Being a medical student entails a lot of things and, above all, hard work, which must be put in for you to attain success. Obtaining a medical degree is packed with so many experiences, with some being challenging and surprising but also rewarding at the end of it all. For anyone who has an interest in studying medicine to succeed, you need to work hard and remain extremely committed. You should adequately prepare yourself for the task before you and be ready to go through it all.
There are various reasons why people choose to study and obtain a medical degree; it may be from personal likeness to the profession, job security, or even financial gain, as medical practitioners are believed to be rich. Studying medicine is a big financial investment that takes a lot of time, money, and continuous hard work. Some other people study medicine because the jobs are very lucrative, attractive, and always in high demand across the world.
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Here are the things you would wish you knew before becoming a medical student.
Getting into medical school would bring a lot of changes and things you never expected; you would experience them all. Medical school is fun, and its training prepares you for your future in the medical world. Below are listed some of the things medical students can learn from before going into the medical college.
1. You would work as a team:
As a medical student, you would always be paired into teams, and you have to be really good at working with other people. You can be teamed up with your fellow doctors, nurses, or even other support staff, particularly if you are on fieldwork or doing your housemanship. When working with other people, you have to be professional at all times and put your differences or likeness aside to work well. Learning how to get along with different personalities in the profession is a huge challenge most times for someone who likes to work alone.
2. So much documentation is needed:
As a doctor or medical student, there is a lot of paperwork that needs to be done. For instance, when an incident happens and you fail or forget to write it down in proper documentation, it just means nothing happened. From the point where you attend to a patient or administer medications to a patient, you have to objectively document everything that occurred.
3. When you lose a patient, you will feel really bad.
This is a great part of being in the medical field. You would always experience losing a patient, and this would really be difficult for you for the first time. No matter how often a patient’s death occurs in your line of work, it will always be a sad experience.
4. Doctors and nurses don’t always get along.
This often occurs in the medical field. As people would believe that doctors and nurses are best buddies, that is sometimes not true, especially when there are older nurses and young doctors. The older nurses would always feel like they knew better and were more experienced than the younger doctors. This will in turn make the young doctors feel less superior and may ignite various troubles and challenges in the work space.
5. There would be competitors:
Once you are in medical school, a lot of competition arises because everyone wants to be academically good and to graduate well. Probably you used to be very intelligent in high school, but once you got into medical school, you might not be the smartest person anymore. Although this does not mean you would drop in your studies, it would give you a leverage on what and how to study best. When you become a doctor, you are definitely surrounded by brilliant people. There will always be someone who knows more than you do, but you would need to get over yourself and start really learning from those brilliant people to help you be successful in the end. There is definitely nothing wrong with seeking help from your colleagues.
6. You might have to choose a specialty towards the end of your study.Â
When you are at the beginner stage of your education, you might not know what medical specialty you would like to take up as a career. You would have to study everything, but towards the end of your study, you would be made to choose your specialty. When you then successfully choose your field, you are practically taking it for life. A lot of people go into medicine without knowing what they want to do, and this is normal; along the way, you would get your specialty—something you are good at.
7. You would work overtime:Â
As a medical student, you must work more than you are scheduled to. Sometimes, you may be out on overtime shifts when you are working in the hospital. You would have to learn to manage your time to do other necessary things as well as do your job properly. You may sometimes work a 24-hour shift, meaning round the clock. This is part of the hardest training you will undergo during your residency or horsemanship.
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8. There are always discoveries:Â
As you learn and study, there will always be new things to pick up. You will need to gain a lot of experience and knowledge as you study. Someone can’t know everything alone; you will need to study and mingle with other people around you. Even after leaving medical school, you will need to always update yourself with discoveries on drugs and various treatments peculiar to your field.
9. You will learn more from your peers and seniors.
Boone is good at everything; that’s why, coupled with studying on your own and attending classes, you will also do well by learning from your peers and seniors. You can pick your seniors who have different skills from you and learn from them to help you improve yourself more. No man is an island; therefore, we all need someone or people to help lift us.
10. You can go wrong:
Doing things wrongly or going the wrong way is not a bad thing. Once in a while, people make mistakes; therefore, it is okay to mess things up sometimes. Being in medical school, you would be faced with a lot of things and tasks, and you are bound to make mistakes. This is everyone’s fear, but it’s okay. You might be afraid to mess things up since you are dealing with people’s lives and there are various checks and balances on the line, but it is inevitable to do wrong things sometimes. Once you make mistakes, learn to retrace your steps, correct the wrongs if possible, and move on. Learn from those mistakes and wrongs you have done and do not repeat them.
Reasons to Study Medicine
There are a lot of reasons why people study medicine, as stated earlier; it could be a result of personal love for the profession or financial gain. Some students, after obtaining a basic science degree such as biochemistry, microbiology, physiology, and so on, may take up a medical degree to boost their certificate and get a better job in the future. Below are outlined some of the reasons why people may choose to study medicine and obtain a medical degree:
1. Diverse medical opportunities:
In the medical field, there are various career opportunities or specialties in which you can choose from. Some of these career opportunities include public health, dentistry, physiotherapy, nursing, veterinary, human medicine, pharmacy, and so on. As a medical practitioner, you can choose to work in hospitals, healthcare facilities, and even research laboratories.
2. High demand for the profession:
The world is always in need of doctors; the profession does not go into extinction as there are more and more needs everywhere. The need for healthcare professionals is so high that, in most cases, medical students often get employed immediately after they graduate from school.
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3. High salaries and job security:
This is another great reason why people study medicine; the medical career offers job security, and this reason is why it is even more important in countries where the recession is still a problem and where young people struggle to find a job. It is believed that the healthcare sector pays its workers very well.
4. Ease of employment:
When you have a medical degree, it becomes easy to get a job either in a private or government-owned facility. The employment rate for medical practitioners is always high; therefore, for a student fresh out of college, getting a job is quite easy.
5. Importance of the profession:
Everywhere around the world, doctors, nurses, and other medical workers are accorded respect for the jobs they do. These doctors are well accepted and acknowledged everywhere and most people may like to study medicine to get this recognition accorded to doctors across the globe. Even children who are still in the lower classes love the way doctors are dressed and would want to be like them too in the future.
Being a medical student can be very tasking and challenging. You would spend a lot of time and money to learn and study, but no matter how much time you have spent or would likely spend preparing to become a medical student, you may have to encounter some things you have never anticipated before. Medical school is a lot different than college and entails a lot of what your future will bring to you.
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