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    Wednesday, September 27, 2006

    Medical School is Crazy

    Nobody understands what doctors go through until they are there. I just finished my first round of exams, and as you might have noticed, have blogged little as of late. I have a blog on medical school, but even that is hard to find time for, let alone my passion on Vietnam and international politics that use TBE as a forum.

    Let me just tell you that doctors do not make nearly as much as the effort that is exerted. People think doctors make a ton of money, and most are compensated far better than average (i.e. top 5% of the country) but compare that with law, business, or another profession, and a doctor's time is cheap, pennies-on-the-dollar cheap, in comparison.

    So, next time you visit your doctor, thank him for surviving, yes, surviving medical school, so he can keep you healthy enough to bill your clients $100 an hour to do their legal stuff.

    3 comments:

    MGO said...

    lol... but who charges only $100 an hour?

    MGO said...

    though I joke, I am truly grateful there are as many capable people who go into medicine - what a calling. let's hope that discrepancy in dollars is made up for in the spiritual value of making lives better

    Triet said...

    lol. Thanks for the support. It truly has to be the spiritual value.

    Texas is forcing med schools to accept more students because there is a severe shortage of doctors in Texas and throughout the USA. Mostly, primary care docs are needed (the doc you go to first, for your cold, like a family practice doc, internal med, or pediatrician).

    My opinion why this is, is because many docs go into medicine for the money. They have no people skills. They don't like dealing with people. They want many hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. That only happens when you specialize in a hot field, like surgery, dermatology, or radiology.

    Those that go in it for the people, the spiritual side, the humanistic side--they sacrifice the BIG bucks for patient interaction. They are the docs people remember and revere, but they make little. The average pediatrician salary in the US is 125k a year. That's averaging ALL pediatricians, the beginners and the experienced, the ones in pricey markets and the ones in the back-woods. That's not a lot of cash when schooling is added up, and the time peds put into their job. Hence, you can't do it for the money.