Would you advise your son or daughter to go medical school?
I answer the perennial question
In a world where doctors are increasingly treated like cogs in a machine, the question arises: Would you recommend your son or daughter pursue the field? Recently, I saw this poll:
I said ‘unsure’, but that is just a fragment of what I think. Here is my answer (leave yours in the comments).
My answer is: it depends on who is asking.
I would strongly encourage you to pursue medicine if…
Your primary goal in a career is using your talents to improve the well being of others. If you care about maximizing career income, go elsewhere. If you care about fame, this isn’t the job for you. If you want to spend a life globetrotting, medicine is no good. If you want to be remembered or memorialized, think of something else.
You can wake up early every morning and get your ass to work. If you like to sleep till noon; If you want to work via zoom; if you like morning yoga class, a 2 hour coffee shop chat, and then rolling in at noon— think of something else. If you can’t show up on time, then don’t show up to the MCAT.
You are curious. If you want to understand something, and you won’t settle for proximate explanations, flow charts or algorithms, medicine is great. If you want to do things because “that’s what we do”, there are better jobs for you.
You are a good communicator. If you can explain things simply and clearly, medicine is perfect. If you are tangential or muddled when you speak, medicine will be difficult.
Don’t do medicine if…
You want to make a health care app. You want to create a startup. You want to go into venture capital. You want to be a hospital CEO. You want to write novels. You want to win a Nobel prize (even if you want the medicine one). You obsess about politics.
Don’t do medicine if you don’t do well when things don’t go according to plan. Medicine is nothing more than the best laid plans going astray. If you can’t handle that— it isn’t a great field.
You are insecure about your intelligence. If you need others to validate your self worth, this is not a great field for you. You will go years without any external validation.
If, without having studied the issue, you know whether race should be included in GFR calculations, mammography should be recommended, boosters should be given to kids, then don’t go into medicine. If you are the kind of person who believes things because your social circle tells you— and don’t independently investigate them— this is a bad field for you. Ask yourself as you read this. Do you have a belief about these topics. Can you tell me why you hold that belief.
If you can’t stay up all night (sometimes(). If you can’t stay at work late (occasionally). If you can’t skip meals (often). If you can’t stand around on an interminable rounds (always). If you can’t experience discomfort. If discomfort is anathema, then medicine is not for you.
If you are too emotional. If you cry too easily or cheer too quickly. Yes, of course, you will cry and you will cheer, but you have to be in control of your feelings. You have to pivot in a moment. Medicine demands equanimity.
Should you do medicine?
Like many things in life, it depends. There are many young people whom I encourage wholeheartedly to pursue medicine, and many others for whom I would discourage it. It depends on the person. No job is ‘good’ for everyone and that’s ok.
So, yes, pursue medicine, if you want to be a part of a tradition that is more than you, which has existed and will exist for millennia; if you want to take those 35 brief years we are given in our careers, and wish to apply them to work steadfastly for someone other than yourself. If you can tolerate discomfort, and know that sacrifice is often or perhaps always needed, if you are doing something that matters. If you know that the words: duty and honor and pride and pity and courage are more important and eternal than the words wellness and lifestyle and mental health and identity and comfort, then do medicine. But if not, then I wouldn’t advise it, and there is no shame in taking your talents elsewhere.
If you believe in Sensible Medicine become a subscriber and tell me what you think in the comments.
No argument here with any of your points, but I believe the financial cost of a medical education should be considered along with the emotional and sleep deprivation cost. Starting out with that much debt and fewer earning years to service it are factors for everyone but the independently wealthy. Unfortunately, most lay people are still living with the delusion that "all doctors are rich," and I think we are obligated to tell them that medicine is no longer a respected and financially secure profession, but rather just another middle class job accompanied by a much higher entry cost and a lot more legal liability.
My husband and I are both physicians and we have 3 college-age children. I did not discourage our kids whenever they might have expressed interest in considering the medical profession. I did not really encourage it much either - I figured they'd choose something that interested them.
None of the three have decided to go into medicine. I think that one of the main issues was their birds-eye view of lifetime careers in medicine. The unrelenting long hours, late nights in getting done with work, working on charts from home - it just didn't appeal to them. Our son, in particular, has said he does not want to work as hard well into his 60s. All 3 of our kids are hard workers. They are each putting in the time needed for difficult majors in college (CS, engineering, graphic design). I expect them to put in long hours during the early parts of their careers. It just seemed to them that having some option for things to ease up a bit when they hit their 50s would be something to shoot for.
I've enjoyed everyday of my life at work - I love the constant thinking and problem-solving that medicine entails; talking to people/patients; helping people. But - it has taken much of my life-blood in time and energy. Not for everyone for sure.