<p>From everything I've been reading it seems like becoming a doctor you are basically sacrificing your 20's in life. Is this completely true or are people taking the negative point of view and over exaggerating the idea. Does becoming a doctor sacrifice the years of pre-marriage/family life? I understand that med-school/residency takes a lot of hard work and time but does it really leave no room for any socializing?</p>
<p>There is time to do other things. My H. and I married just before he started med school and managed fine, had friends, went to parties, etc. I think now may be even better for interns and residents because I believe most places have put limits on the number of hour a person can be on straight.</p>
<p>I really think life turns out to be what you make of it; it all depends on one's priorities. If you want to be a big researcher, MD Ph.D, and say a surgeon, and what not,...you must realize you will have to sacrifice a significant number years of your family life towards realizing those goals. Infact, once you become a physician, your family includes not only your parents, wife and chlidren, but also your patients, peers, and career goals. </p>
<p>BUT. If you are a learn fast, manage your time and prioritize wisely it isn't impossible to fit all those good things in life into one big nutshell!</p>
<p>I really want to become a doctor but after reading some of the posts on this website it makes it seem like it is such a bad choice. Low pay, bad hours, no life in the 20's, bad family life, etc etc. I completely understand that these are not reasons to decide my career path but I want to be able to enjoy life outside of my career, even if I love my career.</p>
<p>dcb07: and one more: If you kill a person by mistake, say goodbye to this career.
This is my major concern.
A heart surgeon does 2 surgeries per day. Let say if he/she works for 30 years, he/she will be done with 15660 surgeries before he/she retires. Can a surgeon make no mistake, not a single one in 15660?</p>
<p>Well actually they are reasons to consider when choosing medicine. Yes your job is to help others, but at the same time you have to care for your own well being. You have to decide if you want to give up a lot of family life and maybe make it difficult for your family or not. The hours and things like that play a big role in the decision. Medicine is more and more turning into a self sacrifice situation for doctors due to insurance companies and all the dumb legal and business aspects. Basically if you like it, and understand what exactly is involved and how painful it might be both for you and your family to leave at all hours of day to work (depending on specialty), and you think you can handle the pressure, keep on trucking and go for it. If you can't see yourself working rediculous hours, spending every day of the rest of your life learning new things to stay up to date, and basically having mediocre pay then maybe medicine isn't for you. But it is a choice you have to make when considering medicine.</p>
<p>Surgeons make mistakes yearly if not more frequently that are quite large. It happens its part of the game. I forget where but I remember a statistic somewhere that said the average doctor in his/her career gets sued twice for med malp. It happens to the best of doctors. Usually its settled and a big deal isn't made out of it. Other times it isn't. So that is also another aspect you have to be ready to deal with. When you do make a mistake (not if), would you be able to put up with your name being dragged through the mud. How would you live with it? Etc. Etc.</p>
<p>Let's be clear about some things here:</p>
<p>Low pay as a resident: yes, it's not much, and you are paying off loans and all that. But it beats paying to learn like you do in the 3rd and 4th years. Once you clear that residency, in the vast majority of most places (and most specialties) you will be making above 6 figures. And in the specialties that are the lowest paying (general peds, medicine, family practice) you generally have the most freedom to dictate how you schedule and how much money you earn. My medicine preceptor schedules almost all his appointments for 30 minutes, doesn't work through lunch, sees his last paitient most days at 4pm. He could very easily go to 20 minute appointments or even 15 minutes, and alter very easily how much money he pulls in. But he's decided that his earnings are in line with what he wants. There is always freedom to adjust your practice considerations to earn the money you want.</p>
<p>Malpractice: Yes, we live in a litigious society, and malpractice lawsuits are common. Something like 1 in 7 doctors will be sued each year, and every single practicing physician will be sued several times in their career. But the overwhelming number of cases, something like 85% never reach trial, and in an even greater % that go to trial, the physician is found not guilty. What we really have is an insurance crisis, and the problem isn't that these lawsuits exist, but that they are creating access to care issues. States will realize that they have to alter the legal landscape b/c physicians are drawn to the states in which malpractice insurance is manageable. This is a hot button issue, but the brunt of change needs to be aimed at insurance companies and not lawyers or tort reform. </p>
