Medical practitioners have gotten everybody back since the beginning of age and are one of the oldest and most respected professions. This is the only profession that directly impacts human life, and the job satisfaction you get is truly unique from such a profession. However, the road to a successful career in the medical sector is tough and requires many sacrifices. This blog explains if Medicine is a good career or not.
Firstly, going to medical school is a lot to deal with. Let alone the price of attending medical school with prestigious colleges and universities, the labor that goes in to produce and polish yourself into a successful doctor is very tedious. Being able to perform decently in your midterms, daily assessments, or even your regular classes needs you to wake up early in the morning and keep the grind constantly going well into the night.
And this drill is not a one-time thing. This has to happen every day of the year for approximately a decade, dedicated to your undergraduate only. Your undergraduate degree lasts for a good 4 years, followed by tests and admissions to get into your doctoral specialization degree. After this, you will have to step into your apprenticeship, which lasts over a period ranging from 3 years to 7 years, depending on the specialization you choose, or even where your place of apprenticeship is.
But while all this effort seems horrifying, it is all still worth it- you are in charge of a job that God himself can not do. Moreover, this is an evergreen sector, with meager chances of complete automation of the industry. Even though today you see advanced technologies like robotic surveys or self-dispensing pharmacies, no robot has ever completely replaced a medical professional. Finally, even though automation and technological revolution has touched this humane sector, what a doctor does requires empathy and a human eye, so even if robots were to take over the world someday, your job is quite safe.
Now, let us go ahead and explore what kinds of doctors are preferred by young medical aspirants. Then we will go ahead and figure out what other options someone in the medical sector has other than being a doctor.
Radiation oncologists
So, the first specialization that we are going to look at is radiation oncologists. These medical professionals are part of the cancer support team and help with radiation therapy to fight cancer. They usually oversee the whole radiation treatment plan and plan the further route of the radiation therapy. They work around with conceptualization and development of the treatment and keep in mind various treatments ranging from chemotherapy to immunotherapy.
An averagely experience radiation oncologist can expect to make about $336,000 per annum along with perks and bonuses, which seems to be quite a deal. Radiation oncologists are expected to have a bachelor’s degree with certain requirements in mathematics, along with a doctor of medicine. To secure a spot in top medical colleges, excellent scores are required in the Medical College Admissions Test. In addition to this, the candidates must hold an oncology fellowship that arms them with patient-specific situations.
Orthopedic surgeons
Moving on, we have an orthopedic surgeon for the hip and knee. Orthopedic surgeons usually deal with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disorders and diseases related to the bone, joint, tendon, and ligaments, especially hip and knee. While this can be a general and much broader sector b being a general orthopedic surgeon, most professionals prefer to specialize. These bone doctors make an average of $495,000 per annum, with added perks and bonuses.
Another specialization of this branch of doctrine is the orthopedic surgeon of the spine, which essentially works with the same terms expect, particularly with the spinal area. They also make the same sum of money as any other branch of orthopedics, which slightly varies with the typical kind of cases they take on. Any orthopedic surgeon completes his basic undergraduate degree with a medical doctor, followed by an orthopedic fellowship or an apprenticeship. This makes the whole learning process last for a good 13 to 14 years.
Cardiovascular Surgeons
Next up, we have our cardiovascular surgeons- our heart doctors. Cardiovascular surgeons usually deal with procedures related to the heart and the arteries going in and out of the pumping body. Different kinds of procedures relating to the heart include heart valve repair and replacement, heart defect repair, coronary artery bypass, aneurysm repair, trans myocardial laser revascularization, heart transplantation, and much more.
These surgeries and procedures become matters of life and death and require skills that are the best of the best and peak concentration levels. A cardiovascular surgeon can expect to make about $482,769 per annum, excluding his bonus and benefits. Aspiring cardiac surgeons are required to complete four years of undergraduate college, followed by four years of medical school, then a tedious 5-year general surgery residency and specialized cardio or cardiothoracic fellowship, which lasts over a period ranging from 2 to 3 years.
Surgeons who want to advance further in pediatric cardiology or heart transplant surgeries may need to undergo additional training, which lasts from 3 to 5 years, based on the course they decide to take up.
Neuro Surgeons
Next up, we have the category of neurosurgeons. These are medical professionals who deal with cases related to the central and peripheral nervous systems. They deal with multiple anomalies of the after-effect and effects of trauma, tumors, vascular disorders, infections in the brain, spine, nerves, strokes, nervous breakdowns, and even deteriorating neve ends, which unfortunately often leads to paralysis.
