Today I was interning in the ER and one of the physicians asked me what my major was and what I wanted to do after graduation. I told him that I wanted to go to medical school and right away he gave me the sign to stop in my tracks. Like many others he told me to be a dentist. What the hell?!?
I know there aren't many of you reading this, but would someone please tell me that you enjoy your job! (Non-medical personnel need not apply) I need a little reassurance. Granted I don't think I'm anything like these people, but how could so many people be wrong? (All 3 of them...) The only thing these people ever mention is how the job isn't worth the money, but I'm not even worried about the money. Well, I guess that's a naive lie. But I'm perfectly happy making the average physician salary of $150K a year. And I think I know what I'm getting myself into after hearing all these horror stories. It's also not like I plan on going into a crazy soul sucking specialty like one of the surgeries. I just want to be your typical hospitalist at a non-academic hospital and see a good variety of pathology.
So com'on. Who likes their job? Who is happy that they went into medicine?
I'm totally not going to get any responses...
3 comments:
Well, I am happy that I chose medicine. And I certainly did not go into it for the money. It was my fascination with everything related to human anatomy/physiology that first drew me in. I loved it then and I love it now and it makes going to work every day a pleasure.
Perhaps the question that you need to ask yourself is: what if, after all of the studying and debt, physicians were only paid $30,000 per year? Would you still do it? If the answer is a "yes!" then you have picked the right field.
I'm not an actual doctor yet, but I've spoken to numerous docs who LOVE their careers. Obgyns seem to have pretty high job satisfaction from what I've seen, family doc/ER types too, and I've seen a couple of down right giddy surgeons. Of course, the ophthalmologists did seem to really like the money and all those full nights of sleep....
Yay! People responded!
Would I do it for $30,000 a year if debt wasn't taken into consideration... Isn't 30,000 below the national avg? The poverty amount is something like $20,000, right?
I digress.
If I were earning an average salary, yes I think I can say I would still do it. That's not to say I wouldn't somehow try to make some extra on the side. But if I were in it for the money then I wouldn't be targeting General-IM, I think...
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