<p>I have read over and over again similar to Appendix-A. Why is the path to become “Family Physician” so so harder, costlier and looonger.</p>
<p>When I go to my family physician, I wait for 15 mins, then Doctor comes very relaxed. He asks few questions. Prescribes medicine. Hardly 15 mins of overall contact between patient and Doctor. At least this is what I(and all of my family and friends) experienced over last few decades. I am not complaining about family physicians. What I meant is, To become that kind of family physician, why is that a MD student has to go thru so so much trouble. I am not talking about specialty here. Just questioning the troubles, a MD student has to go thru to become a family physician. MD students are also humans and they also have family and life. </p>
<p>Appendix-A:
- MD is for those who are kind and want to serve poor and sick.
- Admitting to MD school is like winning a lottery.
- Studying MD cost a ton (even with public schools)
- Studying MD take too too long (at least 11 years)
- During MD/UG: Hard work is absolute must, not avoidable. Sometime you will need to study 10+ hours every day, day after day for many weeks straight. Cleaning your room will be a luxurious break that you will not be able to afford, forget gym, going out…During rotations you may not have few minutes to have a byte, you will learn to be hungry most of the time, but the hardest would be to go without a drink, while your feet will hurt badly, but you will learn to ignore it
- MD does not pay well enough to payoff your debts sooner!!!</p>
<p>Studying is 6 to 8 years. Residency is a paid position. If residency is studying, then every career is a life long studying as you have to learn all over at every place of your employment, you also have to keep up with technology even if you are not switching employment. 6 years - accelerated combined bs/md, 8 years - 4 in UG, 4 in Medical school. It is not always costly either. One may go to UG on full tuition Merit or other schoolarship, then either attend a free Medical school (there are free schools, also it may be free because your parent is working for school) or attend it on full or almost full tuition award. One cannot rely on lottery to get accepted, applicant needs to work hard, achieve certain stats and apply to the set of schools that matches these stats. Studying 10+ - we are talking about Medical school part, not UG. 10 - 14 hours is normal while preparing for exams. It is not every day schedule. Many MDs are not kind at all by any measure, but pretty intense and mean and they have to be this way for certain specialties. MD pays enough and you do have job security and not everybody has loans if they used their brains while choosing UG/Medical schools combination.</p>
<p>I completely disagree with the OP’s statement about cleaning your room, going to the gym, going out etc. If a student doesn’t have time for anything but studying, they are most likely doing something wrong. My daughter (just finished 2nd year of medschool) works out usually 5 days a week, has an immaculate apartment and a very active social life. As a parent, I would be very concerned if all my kid did was study…the stress would lead to eventual burnout.</p>
<p>Wow. I really think you’re over-exaggerating here. About just about every item on your list. Dial it back, mom.</p>
<p>Pre med and med school isn’t a cakewalk, but neither is it an impossible path. </p>
<p>All I can say if someone needs to study 10+ hours/day everyday–they’re doing something really wrong. I think the only time D1 (just started her 4th year) had a study schedule like that was when she was prepping for her USMLE Step 1. </p>
<p>Med students have time for recreational activities, for regular exercise, for relationships, for pets, for hobbies, for cleaning their room. (Although D1 would put that last item at the absolute bottom of her to-do list. She’d rather go rock climbing or snow boarding or take her dog out for run along the river.) Even during clinical rotations, students have time to eat and get a drink of water. (Unless, of course they’re in the surgical theater, but even there they can get a drink of water. They just can’t leave to use the bathroom….) I can assure no med student on clinical rotation walks around all day starving and dehydrated. Yes, they get tired feet from standing, but a ton of jobs require plenty of standing/walking. (And that’s why clogs and compression socks were invented!)</p>
<p>Med school admission isn’t a lottery, although it may feel like at times. Adcomms are looking for specific qualities in applicants–and that means more than just having a good GPA and MCAT. Adcomms are looking for a wide variety of competencies. (See this AAMC document for a complete list: <a href=“https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/admissionsinitiative/competencies/”>https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/admissionsinitiative/competencies/</a>)</p>
<p>I am very happy that you guys are proving me wrong. In fact I would have been sad, if you were to agree with my points. I do not want my S to go thru these troubles in case if he is fortunate enough to get into MD in future. Thank you all.</p>
