What is your motivation in becoming a doctor?

[malusport]

Hi,

I was just wondering what are some of your motivation in becoming doctors. You will spend 4 years in medical school plus a minimum of 3 years doing residency working close to 130 hour work weeks. You will probably never see your family during that time.

What is your real motivation? I have heard so many. I heard helping people, but that is too broad. You can work for the peace crops and help people. Some peopel tell me money, but if you take a look an entrepreneur makes a lot more money than a doctor and if he ever takes his company public, he'll make much more.

Please share with me, what is your true motivation for becoming a doctor?

Thanks

[tRmedic21]

I have alot of reasons, maybe soon I will write an essay an post it, but it will take me a while. :oops:

[malusport]

Hi,

Take your time and please write. I would love to hear yours.

thanks

[teratos]

I think the true motivation lies somewhere in between. Let me first put things a bit more realistically. Nobody works 130 hours a week. It used to be close to 100 hours per week for some people. There are a lot of new rules governing residents work hours. Now you can no longer do more than 80 hours per week (wimps). And you can't work more than 24 hours in a row. That is a little off the topic, though.

I did it becasue I love the sciences, in particular biology. I also enjoy being challanged. At the same time I like interacting with people. I have a short attention span (ADD) so I don't like doing one particular thing for very long. I enjoy teaching as well. I also like Ferraris. I won't lie. I like expensive things. Rolexes, smoking home theater systems etc. I'm not ashamed of that. What was a logical step?

So i needed to find a fast paced job the was heavy in science, allowed me to interact with people, and paid really well. I don't mind working hard if I like what I am doing, and I like being my own boss. What could I do. Medicine suits my personality in a great way.

I think the helping people excuse is a bit weak. I feel good when I can make people feel better, and try to do the best job I can. I am concerned about the well-being of my patients. I couldn't do this job is I didn't love the challenges that it poses, though. Those 100 hour weeks sucked. I did miss my family, and when I was home I was often tired and cranky.

Now I am out in the real world. I love what I do. I feel like I walk around and talk to people all day. I meet a lot of interesting people. I discuss the scientific aspects of medicine with my colleagues in the office and in the hospital. I solve problems. I teach patients about disease and how to prevent it, I teach students and residents. I make good money, have financial security and a recession-proof job. Best of all I do all this for about 45 hours/week. Most of my weekends are free. I spend my evenings and weekends playing with my son. Not to sound corny, but my life is awesome. I can't imagine doing anything else. What could be better? G

[malusport]

Hi,

You said that you liked being my own boss. Did you start your own practice after residency? If you did what hurdles did you have to overcome to start your own medical practice?

[tRmedic21]

I just got finished writing it out, and it is so long, I think I'll just PM it to you, so I don't clutter up the boards with that much more of my personal babbling.

Anyone else who would like it, please PM me or post here, and I'll send it to you. malus, you also have my permission to send it to anyone who asks for it.

Get a bowl of popcorn and get ready for a long read! :lol:

[malusport]

Thank you I look forward to reading it.

Thanks

[Roy McAvoy]

My motivations are a mixture of desire to help needy people and to do work that will challenge me and keep my interest thoughout life - surely the wellbeing of others should require my interest. I hope to do at least a few years of mission work and provide healthcare to those who wouldn't otherwise have an available doctor. Why did I choose medicine as my way to reach out others? Because of my interest in sciences, my desire to work with people, and my intentions of promoting something as important as health to patients. I was lucky to have been raised in a privileged situation where food, shelter, safety, and healthcare was not a concern and if I can make personal sacrifices to help others in more difficult situations, I'M IN!

I also come from a long line of docs - uncles, cousins, and grandfather, and my great grandfather was Dean of Med at U of Michigan. This family connection with the profession always kept me fascinated with medicine and as I took more and more science classes I knew I would follow the family tradition.

... All the connections still didn't ofset the rogering I took on the Verbal Reasoning section on the MCAT. So I'm left with the uncertainty of US admission if I retake the MCAT, or I can attend school out of the country. I think that was the best thing for me - now I ask myself how much do I really want to be a doctor and help the needy. It was a difficult decision, but I'm going for it and I'm sure I'll succeed.

