<p>I am interested in joining Doctors Without Borders after medical school. I was wondering who has some experience with this could give some perspective? How do you get stationed to certain places? How long do people usually do this for? What's it like? Isn't it difficult to have a family and be a part of this program?</p>
<p>If it's relevant, I am interested in becoming an ER surgeon.</p>
<p>First worry about getting into med school. And you will most likely change your mind about specialty, and the surgeons who do emergency surgery are called Trauma Surgeons.</p>
<p>Thanks for your advice, bigndude. I know it might be jumping the gun a bit but this is something I'd really like to know more about even as I am looking at medical schools. I am an EMT-B and have some experience volunteering abroad doing medical work. The thing is, I am really unsure about doing this kind of thing long-term, especially as I want to eventually settle down in one place with a family. Do you know anything about the organization that you can offer input on?</p>
<p>heres a FAQ...</p>
<p>Thanks, that's very helpful. Does anyone have any personal anecdotes of any type? I'm very interested in the lifestyle.</p>
<p>bump... anyone? anything?</p>
<p>Google "doctors without borders" (with quotes). Among the 1,760,000 hits you will find:
books <a href="http://www.fireflybooks.com/Publicity/books/78656.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.fireflybooks.com/Publicity/books/78656.html</a>,
and links to MSF articles by MSF alums <a href="http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/opedsarticles/index.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/opedsarticles/index.cfm</a>,
a personal article by a Harvard Pubic Health student <a href="http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/11.11/compassion.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/11.11/compassion.html</a>,
as well as podcasts <a href="http://odeo.com/channel/107394/view%5B/url%5D">http://odeo.com/channel/107394/view</a>.</p>
<p>You will also find e-mail addresses for many people in the program -- try sending them a letter.</p>
<p>I think that Doctors w/o Borders requires at least 2 years of practicing before they send you out into the field so you can't join fresh out of med school, or from a residencies. This makes sense as the conditions that the doctors have to deal with aren't exactly ideal and solid experience would be needed to respond to the situations they find themselves in. If your interested, there's this really great book called "Hope in Hell" that gives a really candid look at the world of Dr. W/o borders.</p>