<p>Doctors make mistakes: Doctors are not perfect, and this is where the public needs to alter it's view point. But even then the legal system does not demand perfection. If you lose a patient, that is not malpractice. Malpractice goes by the reasonable standard method of determining liability. If a reasonable outside observer was watching a hypothetical reasonable physician give a reasonable standard of care, and the patient still dies - that's not malpractice. Hoganwan you are so far from the truth you couldn't find it with a map and GPS. Further, it has been shown that in most cases where malpractice was a possibility the families don't sue (again even further lowering the number of actual physicians found guilty of malpractice). Particularly in this day and age of medical education, there is a constant peppering of ways to avoid getting sued: say you are sorry (there are laws which protect you and prevent your apology from being used as an admission of guilt), explain what went wrong, and be honest. That's really what families want, it is when the doctor is harsh, cold and lacking empathy that angers families to legal action.</p>
<p>Losing your 20's: true to an extent. I know that if I was with a job like some of my friends have, I would have a lot more free time. I have tests on Saturdays for crissakes. The weeks before a test I'm spending >12 hours on campus (4 hours of lectures, 8+ in the library), and I had twelve tests this past year meaning I simply lost three whole months of this year by being in the library. But you know what, my friends and I go out on the weekends, have our near weekly wednesday night trip to one of the bars, have Sunday night poker, and manage to stay somewhat sane (although trying to meet chicks at the bars is not my preferred way to meet girls...that does suck).</p>
<p>During residency you are working an average of 80 hours (which is less than it used to be, when residents were called that b/c they actually resided at the hospital), but that's no different than a young lawyer who is an associate at a law firm (they just make a lot more $$$). But even this demand decreases as you progress through your training. And there is some time to keep up with normal life events. If you are in a relationship, your partner will have to be unique and strong enough to handle this atypical situation. You as the cause of the situation also need to be upfront with what you can and cannot manage. If you are proactive and address problems before they become major issues (and remember that love is a verb) then your odds for a lasting relationship improve.</p>
<p>Family life: I don't think that your family life has to be bad. Again, you have to work through some issues, but it's not like there are millions of doctors going through life single and childless. And this, like the loss of the 20s is also dictated a lot by practice and specialty. There are ways to get deal with the problems.</p>
<p>In the end, yes there are costs to the prestige, income and respect that come from being a doctor. But if it was simple everyone would be doing it, and you rarely ever have to worry about job security, how the market is affecting your job, you get to make a huge difference in patients lives, and all those reasons whey people say they want to be a doctor. You also have a 1000x more flexibility in setting up how you want your practice to operate than some salesman. You get to choose your specialty, the patients you work with, and the types of hours/procedures/setting/lifestyle if you want. </p>
<p>(it's amazing how much more I love medicine when I'm not in school...This is absolutely glowing. During the school year I'm like "this is hell, do something else with your life" lol.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot BRM, I'm glad that you have an honest and realistic perspective on things.</p>
<p>ps. what do you do now all summer?</p>
<p>This summer I am doing research with a sociologist in the Department of Family Medicine looking at how doctors and patients discuss preventing illness and specifically if there are certain visit types that are more likely to produce such conversations and who is more likely to bring up such topcs.</p>
<p>My school also requires a 3 week rural primary care block during this summer (you can set up your own, but most people just go through the school), so I will be spending that time in York NE doing a general surgery rotation. A friend of mine just got back from the same rotation and said that he got to do a TON of stuff on his own. From first assisting on surgeries to doing colonoscopies on his own. I'm excited.</p>
<p>After that it will be August and I'm supposed to be having surgery but we'll see, then it will be orientation week for the M1s with parties every night. It's my last free summer ever.</p>
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the brunt of change needs to be aimed at insurance companies...
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Oooh, econ major is unhappy...</p>