I wish you the best in your decision, because as you mentioned it is a very big sacrifice on your part.

"Tin Cup"

[FLK]

130 hrs a week?

I remember the most I ever worked was during one NICU month as a resident. There was just 1 resident that month instead of the usual 2. No fellow.
That meant double work for me. I was coming in every day at 400 AM and going home at 6 at night plus doing a 1 in 3. I think that was like 115 hrs. It sucked. I felt like an animal, only dirtier and grouchier.
I'm not sure but I think I wore the same pair of socks for 7 days straight since I was too tired to take them off or to take a shower. Needless to say, I was extremely popular with the nurses and families~.
My dream was to get edible socks so I could both see my feet and get dinner

130 hrs, I'd quit.
Nowadays, it's 80 hrs max for residents.
(Only the old fart attendings are allowed to work 100 :D and even then it's people like me that moonlight a lot of nights. I wouldn't want to join a practice where I was working 100 hrs a week. Some jobs like neurosurgery have these types of hours, but most it's 50-80)

[ML]

Hi all,
After reading through all the posts posted by my fellow members, I have realized that my reasons for becoming a Doc are very much similar to others and are scattered in other replies. Here are some of my reasons:

1. Money, Money, and Money. There is no doubt about it. This is the first thing 90% of people jump into this profession.

2. Except my dad everyone in my family is a Doc. So, I couldn't help myself staying out of this field. I even tried by doing Bachelors in Computer Science, but my aunt gave me a long lecture just three weeks back and now I'm back into medical field and preparing for MCAT :shock:

3. While working as an intern for VW in web programming, I realized that most of the time I help try to help out others in fixing their problems. Everytime my fellow worker asked me for help, I helped. So, I guess I learned it the hard way that I like helping others and believe me it is a gr8 feeling when you solve others' problems. My belief is the feeling of helping patients would be even better because the patient will remember it for the rest of his/her life.

4. Everyone is finanacially strong in my family becoz of their profession (Docs). So, I had no other choice but to become a Doc in order to make equal money.

5. I know how hard my parents worked to satisfy our (me, bro, and sis) financial expenses. So, I want them to have a better life now.

6. Don't you think the above reasons are enough to support my decission????

Thanks for your time and attention 8)

Cheers..............
ML

[AUCMD2006]

money is an issue but if money is your primary issue, and you mention it on every single line, then you are going to hate this since there are much better and easier ways to make just money. random sample of why it can't be just about the money:

1- peeling clothes off people who have defecated/urinated in them so many times over so many days that pieces of skin come off with the clothes.

2-countless stillbirths and dealing with families. one in particular was horrifying b/c mom didn't tell anyone she was carrying a dead child. docs told her at month three and she kept it and never showed up for follow up care so i had to inform the grandparents outside the room while they were holding clothes that they hand hand-knitted for their grand daughter and the husband that there was no child, then the child was stuck at crowning for four hours so i had to hold the half-opened head and cover it to keep them from looking into the childs inner skull.

3-cancers all around with chlidren dying being specialy hard. it's not a pleasant day when you tell a father his 8 year old daughter isn't going to be here tomorrow.

4- telling a ten year old girl that her reproductive system doesn't work so she will not have kids.

5- telling a mom that the reason her TWO year old son has rectal bleeding is because he was raped.

6-waiting for HIV results from rape victims

7-giving a death sentence aka HIV + results to anyone.

8- just about anything that happened in peds onco, genetics, burn unit.

9-watching somebody die of cancer

10-unknown and interesting odors in the ER at 2AM

if it was just about the money you couldn't pay me enough to deal with these things and if you can take a paycheck home after dealing with these issues families with no emotional attachement or concern for your job then your a robot. become a banker, lawyer, stockbroker, or anything else if its just about the money...you will be happier and you will save me the trouble of dealing with another a-hole doc who is misserable.

peace out

[FrenchFrie]

to help people!!!!!!!!! lmao

[malusport]

Hi Rrod,


You said all the reasons you wouldn't do it for money. Then why are you doing it? What are your reasons?

