Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 16 to 30 of 30

Thread: Medical School Advice

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Doylestown, PA
    Posts
    7,551
    Quote Originally Posted by Stan Calow View Post
    What about being a Physician's Assistant (PA)? I understand they are in great demand.
    That was my thought as well, and they make a decent buck.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    West Lafayette, IN
    Posts
    6,529
    My wife is a physician. I can’t imaging going to med school while working a job with a family. And then you have residency rehires a lot of time.

  3. #18
    For a musical perspective on the vet's life, a couple of Corb Lund tunes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JChwFoCxVC8 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5geefvMDjME

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Lewiston, Idaho
    Posts
    28,504
    During the 34 years I worked in hospitals and clinics, I worked with a half a dozen doctors who attended medical school while in the military. I know one radiologist and his wife, a neurologist who met while in med school on military scholarships. Doctors, nurses, dentists are professions for those who have a calling.
    Last edited by Ken Fitzgerald; 02-17-2022 at 3:10 PM.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Fairbanks AK
    Posts
    1,566
    If we are just going to kick an old thread to death I will go for the kill shot. I spent the first 23 years of my career as an RN thinking I was in a pitched battle with sloth. Turns out I am up against pride. I am in the 40% of all RNs in the USA looking for another field to retire from this week. I have the added bonus of feeling I answered a calling from a higher power in the first place, but I can no longer drink from this cup. I just can't. So I got to comes to terms with Jesus and eternity before I make a move from this thing I understood to be a calling.

    When a diabetic can't put down the sugar spoon, or a smoker can't get themselves off the coffin nails, they are really only hurting themselves. This one is an emotionally traumatic mind boggler. About a year ago I gave a head shrinker $200 up front to help me process the emotional trauma I am going through in real time so I wouldn't have to deal with PTSD later. He got eyes as big as saucers under a tea cup, told me he couldn't help me, and kept my $200.

    We are headed for a new world, and the number of idealists in health care is going to be very low.

    Good luck and best wishes. Thank God for woodworking as a hobby.

    Sorry Keith. I overlooked and ignored and overlooked, but ultimately I just couldn't keep my mouth shut.

  6. #21
    Having worked in hospital administration for a good number of years, I can't speak as a physician, but was close enough to smell the smoke and see the flames. Let's put it this way, I am in now way encouraging my high school age kids to pursue a career in medicine. Most of the physicians on our staff were miserable and frustrated most of the time. I understand where Scott is coming from. Nurses have it rough. ICU, critical care, med-surg, all of them really. It used to be that a lot of nurses would move into case management to escape the stress of the floor, but IMO it was only trading one kind of pressure for another.

    If health care is a draw, then for my money, it always looked like the PTs were on the high ground. A good balance of high pay, low stress, good hours. Rehab services are always a darling in reimbursement and very rarely under pressure to be cut. This is another way of saying, rehab is a revenue center, not a cost center, and that has its benefits. I'll group in OT and Speech with this category. Lots of options in outpatient settings too.
    Last edited by Edwin Santos; 02-16-2022 at 11:18 PM.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Coquitlam
    Posts
    394
    Quote Originally Posted by mil ford View Post
    I am looking for advice about med school. Currently I'm a teacher and I absolutely can't do it anymore. I am basically looking for your experiences with the med school work load. How is it with raising a family at the same time? Is it possible to work at the same time? What are possible ways to pay for it and the rest of the "grown up bills" a 32 year old has accumulated?
    Curious, why do you want to be a doctor? Is it your passion or is it prospect of earning more or is it that you just don't like your current profession?

    If it's your passion then you are still young and would suggest pursuing medical school. You will be 40-42 by the time you are done with school and residency. It may not be ideal but it's not too late as well. You will have easily 2-3 decades to practice.

    Finance is where it starts to get tricky. IIRC education will cost you ~ $250k and then there will be low earning (relatively) residency phase. I know the amount is high but in grand scheme of things, it's recoverable. As to family, if your SO is earning decently, it should not affect you much. Time spent with family will go down. But remember that it's not the only profession where people deal with time constraints.

    Now if it's not your passion then 32 is a little late to start medical school. It's a significant undertaking and there are better options available to switch professions or earn more.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Fairbanks AK
    Posts
    1,566
    Quote Originally Posted by Edwin Santos View Post
    It used to be that a lot of nurses would move into case management to escape the stress of the floor, but IMO it was only trading one kind of pressure for another.
    I have already moved into case management and many days when I get home my highest priority is to finish vomiting before my wife gets home.

    Here is 5 things you can do to not need an RN in your life:
    1. get a good night's sleep
    2. be active as tolerated during the day
    3. adequate hydration within whatever your fluid restriction might be
    4. tylenol or aspirin for minor aches and pains
    5. balanced nutrition. I cannot believe the money I get paid to preach what you were supposed to learn in third grade. Have three vegetables every day. Group one is the 'ok whatever' group. White potato as chips or fries, iceberg lettuce, corn, peas, come on, these are carbs. One dark leafy green veg every day, iceberg doesn't count. One veg with pretty colors every day, yellow, orange, red or purple. I simply cannot believe I am barely making low 6 figures annually to remind people of this.