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<p>My S has almost completed his first year of residency. Although there many times during his 4 years of both college/med school that he had to lock himself in a room to study, he also had many, many opportunities in both college/med school to go out with friends/girlfriends, whatever. I think there’s a huge misconception about what happens in med school especially as to social lives as being severely limited because they’re studying all the time. In my opinion if a med student is studying “10+ hours every day, day after day for many weeks straight” the student is doing something wrong. Even in the dedicated prep time for Step 1, S didn’t study to this degree and he scored very well.</p>
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<p>As to med school/residency education: I’m a big believer of the theory that when a student graduates from med school he/she knows a lot of stuff, but he/she doesn’t know anything. In my opinion med school graduates really need the on the job residency training to gain some degree of competency in a particular specialty. </p>
<p>The big issue with going into family practice is that, while the pay level after completing residency is high by normal standards, it may not be high enough (after taxes and malpractice insurance) to pay off typical medical school debt in a reasonable amount of time.</p>
<p><a href=“Latest Medical News, Clinical Trials, Guidelines - Today on Medscape”>Latest Medical News, Clinical Trials, Guidelines - Today on Medscape;
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Cleaning your room will be a luxurious break that you will not be able to afford, forget gym, going out…
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<p>My son’s room probably isnt that clean but that’s not due to med school…lol.</p>
<p>He does go to the univ’s gym often and is in basketball intramurals. </p>
<p>“During MD/UG: Hard work is absolute must, not avoidable. Sometime you will need to study 10+ hours every day, day after day for many weeks straight.”
-Must admit that if you want to have a specific score on Step 1, you need to study for 10+ every day for several weeks. Not everybody is aiming at a high score though. Also, many might have photographic memory. I can only tell from my D’s experience, that she studied for 14 hours every day for about 7.5 weeks with DESIGNATED DAYS OFF. Yes, she had couple - thrree days that she did not do anything, but spend time primarily socially. However, this was specifically preparation for Step 1. She would feel very insecure if she studied less than than. It also depend on a person. She did well, in line with her plan. In other circumstances, they do not have those 14 hours every day, anyway. Fro example, she is in in-patient for 3 weeks, about 13 hours or so every day, no days off. She still has to study, but she does not have 14 hours to study. She may or may not have any social time during this period. But she did, as it was a “break”, not real one, but between her first week of “nights” and the next week of “day” shift, she could spend some time socially. Yes, cleanning and doing dishes (no dishwasher) is a nice luxury which sometime just does not happen for awhile. But schedule varies a lot. Out-patient is definitely almost a “break”, kind of normal when she can spend time socially almost every day. And research is a break, no doubt about it, no exam at the end of this block. So, there are ups and downs in terms of time availability.</p>
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<p>My daughter has no problem working hard but said from day one that there were certain things she was not going to give up during medical school - physical activity and some sort of social life were at the top of the list. Certainly there were times when she modified her schedule but even when studying for boards she allowed herself a Saturday night dinner with friends each week and she fit in a run each day. I get the impression that during residency it is harder to plan anything but heck, my niece started dating someone, fell in love and got engaged during her residency so there must be some down time in the schedule. ;-)</p>
<p>^Even after spending some 13 - 15 hours in a hospital at night and knowing that you need to be there next night for the same number of hours? Then when she study for her shelf exam. My D. cannot even afford calling home during some period. We exchange emails, I am thinking that she will read them when she has a chnce, might be on her bathroom break (if there is one?).
But again, the time availability is up and down. When D. has achance at some break, her first priority is social. It is different from person to person.
" she allowed herself a Saturday night dinner with friends " - this is again a luxury one can afford if not working night shift at the hospital from Saturday / Sunday and not needed to be there very early Sunday morning. Doing out-patient rotation and Research rotaion is definitely almost break / vacation time. However, doing in-patient is all different story. They may not have a weekend or other day off for awhile. The studying is always priority #2 after shift anyway and after you catch up with sleep. If you are talking about residency, medical students are on the same team as residents, they have the same schedule, but again, it is only for duration of specific rotation, while for residents it is for several years. </p>