Thanks

[AUCMD2006]

the reasons why i wouldn't do it are the same as why i am doing it. i hated the way some doctors treated patients when they dealt with issues above. i hated the way my grandfather was treated before he died and i hated the fact that they misdiagnosed him so at some level i guess it is a quest because i know i can do a better job with somebody's family. the rest are:like science, love changing scenarios, can work anywhere, and LASTLY i want my benz back...hehe

[tRmedic21]

I agrree 100%.

I once read a webpage that basically said, "If you want to be a doctor because you know some doctors who are morons, and you think you can do a better job, QUIT NOW!" I completely disagree with that notion. I am not in the field to discredit any other physicians or to make myself look better in comparison to them, but it was quite a motivation for me as a lowly paramedic to look at physicians who had no clue, no skills, and no confidence when it came to treating the patients I was bringing them. Whe I met a doctor with zero common sense (and I know lots), or a doctor whom I wouldn't let examine my dog (again, lots), I always said to myself, why could they make it through medical school and I haven't tried yet? :roll:

Motivation. One day, we'll all be 'old fart' docs, trained 'around the turn of the century', out of date on new techniques and new meds and new machines (how many of us have watched a 65+ y/o doc fiddle with a ventilator for an hour before he asked the Resp. Therapist how to operate it?), new diseases, etc. WE'LL be those docs who the young people snicker about when we leave the room. The ones who wear our pants pulled up under our armpits, highwaters with black dress socks and cheap sneakers, maybe even suspenders! <gasp!>

But until that day comes, I'm gonna be the best doc I know how. I just have lo LEARN how first... :oops:

[FLK]

2-. one in particular was horrifying b/c mom didn't tell anyone she was carrying a dead child. docs told her at month three and she kept it and never showed up for follow up care so i had to inform the grandparents outside the room while they were holding clothes that they hand hand-knitted for their grand daughter and the husband that there was no child, then the child was stuck at crowning for four hours so i had to hold the half-opened head and cover it to keep them from looking into the childs inner skull.



just how big is a 3 month fetus? 50 grams? after how many months was it big enough to get stuck? Macerated fetuses that have been dead for months usually get reabsorbed, leak out as macerated tissue. They don't continue to grow after they're dead and certainly not grow big enough to crown for 4 hours. Why didn't they do a D and C if there was anything left to remove?

http://christianity.com/CC/Images/serve/0,,343118,00.jpg

fetus on left is actual size at 12 weeks ( next to a quarter ) fetus on right is a 20 weeker. 20 weeks usually weigh about 12 ounces

[tRmedic21]

Good point.

Maybe it was 'anencephalic', but that wouldn't explain maceration, even though it might explain the continued growth. I don't know enough about those areas to comment too much. Thank God I only havd a couple of premies in my career before med school. Kids scare me almost as much as bugs. :(

[AUCMD2006]

maybe i didn't go into detail enough...i was talking about treating people like human beings not a number on a chart. just like anything there are competent and non competent professionals, and i by no means meant to sound degrading so i meant i can do a better job interacting with the patients not the knowledge or medical aspect.

FLK- mom refused to sign consent for c-section, anesth, blood products, it was a saturday and they had a hard time getting ahold of legal, or her pastor for permission. i didn't see the entire chart just the days notes and what the triage nurse scribed on the way up. the cranial vault was not completely formed so i presume it was anencephalic. minimally developed brain, looked more like an oversized gaglion (lack of brain features gyrus, etc.) the cartilage hadn't begun to the ossified yet since i could bend the eppedanges like rubber (when i was trying to put clothes for family pictures, yes they wanted them) anenc. babies are carried to term right? b/c she was actually 1.5 months past.

keep in mind that i am only begining and i lack both the knowledge and the language to put this in terms you can understand. i have to try and use my rudementary medical knowledge attained from observation and asking questions while at the hospital and i am sure i am missing tons of info that would let you guys know what this was.

i did learn somthing new today though....when i was at the hospital i saw two kids born with gastroschesis and saw the surgery/treatment to repair and i finally understand how and why it happens...hehe long, long, process. i have those "oh that's why" experiences about once a week and i finnally see those years being on call with ER/OB/Surgery and clinics is finally paying off. i became friends with a couple of residents who knew i wanted to do this so they would always call me for anything interesting to try and save me by changing my mind they said. thanks to them i have seen a lot more than just on my service: gunshots, stabs, burns, addicts, breast implants surg, lipo, face lifts, all sorts of ortho including micro surgery to re-attach fingers, oh and the notorious guy who set his nipples on fire while "stimulating" them be wiring them to his car cigarette lighter dressed in a leather thong. i can finally say that all that crap i didn't understand is very very slowly making sense so if anyone has a chance to work in those settings it can only benefit you.

