The New MCAT

WayOutWestMom
Thu, 12 Jul 2012 12:07:26 +0000

Scienceguy you may know how chemistry pertains to diabetes, but your patients won’t give a flying fig and it’s them you’ll need to be treating.

You’ll need to understand why people persist in bad habits despite knowing that those very same habits are killing them. (And if you don’t think that happens, hang around outside a cancer treatment facitlity one day and watch people with tracheotomies puff away. It’s not just something you see on anti-smoking ads.)

Or why some groups resist all vaccinations. Or believe anything Jenny McCarthy says.

You need to understand the socio-cultural pressures and expectations of population groups in order to best treat your patients.

And if you want to do virology or pathology, you might be better served by doing a PhD. Your job descriptions will be virtually the same and there’ll no pesky expectations of actually dealing with human beings.