I was talking with my husband the other night about medical specialties. I pointed out that I'd observed that there were basically 2 kinds of specialties:
- Specialties where everyone bragged about how little sleep they needed, how they HAD to skip meals in order to get all their work done, and how hard they worked in general.
- Specialties where everyone admitted that they needed a lot of sleep even though they didn't always get it, that they liked eating, and they had interests outside of medicine.
I'll leave it to you to figure out what specialties fall into each category.
It's also worth pointing out that doctors in both types of specialties DO work hard, it's just the attitude that goes along with it: are you a martyr? or are you a realist?
My husband told me that I should apply to the latter specialty group.
Haha.
We'll see.
9 Pearls of Wisdom:
SleepisnothingI'veonlygotten1minuteofsleepsincemedicalschool.ThankheavensforDietCokeandtheselittlewhiteenergypillsthenicemanonthestreetcornersellsme
So not much changes post-college, huh? I remember even in high school, there'd be students bragging about their all nighters and forgetting lunch *cue dramatics and Incredible Stress*, a trend which continued in college too. Sorry folks, but if I get less than my normal sleep time, it's purely by my choice.
Were people still like that in med school? I was kind of hoping they'd grow out of it by that point :)
DV -- Alas no. These are pre-meds we're talking about! Sadly, things never change for a lot of them. I think some do grow out of it eventually though. I can't opine as to what people in other professions experience. I just can't remember.
It seems to be a badge of honour in medicine to abandon all forms of personal care. My brother (an attending who never eats before supper) makes fun of me for eating breakfast AND lunch. Sadly, I chose a profession that seems to be in your former category, so I'll just have to get used to being mocked (and disrespected) for wasting time on non-essentials like sleep and urinating.
Dr. Grumpy - you are awesome. Thanks for the laughs.
SD -- You mean you have to pee sometimes? Wow. Do you really think you have what it takes to be a doctor?
(don't laugh, I actually had someone say that to me about sleeping.)
I think it is more about personalities rather than specialties.
Some people just bring gloom when they enter a room.
And can I quote this on my blog?
old MD Girl, regarding your response on Mothers in Medicine. Yeah, Dentists are "really over sensitive" about not being included in the "medical community". Let me start by saying that I love your blog and read it regularly. I also spent much time in research (sensory) and know that my response was "hugely defensive..." We dentists tend to do that when hit with the comic tag line (as do PhD's) " is there a REAL
doctor in the house". I'm just feeling for derm person and everyone else in my position. I do plan to enjoy my holiday weekend (at my boat with my kids and no, I didn't earn it in dentistry working 3 days a week, I work in academia and do 4/10) and hope that you and your SigOt and your dog enjoy the weekend also also.
Did I miss something where someone made a disparaging comment about dentists? I am truly flummoxed. Anyhow, I hear about the disrespect given to veterinarians from MDs all the time from my vet friends, and I'm assuming it's no different for dentists. I'm truly sorry on behalf of my MD compatriots. We sometimes joke that we all made a big mistake in going to med school rather than dental school because of the lifestyle issues that you allude to. But in reality most med students I know are to hypercompetitive to ever have considered another path.
Do you do pain research? I know a dentist who does work in my dept on trigeminal neuralgia. It's pretty interesting stuff.
Have a great time on your boat this weekend!
Ah, I should add that it's probably the hypercompetitiveness that causes the disparaging comments. That and we feel we should be able to talk medicine with dentists, but don't know how since we have no idea what one learns in dental school. I'm assuming it's the same as in med school, but have no idea how and whether dentists talk shop like drs do.
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