if for nothing else i at least know which way the gown and the mask goes and how to act in the OR, mainly stay away from anything that has lights, beeps, has tubes, or anything near a nurse...hehe

i hope one day to be knowledgeable enough to actually hold a conversation about these things with you guys instead of feeling like a fifth grader, i feel like i am describing these with crayon for you.
\
later

[tRmedic21]

feeling like a fifth grader, i feel like i am describing these with crayon for you.
\
later

I got sum xtra craon if yu run out! I hav the hole perty culur box, but I like red th best! :lol:

<------------------

[AUCMD2006]

aren't some fetused not reabsrbed though? i remember a lecture once where i heard about the mass being calcified......

[family doc]

Hello,

I have to echo much of what G said. My experience, however, sort of lead me in this direction as I was a Navy Hospital Corpsman for 13 years and was sort of nudged by the Navy Docs to go into Med School.

I am now a Family Physician and my work hours are Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri from about 9 until about 5:30. I don't work any wednesdays or weekends unless I am on call, which is all home call where I answer a page and talk to a patient on the telephone. I do not go to the hospital at all when on call as we have hospitalists for that.

My lifestyle and wages are superior. My responsibility is awesome - and rather humbling. My wife and doggies are really happy. While I fantasized about taking the student loan money and buying a Taco Bell with it, I can say that it was well worth the work. There's really no better reward that I can think of than practicing medicine. Sure, you treat URI's and monitor routine problems but, more than I ever imagined, you make a difference.

The motivations change over time. Even though I was in the medical field practicing patient care, I still had no idea what this was going to be like... not until my 2nd year of residency did I really get a feel of it and not until my first day out in practice did I really appreciate it.

[emerson24]

I saw Jerry Maguire...and I just fell in love with that line "SHOW ME DA MONEY" From that time on, I knew that this profession was the answer. I'm not fond of people, and often consider myself a recluse. I take medication for anti-social behavior and I'm hoping this profession will help bring me out of my shell. I kinda like the power a doctor feels, and with my ego, it suites me. In addition, I really like the new Dodge Viper, I want one. Another thing I like doing, is leading people around with a nice absurd ficticious story :twisted: HA! Jk. (your dose of humor for the day :wink: )

This is my real story. For particular reasons, I wrote an essay on why I wanted to become a physician. I figure I'll just copy and paste it here. It's the best way for me to sum it up.

Chris


BEING A PHYSICIAN EXTENDS BEYOND THE OFFICE


Through out my life I have always been interested in the process of how things worked. When this fascination was integrated with college and shadowing doctors in the hospital, I knew that medicine was my calling. I spoke with several physician assistants in this time period and believed that this role in medicine suited me best. It wasn’t until I was 5 years into my career as a physician assistant that I realized I needed to take this one step further.

My reasons for wanting to pursue medical school were based on seeing how medicine was practiced. I did not feel comfortable being under the direction of someone who practiced differently than I would. Sometimes I would see how patients seemed hurried into giving their story, and at times blatantly cut off from speaking. This is not always the case, but I had seen it enough to invoke a desire to make a difference.

Aside from direct patient care, I am an innovator. I have a creative mind and believe I can use this to invent devices or test new theories. As a PA I did not feel that I was necessarily listened to or given the respect that I deserved. Instead of letting my talents go to waste, I have decided to go back to further my knowledge in medicine and do things in the way that I see would benefit others.

My outlook on life is one of lending a helping hand or a guiding message. There are many people that have significant potential, but they lack the direction. This is where I want to utilize my skills and knowledge that I have obtained through medicine and my personal life, and give to others as people have given to me. It is through the process of giving that things stay nourished and thrive. Without proper nourishment things decay and die, not just physically, but to the spirit as well. I have always felt that I have a gift for helping others, not just through medicine, but also in ways outside of medicine. It is my dream to build a facility one day that will incorporate numerous aspects of science for the higher learning of children and adolescents. Not only will it will embrace the sciences and promotion of physical health, but it will also teach ways to find inner peace. It will give direction, motivation, and encouragement for the children of tomorrow. It is about time that we begin investing in the lives of others.

