabilized over the first 24 hours. Over FIVE THOUSAND?

Well that's one advantage of socialized medicine! Even paying the true cost shouldn't nearly come to even half of that...

 

[AlphaWolf]

Well that's one advantage of socialized medicine! Even paying the true cost shouldn't nearly come to even half of that...

Well when it comes to health care, the true cost of everything in the US is double because of all the HMO fingers in the pie.

 

[Squilliam]

Well when it comes to health care, the true cost of everything in the US is double because of all the HMO fingers in the pie.

I guess it's seen as a means to get rich so long as you get your finger into the pie as well!

 

[Blazkowicz]

what about insurance that doctors have to contract to survive a few lawsuits, that must be a terrible cost in the US.

speaking of which, would you be willing to be a surgeon?
in France, the media says (or used to say) there's a shortage in surgeons, as nobody wants to hold the blame for an accident. plyers left in, dramatic blood spill or worse?

every one wants to be a specialist : radiologist, dentist, ophtalmologist or what have you.
people also do not want to be general practitioners, too much work and less prestige.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I've heard Anesthesiologist is big money. Surgeons get the glory, but Anesthesiologist gets a nice fat paycheck.

<edit> of course I am getting this information from my friend who is a surgeon.

 

[Blazkowicz]

I know. been watching whole seasons of Nip/Tuck, so I feel qualified to speak about it (a really awesome, humane and "realistic" series).

That is a weird job. Imagine injecting a big shot of heroin to people, enough so they sleep and don't feel your buddy hacking in their guts, but not so big that you kill them.

 

[Squilliam]

Im not really surgeon material. I don't quite have the manual dexterity I assume I would need for the job!

 

[Deleted member 13524]

I hope you don't mind me asking, but what are your current studies/degrees?