Friend: "So I hear at Cornell Medical School med students aren't allowed to really do anything with patients."
Me: " Really? why?"
Friend: " Well, the patient population where Cornell Med is located is largely white, anglo saxon..."
Me: " you mean waspy?"
Friend:" Yeah, that which translates to: can sue your ass off if anything goes wrong because they are rich and powerful."
Me: " Well here we get to do a lot with patients..."
Friend:" Yeah, the population we serve is poor, and they don't usually sue."
Me: " That sucks---for them. But then I guess we are luckier because of it..."
-BM
Friday, August 26, 2005
Too poor to play...
Medical training costs money--a lot of money. Forget tuition for just a second (approx 40 thousand USD/year), and lets focus on my expenses after one week of entering school:
Books: approx 500 USD
Medical equipment: approx 800 USD
Office supplies: approx 200 USD
(not to mention living costs such as rent (in Boston no less!), food, and other incidentals...)
Things like stethoscope, diagnostic sets, penlights, among others, all are expensive. I understand that we are buying equipment "to lasts a lifetime" but that doesn't take away from the fact that one will inevitably lose, misplace, or have equipment stolen throughout a career (the professors have stated these facts plainly during orientation). When you lose a 200 dollars stethoscope, it will invariably hurt.
Luckily, the loan officers at Sally Mae have helped put a positive spin on the whole situation, positive outlooks such as viewing your debt as a 'money portfolio,' not too dissimilar to my investment banker friends' portfolios that are *actually* filled with cash. Well doesn't that sound nice. I can tend to my debt the way my friends tend to their annual earnings and 401k's. The only real difference, of course, is that they are actually accruing money, while I am spending money that doesn't belong to me and have to be paid back.
With debts like these, it really is hard to expect anybody to go through with so many years of living in destitution deprived of sleep. There is a reason why doctors are paid so high relative to other professions in the US. Quite simply, without such salaries, I can't pay off my loans! At the risk of medical training being reserved exclusively for those who could afford to pay out-of-pocket (but really, if you are that wealthy, why go to med school? why not just donate to charity and save thousands of African children or something?), loans have to be a fact of life here. Given also that medical students are in school for 4 years after completing 4 years of undergraduate work, and must do at least 2-3 years of residency practice ( I'm looking at specialities with an average of 4-5 years of residency training), the high salaries at the end of the long tunnel seem appropriate. Put another way, by the time I am able to practice with a normal doctor's salary and begin to pay off my debt, my friends would have already secured their retirement portfolios (or is damn close to doing so).
If one were to use the economic comparison between money and time, then the high salary for doctors could be said to be the compensation for the loss personal time it took to receive the necessary training. The equation could look like this:
(loss of prime years of youth + sleep deprivation + debt) = (eventually high salary + satisfaction in helping people + job stability+ relative high social status)
From my point of view, if you just want to help people, there are plenty of other professions out there that could use the dedication (like teaching...). 'Satisfaction from work' alone does not always pay the bills, feed the cat, or send kids to school. Medicine is a business, and compensation rates have to be where they are to continue to attract enough people to go through with sacrifices early on. After all, the common saying "medicine tends to eat its young" isn't exactly a welcoming introduction to this career path.
Books: approx 500 USD
Medical equipment: approx 800 USD
Office supplies: approx 200 USD
(not to mention living costs such as rent (in Boston no less!), food, and other incidentals...)
Things like stethoscope, diagnostic sets, penlights, among others, all are expensive. I understand that we are buying equipment "to lasts a lifetime" but that doesn't take away from the fact that one will inevitably lose, misplace, or have equipment stolen throughout a career (the professors have stated these facts plainly during orientation). When you lose a 200 dollars stethoscope, it will invariably hurt.
Luckily, the loan officers at Sally Mae have helped put a positive spin on the whole situation, positive outlooks such as viewing your debt as a 'money portfolio,' not too dissimilar to my investment banker friends' portfolios that are *actually* filled with cash. Well doesn't that sound nice. I can tend to my debt the way my friends tend to their annual earnings and 401k's. The only real difference, of course, is that they are actually accruing money, while I am spending money that doesn't belong to me and have to be paid back.