[teratos]

Emerson, Being the impartial moderator that I am it is a good thing I read the entire thing before banning you....good one. You got this chump> G

[microphage]

Emerson, Being the impartial moderator that I am it is a good thing I read the entire thing before banning you....good one. You got this chump> G

Are you sure we can't ban him for JUST one day?

And Emerson24, I'm kind of disappointed not having to take 2 hours out of my day just to read your personal statement(unless of course, that was just a really short excerpt).

[tRmedic21]

I have had numerous requests from those who requested my essay that I publish it on the thread for others to read... so, here it is. I know, I look like a ssisy.... but I dare you to come and say that to my face!!!! lol. J/k
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why do I want to be a physician?

Well, this is bound to be very long, so I will warn you in advance not to read it if you have ADD, like my colleague Dr. Durst, lol. :)

There are many reasons. I suppose I will explore them, and let you make your own judgements about which you believe are most important to me.

I like the finer things in life. Some of the same reasons I decided to come to Sint Maarten for school, actually. I love the ocean and boats, I love scuba and snorkeling, I love traveling, which my wife and I do quite a bit of, when we get the chance. I love Cuban cigars and fine brandies and scotches. I love fine food so much it is a weakness. My waistline can attest to this! :oops: I love expensive home and car theater systems, as well as computer systems. Gadgets are a weakness for me. I once spent over $5000 on my car stereo in a single year. Maybe it was wasteful, but it made me happy for a number of years. :) I want to have enough money to live a comfortable life, with some nice toys, and be able to travel alot when I feel like it. Nothing wrong with that. I want a small plane. I want a decent-sized boat, just a small one so my family and friends and I can enjoy some time on the water. I'm not planning on fleecing anyone's retirement fund to do it, I plan to work very hard for many years, and I think that should be rewarded.

I also want to be generous to my family and friends. We plan on spending a good portion of the income from our dual-physcian family on business endeavors to help provide long-term and lucrative employment for our family members. We have many family members whom we plan to put in charge of businesses which they will then run as if they were their own. I have had many friends over the years who have been greatly supportive of my wife and me, and we plan to take them on trips, buy them gifts, and generally help them out as much as possible in return for their support and generosity to us when we needed it most. We aren't looking for praise or anything from it, we truly love to give. We also want to set up college funds for each of our siblings' children, in addition to providing a chance at medical education for some who can't afford it, but have the aptitude and the desire.

We want to participate in medical missions work. We are both from a Christian background, and feel very strongly that God has led us into the medical field just as He brought us together with each other, for a reason. We have been given certain talents and abilities and interests, and to not utilize those blessings to do the work He intends for us would be not only wasteful, but disobedient. One of my advisors told me to leave this particular point out of my essay letter for my med school application. I told him if a school was going to reject me based on my religious beliefs, or because they thought that God guiding my decision-making process was weird or somehow fanatical, then I didn't need to be going to that school anyway. :) Medical missions fulfills so many of our desires.... the desire to help people in need, the desire to travel other countries and learn about their cultures (from the inside-out, not from tourist-type interaction), the desire to meet new people and lend a hand in solving old problems. The self-satisfaction in humanitarian service is something too often overlooked, in my opinion. I spent a couple of years working with Special Olympics in high school, and the amount of love those people showered on me, and the amount I learned from them about the truly important things in life is absolutely staggering. It's amazing, some of them can't remember to tie their own shoes or how to dial a telephone, but yet, they routinely ask my mother about me when they see her on the streets in my hometown, even now, 12 years later.

I respect George's opinion that the "helping people" excuse is overused and worn out, but there are some out there who genuinely are motivated by that aspect to a very large degree. I worked as a paramedic in the field for 7 years, and I feel I know enough about how things work in healthcare in general to make some assumptions.