An average neurosurgeon with ample experience can expect a pay scale of about $623,300 per annum. Like other branches, this sector is also branched into several other tiers, and one of the tiers which seem to be picking up popularity rapidly is the pediatric neurosurgeons. They essentially work on the same lines as a general neurosurgeon, except they work with the tender systems of children. The educational qualification for being a neurosurgeon is quite rigid and specific compared to other areas of medical services.
Firstly, you are expected to have completed your high school with physics, chemistry, and biology as your main subjects. While mathematics blends into the background with physics, it stands to be a good idea to have it, but it is really a matter of how much effort you are willing to put in. moving on a 4-year undergraduate degree with a major in health is required. This is to be followed by a doctor of medicine who lasts a good 4 years, which has to be topped with a super specialization in neurosurgery. So, the whole learning process lasts for about 14 years, but that effort really pays off.
If being a doctor is not something that interests you as a career, there are tons of other professions in the medical sector that are gaining rapid popularity. Some of those jobs would be:
- Pharmacist
- Physical therapist
- Nurse-midwives
- Physician’s assistant
- Optometrists
- Nurse practitioners
- Podiatrists
- Dentists
- Certified nurse anesthesiologist
- Physiatrist
While the effort that goes into each of these professions is equally sore and hard, these are really good options to diversify from the mainstream doctor options. Now that we know most of the famous choices for aspirants in the medical field let us examine the traits that one is expected to have to make it big as a doctor.
- Compassion: This a quality that really helps you connect with your patients. This is the ability to put yourself in your patient’s shoes and try and experience the tide of emotions they are being washed with. And when you can do so, you know exactly how to help them. Well, knowing this can be tricky because if you are not headstrong, you tend to start giving them pity advice, which most people loathe, and tend to start feeling sorry for themselves.
Your patients require you to give them practical advice and help them believe that they are well on their way to being healthy again- that is if they really are. As a doctor, you might need to the bearer of bad news at times, and the best way to do it is talking straightforward and to the point. Of course, you have to guide them with their further steps regarding medical procedures, but compassion helps them deal with the despair. - Understanding: As a doctor, you need to be able to understand and contemplate information with a clear mind. Firstly, you need to understand the complaint that your patient has come to you with. He might not be able to do so clearly, but with a little bit of patience, everybody gets there. You must keep in mind that nowadays, before consulting their doctors, people are turning to google for diagnosis.
Now the information on the internet can be tricky and not always true. But the patient might feel that what inputs he is bringing to the treatment plan is crucial. Hence it is your responsibility to understand this and guide him accordingly. Sometimes, there also arises a situation where the patient cannot afford the payment of the treatment right away. If you work with a hospital community, helping in this area might be a little out of your scope, but trying to understand budget constraints for people is important, and your assistance may help a struggling family. - Empathy : In layman’s terms, empathy literally converts to being able to share and understand the emotions of others. This can be a tricky thing to do. Now, of course, you are there to help your patients-mentally or physically, and trauma and despair are often part of the process. But it is important for you not to get sucked up into it. While you are trying to help your patients by showing them that emotions are inevitable by being vulnerable, you must always be able to guide them. It may be quite helpful to get unbiased stone-cold advice, or sometimes advising with warmth- let your empathy guide you.
- Honesty: This is essentially what has to go down with all the traits that we discussed so far. Modern science and technique can often lead to gray spaces, where nothing can be said on the concrete ground. In such situations, too, it is essential to keep the patient in the loop because ignorance towards any fact may lead to fallacies in the treatment. So as a doctor, you need to state facts as it is, and state the grey areas distinctly and not leave anything to interpretation. This kind of transparency may be hard, especially when you are dealing with a complicated case. Still, the same transparency makes it easier to deal with procedures and know exactly what’s going on in your patient’s mind.
- Competence : This might be what defines a good doctor. Competence is basically how you perceive yourself and your skills as a doctor. As a doctor, you are the ray of hope for your patients, but many times you also need to deliver really harsh news. You need to work as a team and maybe even lead the team to huge procedures or when essential decisions about the patient have to be made.
You are also required to hold a steady mind in situations of crisis. There might be chaos everywhere, and things might be going haywire, but you must think clearly and make the correct decision. The decision may be hard to make, but you have to have the courage to go the right path. Finally, your optimism is key. Your hope may give birth to hope in your patients, which is a big deal. So a competent doctor knows what he is doing, and that really accounts for the job.
All in all, if you have a passion for helping and improving the health of your society, pursuing medicine is just the right thing for you!
