doctors; was med school difficult?

[vash]

no, not looking for a career change. long time ago, i considered going to med school. i got through college and managed a civil eng degree. no biggie.

my wife needs a few prereqs before applying to nursing school. i helped her study for an anatomy exam all weekend. holy memory hell!!! all the little bits that make up our bodies have difficult names. i was bogged down in the details! med school must have been a beotch! was it?

i have a powerful short term memory, but long term...not anything to brag about.

[Moses]

It's a ton of work, that's for sure. But it's NOTHING compared to residency.

I worked 36 hours on/12 hours off for two straight years. Show up for work 7 AM Monday, work straight through till Tuesday night at 7 PM. Go back Wednesday and repeat the cycle. No weekends off. You NEVER sleep while on call. Too much work to do. You sleep every other night. No time to eat. You steal food from patient trays.

I've heard they now limit work to 80 hours per week. That would be a huge improvement. We averaged 110 hours per week.

I could do medical school again if I had to, but I doubt I have the physical stamina or mental resolve to do residency again.

[pwd72s]

I read somewhere that going 24 hours without sleep was like being drunk when it came to decision making... Not good. Never could understand the long hours of residency requirements.

[asphaltgambler]

My guess in laymans terms is equivilant to an extended boot camp. It's a test to who can handle the pressure - preparing you for the road ahead

[Moses]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

My guess in laymans terms is equivilant to an extended boot camp. It's a test to who can handle the pressure - preparing you for the road ahead

Nah. It's all about money. I made about $40,000/year and worked 110 hours/week. I remember operating through the night nonstop many times. Big money for the hospital.

[nostatic]

Residency is one of the most idiotic systems ever devised. It has evolved into essentially bragging rights for most hours and profit margins rather than useful training. Kinda like partnership-track lawyers with billable hours.

My grad school advisor took sabbatical one year and did two years of med school curriculum "just for fun." If you can memorize, it is pretty easy. The issue is that solving problems has little to do with memorization, and hence why you have some pretty poor clinicians out there. I did a little clinical coursework during my postdoc for grins and found the process of diagnoses to be incredibly interesting. I'd actually consider doing med school at 48, but as Moses said, no way I'd go through residency...just like having another baby, I'm too old for that crap.

[Moses]

Originally Posted by nostatic

Residency is one of the most idiotic systems ever devised. It has evolved into essentially bragging rights for most hours and profit margins rather than useful training. Kinda like partnership-track lawyers with billable hours.

My grad school advisor took sabbatical one year and did two years of med school curriculum "just for fun." If you can memorize, it is pretty easy.

Exactly.

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by nostatic

Residency is one of the most idiotic systems ever devised. It has evolved into essentially bragging rights for most hours and profit margins rather than useful training. Kinda like partnership-track lawyers with billable hours.

My grad school advisor took sabbatical one year and did two years of med school curriculum "just for fun." If you can memorize, it is pretty easy. The issue is that solving problems has little to do with memorization, and hence why you have some pretty poor clinicians out there. I did a little clinical coursework during my postdoc for grins and found the process of diagnoses to be incredibly interesting. I'd actually consider doing med school at 48, but as Moses said, no way I'd go through residency...just like having another baby, I'm too old for that crap.

except for most lawyers in those types of firms...it could take 10 years...or maybe never, to be made a partner. and i would would rather be walking around a hospital getting exercise and helping save lives than sitting at a desk pushing paper until your heart explodes from anxiety and boredom

[Don Plumley]

Do you know what they call the guy that graduates last in his medical school class?

Doctor.


One of my fraternity brothers that I wouldn't trust to operate a beer keg successfully is now a physician. I'm sure he is a fine doc, but I wouldn't want him to rotate the tires on my car.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

I read somewhere that going 24 hours without sleep was like being drunk when it came to decision making... Not good. Never could understand the long hours of residency requirements.

crusty old guys made younger guys (and later, gals) go thru it 'cuz they had to to..., to build character, yada yada

and, yes, who knows how many medical errors were made b/c of it (and not caught)

[RWebb]

"solving problems has little to do with memorization"

I'll differ slightly on this -- you need to have a solid base of what in order to figure out why

med schools have tried for many decades to get more people in who were NOT biology majors - but again & again they kept coming back to our majors -- the reason was that no other major had near the background in anatomy & physiology to endure the "forced funnel" of med. school

[Moses]

Originally Posted by RWebb

"solving problems has little to do with memorization"

I'll differ slightly on this -- you need to have a solid base of what in order to figure out why

med schools have tried for many decades to get more people in who were NOT biology majors - but again & again they kept coming back to our majors -- the reason was that no other major had near the background in anatomy & physiology to endure the "forced funnel" of med. school

Honestly med school should probably be a six year BS/MD program.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Moses

Nah. It's all about money. I made about $40,000/year and worked 110 hours/week. I remember operating through the night nonstop many times. Big money for the hospital.

This, salaried, high skill employee, they run you until you drop, then poke you with a stick to go some more.

Originally Posted by RWebb

"solving problems has little to do with memorization"

I'll differ slightly on this -- you need to have a solid base of what in order to figure out why

"the eye can only see what the mind knows", somebody smart said this, can't remember who

[Dueller]

Originally Posted by Tobra

"the eye can only see what the mind knows", somebody smart said this, can't remember who

Goethe.

[J1NX3D]

sounds painful lol

[dd74]

Originally Posted by Moses

I've heard they now limit work to 80 hours per week. That would be a huge improvement. We averaged 110 hours per week.

Isn't this illegal? A situation, perhaps, the labor board might be interested in? I mean, that's crazy for someone in the healing profession where lives are at stake.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by Moses

It's a ton of work, that's for sure. But it's NOTHING compared to residency.

I worked 36 hours on/12 hours off for two straight years. Show up for work 7 AM Monday, work straight through till Tuesday night at 7 PM. Go back Wednesday and repeat the cycle. No weekends off. You NEVER sleep while on call. Too much work to do. You sleep every other night. No time to eat. You steal food from patient trays.

I've heard they now limit work to 80 hours per week. That would be a huge improvement. We averaged 110 hours per week.

No wonder doctors never make mistakes that get people hurt.

[peppy]

Originally Posted by RWebb

who knows how many medical errors were made b/c of it (and not caught)

or buried.

[Nathans_Dad]

There is no one topic in med school that I would consider "difficult". Everything makes sense with a little study.

The thing about med school is the sheer volume of information you have to absorb. I used to say it was like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. You study like hell and you make it through. Sadly, most of the basic stuff you forget 90% of. I can remember basic anatomy but if you ask me to tell you a specific name of a muscle in the forearm...forget it! You lose what you don't use, just like anything else.

[Nathans_Dad]

On the residency thing...

I was in one of the last residency classes prior to work hour restrictions. In fact, I was chief resident the year they went into effect. What a mess.

I am old school. I think the work hours had a purpose. The residents that are coming out now don't know how to work. They don't know how to triage their day to get everything done. When I was a resident and you had 20 ICU patients to pre-round on in 4 hours you better damn well figure out what is important and what isn't. You had to learn to manage your time and effort or you would never get done.

I don't think 36 hours in a row is a good thing, but no more than 12 in a row? Gimme a break.