Let's say I want to be a surgeon, which is a field I am seriously considering. Now, obviously, I want to be the best surgeon I can be, and I hope that I have been given some kind of talent for the work, as well as a drive and ambition to work hard to save people's lives. Now... if I decide to drop out of medical school, the job I would have eventually taken as a surgeon in Podunk-wherever will be filled by someone else, another surgeon. But the fact is, since I would have had that job if I had stayed, I would have been a better candidate for it, and probably a better surgeon. I mean, if the top choice on your hiring list suddenly drops out of the running, you have to pick the #2 man (or woman!), right? Not that I am being conceited or anything, just trying to make a point. Now...

Let's say that #2 is a great surgeon, only slightly less skilled, or less easy to get along with, or whatever, than I was. Now, perhaps the difference between our job performance alone, not including any kind of interactions with co-workers, etc., boils down to the fact that #2 loses 10 patients a year that I might have been able to save with my (supposedly) slightly better insight or communication skills or desire to go the extra mile or whatever. 10 patients a year. Now this isn't a heck of a lot, when you consider that some doctors might see hundreds of deaths per year. Still following? I know this is long, and I'm sorry, but I warned you. :)

Now, if we assume that each of those patients lives an average of 5 additional years before their death, we can factor in the proposed length of my career - let's just say 30 years before I retire. So:

(10 patients per year) x (5 years per patient) x (30 years in my career) = 1,500 years

That's 1,500 years of extra time people got to spend with their families. Time to go on vacations. Time to see sons and daughters married, and time to see grandkids being born. Time to serve their own respective communities. Time to smell the roses and enjoy life. 1 1/2 millenia of extra quality time could be the difference between me fulfilling the responsibilities bestowed upon me, and the next guy down the ladder. Even if you say the avg patient only lives one extra year, its still an amazing 150 years years of extra time! And that could all be gone just because I didn't want to give up 6 or 8 years of my life to learn to practice medicine? That would be incredibly selfish of me, wouldn't it? You see, I truly believe that since God saw fit to implant in me the talents and desires for medicine, I am responsible for utilizing those gifts not just for my own benefit, but to truly help as much as possible to ease the suffering of my fellow humans. We are only here for a fleeting moment in the grand scheme of things, and our true legacy that remains after we pass is not the size of our estate, but the size of our heart.

I am not perfect, as many of you can attest. I have shortcomings, a short temper, failures, etc. We're all human, but what sets some apart is the fact that they are willing to work on those problems instead of work around them. I would like to think I have set myself apart by going the extra mile to 'be the best I can be,' to quote a cliche. Granted, I'm still pretty lazy when it comes to studying and such, but I'll do what I need to do when it comes to getting where I want to be. It will happen. I know it. I'm living it. I'm proof. If you want it, go for it. Do it. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it. It just depends on how hard you are willing to work for it.

[emerson24]

Are you sure we can't ban him for JUST one day?
And Emerson24, I'm kind of disappointed not having to take 2 hours out of my day just to read your personal statement(unless of course, that was just a really short excerpt).

Heh, nah that wasn't my personal statement, I had done this for some other reason, but it looks like tRmedic went to the same school I did :lol: I'm not alone :lol: Actaully, you're lucky it was a 500 word maximum :D

Dr. Longpost :wink:

[anencephalic]

All this talk about anencephaly and I wasn't involved? :cry: rrod, I suppose at three months you should be able to tell whether or not a fetus is ancencephalic, since it's a neural tube defect that occurs relatively early on in pregnancy and is not uncommon (1 per 1000 pregnancies if I recall correctly). Some macerated fetuses may appear to have a "caved-in" cranial vault due to the mobility of the skull bones and prominent fontanelle. FLK is right in saying that most intrauterine pregnancies that are non-viable are either spontaneously aborted, reabsorbed, or stillborn. There is a condition called "Fetus Papyraceous" where a non-viable fetus is not completely resorbed with subsequent mummification/calcification, although I beleive this happens mostly in twin pregnancies. :D

Aloha,

[anencephalic]

Very simply put (and in no particular order :D ):


Career/Financial stability
Lifetime of learning
Ability to use critical thinking & skills to solve problems directly
Gratification/Job satisfaction


And *****, I admit that I skipped your dissertation :lol: but I promise to read it when I have some free time in SXM lounging at Orient Beach with my wireless internet and laptop taking in the scenery :twisted: before classes start up in September!

Aloha,