Medical school??
For those in desperate need of a distraction,
Here's a little article i read BEFORE applyin into med school...
A practising and future doctor share their thoughts on the joys and tribulations of a doctor’s life*.
SO YOU’VE decided to choose medicine as your career.
What led you to decide to dedicate your life to humanity, working long hours, surviving on hospital cafeteria food and putting your own life at risk by attending to sick patients with highly contagious diseases? Are you ready for it?
But before we get to that issue, let’s explore how you’ll be able to cope with life as a medical student – the lowest in the hierarchy of the medical profession. It’s a five-year course riddled with more challenges than the Temple of Doom can cough up, and if this were the medieval ages, with barrels of oil for the lamps to literally burn the midnight oil. Still adamant about taking it up?
Congratulations, you’ve just earned yourself a one-way non-refundable ticket to eternal suffering. As most medical courses would undoubtedly cost an arm and a leg, the first step in deciding to take up medicine is the family coffers. Do mum and dad have the cash to sponsor you all the way? Are you receiving financial aid? If the answer is yes, then get set to dive headfirst into the unknown. Forget the old adage of looking before you leap. Because where you are headed, sight is subjective. The eye does not see what the mind does not know. As a medical student myself, I have had countless guilty feelings about costing my parents so much money. We did not have enough to meet the requirements of the course, so we approached banks for loans. I, of course, had to endure countless hours of lectures from my parents and siblings. They wanted to be sure that I knew what I was getting myself into and what I was getting them into! As my brother once put it: “Don’t forget, you’re not the only one who has dreams!” Which, translated roughly, means that I am digging in too deep into their pockets. One of my friend’s fathers who is a doctor took it upon himselfto discourage me from taking up medicine. He told me to be a hawker instead. That way, I will earn more, spend much less on tuition fees, lead a less stressful life and get to spend more time with my family. Financial problems aside, assuming you have cleared all that now comes the second but crucial part.
Results. No medical school of the modern era has ever admitted students on desire alone. It’s results that count. Some institutions require almost perfect results, others will settle for slightly less. As one institution boldly postedon their website “Students who do not possess near perfect results need not apply”. That alone signifies two things, that the institution is well known,thus admitting only the crème de la crème. It also implies that medicine is a profession which allows almost no room for error. But aren’t the doctors we see everyday just human like you and me? Take away their white coat, medical degree and the almighty stethoscope and they could pass for one of us. Aren’t humans supposed to be less than perfect? Oh, I’m drifting here. In psychiatric terms, that would be circumstantiality. English please? Well, it means digression into unnecessary details that distract from the central theme, whereby the central theme becomes the focus once again after the digression. That’s English? Ok, back to the point.
In order to gain entry into any medical college, most applicants have to go through a screening process. Now that the government has decided to implement the aptitude test for potential medical students, it should provide a solid platform in gauging the interest of students. However, like Moral Education, which most of us took and passed, we actually would have loved to keep the RM100 we found or ignore the rubbish lying on the ground instead of picking it up. Get the point? Ok, you’re now cleared for entry. Passed the financial barrier, passed the results barrier and of course passed the interviews and aptitude tests. What now?
Time to pack up and leave for med school. Bring your books, testimonials, certificates, medical apparatus and cash. Not forgetting your mobile phone, computer and trusty discman. But please I beg you, leave your ego behind. Think you’re too smart and you’ll be humbly proven wrong. As smart as you are, there are others who are smarter. One thing I’ve noticed in medical school is that intelligence doesn’t count, hard work and discipline does. If you have these two vital components ingrained into your character, medical school will be almost a breeze. If you are smart without the dynamic duo, you may find the going tough.When the going gets tough, only the tough get going. The tough here are those students who study day and night, not you there partying all night long. Oh no,I’m not against parties, I’ve been to my fair share. Just a piece of advice, party all you want, but don’t forget your priorities.There is a saying that once in medical school, your life ends. That, of course, is not true. Haven’t we all heard of the guy who parties all night and scores adistinction in his exams? Watched Patch Adams? Study, study, study. That’s what medical life is all about. Studying. To attempt to cram as much information as we possibly can into our brains and be able to recall them when needed – namely during exams, vivas and clinical rounds. For the uninitiated, vivas are like the oral exams we went through in school. But we can’t call it an oral exam inmedical school, can we? We have to establish a lingo to confuse the general public and us medical students. Everything has to be different from the general public, so that we as future doctors or even as medical students stand out. We don’t say a patient sprained his ankle, we say dislocation of the ankle joint. We don’t use the term skin doctor, we say dermatologist. That’s one more point in medical school –terms, terms and more terms. Terms aside, another useful aid in medical schoolis undoubtedly mnemonics. Mnemonics do play a key role in remembering the various facts on display in books heavy enough to suffocate when placed on our chests. You will need time to memorise the mnemonics itself as there are simply too many of them. The fancier the mnemonic, the more apt you are in remembering it. However, do not be happy yet. There have been many times during exams where I actually remembered the mnemonics but forgot what they stood for. Still think you’re cut out for the job? Think you have what it takes to endure five years of intense study and hard work and a lifetime of full time dedication to humanity?
Then I bid you welcome to med school.