With debts like these, it really is hard to expect anybody to go through with so many years of living in destitution deprived of sleep. There is a reason why doctors are paid so high relative to other professions in the US. Quite simply, without such salaries, I can't pay off my loans! At the risk of medical training being reserved exclusively for those who could afford to pay out-of-pocket (but really, if you are that wealthy, why go to med school? why not just donate to charity and save thousands of African children or something?), loans have to be a fact of life here. Given also that medical students are in school for 4 years after completing 4 years of undergraduate work, and must do at least 2-3 years of residency practice ( I'm looking at specialities with an average of 4-5 years of residency training), the high salaries at the end of the long tunnel seem appropriate. Put another way, by the time I am able to practice with a normal doctor's salary and begin to pay off my debt, my friends would have already secured their retirement portfolios (or is damn close to doing so).
If one were to use the economic comparison between money and time, then the high salary for doctors could be said to be the compensation for the loss personal time it took to receive the necessary training. The equation could look like this:
(loss of prime years of youth + sleep deprivation + debt) = (eventually high salary + satisfaction in helping people + job stability+ relative high social status)
From my point of view, if you just want to help people, there are plenty of other professions out there that could use the dedication (like teaching...). 'Satisfaction from work' alone does not always pay the bills, feed the cat, or send kids to school. Medicine is a business, and compensation rates have to be where they are to continue to attract enough people to go through with sacrifices early on. After all, the common saying "medicine tends to eat its young" isn't exactly a welcoming introduction to this career path.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Welcome to Orientation...
So here I am, 21, fresh out of college, fresh into medical school. My kind of path seems, however, not typical here. The average age of incoming students is around 24 at this school. My classmates bring with them not only a love for organic chemistry, but long term relationships, fiancees--even husbands and wives. Dinner conversations drift naturally for everyone into where best to raise a family and what kind of practice would leave the most time for weekends trips with the kids. Of course, there are still others like me, young and bushy-tailed, and perhaps more prevalent would be the eager mid-twenties-career-switch students with one foot in collegic nostalgia-land and one foot already wearied by their stint in the corporate world. But in this infectious environment, it's hard not to get realistic about our futures. I'm feeling 5 years older already.
The first days of medical school here are all fun and games (as much fun as can be had with powerpoint slides and lectures on exposure to Hepatitis B and HIV that is). We try to bond as a class over 3 legged races, red rover games, and waterballoon toss, and so far the attempts seem to be working. Remarkable, though, is when it came time for each of us to try out our white coats, those lily colored cotton lab jackets that drapes over us like clean asceptic gloves (we're told ironically that this is clothing doctors wear to protect ourselves from the germs of the environment around us). By simply trying them on, I think everyone saw the glimmer of possiblity that, until now, seemed so far away: the chance to become real doctors. We are told we will need those coats very soon for our patient interviewing class. I am scared shitless, but I can't wait to start. Patient interview...as in me, 21 yrs old, fresh out of college, talking to patients within weeks of starting medical school.
Med school is no longer an idea. I'm really here.
The first days of medical school here are all fun and games (as much fun as can be had with powerpoint slides and lectures on exposure to Hepatitis B and HIV that is). We try to bond as a class over 3 legged races, red rover games, and waterballoon toss, and so far the attempts seem to be working. Remarkable, though, is when it came time for each of us to try out our white coats, those lily colored cotton lab jackets that drapes over us like clean asceptic gloves (we're told ironically that this is clothing doctors wear to protect ourselves from the germs of the environment around us). By simply trying them on, I think everyone saw the glimmer of possiblity that, until now, seemed so far away: the chance to become real doctors. We are told we will need those coats very soon for our patient interviewing class. I am scared shitless, but I can't wait to start. Patient interview...as in me, 21 yrs old, fresh out of college, talking to patients within weeks of starting medical school.
Med school is no longer an idea. I'm really here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)