    My mom (now retired) was a family practice MD. I specifically went into nursing because she had zero free time. We were grocery shopping once when a fella lifted up his shirt on on aisle 3 in the Kroger to ask "Dr W, what is this?" clearly an infected abcess next to his left nipple and the canned vegetables on aisle three. If I had had a taser in the moment he would have gotten zapped with some kind of distinction to definitive zapping. EMS transport would have been required as his respiratory rate, when I was done with the taser, would have been zero breaths per minute.

    I cannot recommend medicine or any of the allied health professions to anyone this year. It is true that Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy (PT, OT and ST) don't have to take call, but those folks still have to deal with patients who expect a magic bullet or pill to instantly correct a lifetime of bad choices. 1:4 call here for me, screw it.

    I shall continue to quietly stalk Edwin Santos as a creative genius even though he uses a lot of power tools. Jesus, please give me something different to do.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Quorn United Kingdom
    Posts
    773
    It is often difficult in life to make decisions and I would offer the following advise

    Seek out some form of counselling with the aim of being mentally in the best possible health before making any life decisions ,speak to people you trust implicitly and seek thier advise Think laterally are the barriers real or can you find a path through them

    wishing you all the best

    Brian

  10. #25
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Highland MI
    Posts
    4,511
    Blog Entries
    11
    Pick the right field and have the skillset and you can write your own ticket. I have a young friend that just finished his residency and is being courted by doctors driving Bentleys. Looking at high six figures to start. And hospital nurses are in such short supply around here they are being given enormous incentives to pick up shifts. But the burnout rate right now is crushing with Covid.
    NOW you tell me...

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    McKean, PA
    Posts
    15,593
    Blog Entries
    1
    Guys, this thread started in 2009, I'm sure the OP has made up his mind for a career many years ago.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

    My advice, comments and suggestions are free, but it costs money to run the site. If you found something of value here please give a little something back by becoming a contributor! Please Contribute

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Kansas City
    Posts
    2,652
    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Schierer View Post
    Guys, this thread started in 2009, I'm sure the OP has made up his mind for a career many years ago.
    I hate when t hat happens and I fell for it too.
    < insert spurious quote here >

  13. #28
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Modesto, CA, USA
    Posts
    9,879
    Is is once again open to me. Not sure what happened there. Most of the advice is still useful. Covid has certainly changed things in medicine for the worse.
    Bill D

  14. #29
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Tampa Bay, FL
    Posts
    3,895
    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Lefkowitz View Post
    I have been a nurse as well as currently a physician. Nursing would cause you and your family the least amount of financial and emotional distress. If I could do it all over, I would be a Nurse Anesthetist. They assist the anesthesiologist in hospitals and surgical centers. Benefits, six figure income and other perks are all included.
    I could rant about this, being an anesthesiologist, but you are correct. CRNAs get their nursing degree, need to work 18 months in critical care, then go to CRNA school for an additional 18 months (may be 12, not sure anymore) then apply for a job with good hours, mid-high 6 figure income, and their national organization is constantly pushing for their ability to practice in all states without supervision (which, sadly, is the case in many states). It's an interesting job, with very high pay. And, during my 30 year career, was constantly in demand, basically everywhere. No coincidence that nurses are flocking towards CRNA school like crazy.

    I retired after a 30 year career in medicine a couple of years ago. Most of it practicing in Level 1 trauma centers as a cardiothoracic anesthesiologist. Sadly, and I really mean sadly as I'm a second generation doctor, no way I could encourage anyone to go into medicine any longer. Corporate medicine, hospital and nursing politics, and insurance companies have made it very, very difficult to be a physician these days.

    Medical school is difficult. I can't imagine working a second job during it. Residency, while having better hours now (at Harvard, my worst week was 116 hours working, then add 8 hours of commuting to that. Sleep was non-existent.) Now, in theory, hours are limited to 80 hours a week, but my understanding is that is routinely violated. Think about 80 hours of work a week sometime. I know other people who are struggling do that to make ends meet, and I truly sympathize with that, but the residents are also doing that for what amounts to less than minimum wage. And no tips.

    Anyway, I hope this doesn't come off as ranting. Not my intent. Your age makes it a little more difficult, but not impossible to be a doctor. My medical school class had the distinction of having the oldest median age of any medical school in the country. One of my classmates started at age 42 after his PhD and working as a retinal researcher. He was the star of our class. So he didn't finish his training until age 50. Difficult -- I'm sure. But not impossible.
    - After I ask a stranger if I can pet their dog and they say yes, I like to respond, "I'll keep that in mind" and walk off
    - It's above my pay grade. Mongo only pawn in game of life.

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Tampa Bay, FL
    Posts
    3,895
    Quote Originally Posted by Stan Calow View Post
    I hate when t hat happens and I fell for it too.
    Yup, fell for it too.

    I just looked up his name (if real) in the Florida Physicians database and couldn't find one that matched.
    - After I ask a stranger if I can pet their dog and they say yes, I like to respond, "I'll keep that in mind" and walk off
    - It's above my pay grade. Mongo only pawn in game of life.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •