Is being a doctor still one of most coveted goals for a kid? (employment, require)
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OP, we always tell our children, you can be anything you want when you grow up, including a doctor. It isn’t true. Based on our personalities and likes and interests and attitudes, it will not happen.
I hope they find their career path that makes them and your wife happy.
I personally never wanted to be a doctor. That said, you need to think about "what kind of doctor"? Ob/gyn would be particularly unappealing staying up all night and then not being left alone to sleep during the day. GP is not particularly appealing to me either. Now, dermatologist, yeah, I could do that.
Most charismatic jobs look good on TV and movies. That's because it's entertainment, not a documentary. A realistic documentary about being a firefighter, cop, or pilot would be "hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror". The actual job of a doctor is not as interesting as Grey's Anatomy might make it look.
A career or profession should never be based on prestige or even interest [ for most people with few exceptions ]
It is purely a calculation of what will bring the best income for the least amount of time
"follow you passion" is really bad advice for the vast majority of people
I would say one should do what they're good at, interested in, matches their values, and provides the type of lifestyle he or she desires. Lifestyle can mean money, work life balance, perks, etc. Varies by individual.
I personally never wanted to be a doctor. That said, you need to think about "what kind of doctor"? Ob/gyn would be particularly unappealing staying up all night and then not being left alone to sleep during the day. GP is not particularly appealing to me either. Now, dermatologist, yeah, I could do that.
Most charismatic jobs look good on TV and movies. That's because it's entertainment, not a documentary. A realistic documentary about being a firefighter, cop, or pilot would be "hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror". The actual job of a doctor is not as interesting as Grey's Anatomy might make it look.
Dermatology is one the hardest specialties for med students to match into for that reason. Right on about TV. When I was in college, I had a quite a few classmates who wanted to be forensic scientist because of CSI.
To the OP question. Becoming a doctor is still popular but doesn't appear to be as coveted as it once was by the youth in the communities I'm around. Being a business owner or becoming an engineer seems to be the goal for the regular or typical occupations.
Retired RN here. Even before I became a nurse, I became aware of how much time some doctors spent in the hospital when I was hospitalized with my second delivery and heard my OB constantly paged day and night.
Working as a nurse I saw doctors in certain specialities put in incredible hours when on call. Having to call a physician to come in at 3 AM, I never considered the disruption to his home life as it was all about the patient.
I worked in an ICU so the docs worked under stressful and demanding conditions and I noticed that, when they reached their early 50s, they began to show a weariness and lack of enthusiasm.
Then there was the drama. Affairs with other staff members were fairly common. I saw a group practice split up over this among other reasons. It wasn't unusual for group practices to split up after years together which involved attorneys to handle each one's interests and more
drama.
Certain less demanding specialties weren't exempt from drama. A physician in my dermatologist's office lost her license due to drug use (was performing surgical procedures while obviously zoned out).
My podiatrist got in trouble over drugs but still in practice. An ENT arrested for drug use and I never figured this out but he was somehow on house arrest but could come into the hospital when on call.
So, what I'm saying is that there's the prestige, but not necessarily the money, depending on the specialty, and there is a toll to be paid regarding personal life and satisfaction.
Dermatology is one the hardest specialties for med students to match into for that reason. Right on about TV. When I was in college, I had a quite a few classmates who wanted to be forensic scientist because of CSI.
To the OP question. Becoming a doctor is still popular but doesn't appear to be as coveted as it once was by the youth in the communities I'm around. Being a business owner or becoming an engineer seems to be the goal for the regular or typical occupations.
The bolded is another reason to choose some other profession. Who wants to go through med school and then be slotted into a specialty you are not enthusiastic about!
The bolded is another reason to choose some other profession. Who wants to go through med school and then be slotted into a specialty you are not enthusiastic about!
That's just how medicine works. Earning competitive residency slots is about the purest slice of meritocracy anywhere in the academic sphere.
It takes a VERY special person to be a nurse. Thank you for your nursing service!
(My mom, age 96, is a retired RN. She was trained as part of the push to generate a large volume of nurses during WWII, and spent most of her adult life as an RN in a medical/surgical ward of a county hospital.)
I struggled through dissecting a frog in high school. Going into medicine was definitely not for me.
Seriously, bodies are gross.
What really put ideas of the medical profession to bed for me was some sage advice from a pre-med counselor in college. He asked if I enjoy being around people who are sick, elderly, or sick and elderly.
I knew I didn't want to do that because I like being in dynamic, optimistic, growth-oriented environments. Also medical practice seemed very prescriptive, with very little room for creativity (for good reason, medical and legal). The memorization socializes you into that.
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