How Do You KNOW Medicine Is For You?

[dr?]

I have always been torn between medicine and psychology. I am a student of Psychology but couldn't not stop thinking I had made a mistake choosing psych, and I thought about medicine all of the time.

Now i'm back to square 1...I don't know which route to choose because how do I know if medicine is for me? I mean, the idea of dissecting a cadaver disturbs & scares me a little, is that a bad sign?

I think I might just be panicking...

How did you know it was for you?

[white_coat]

I would say that you can never know Medicine is 100% right for you until you do it, and even now I sometimes worry- but I have been told many times that finding a doctor who says Medicine is 100% right for them is unlikely.

Personaly Ive wanted to do it since I was young and the thought has never left me, and now I'm studying it I'm really enjoying it. Maybe try some work experience to see how you feel being in a clinical environment?

We also do dissection at my uni. I've known people who have fainted, cried and dread each day that we have to dissect. Then there's people who like it and get on with it, and the people who have a slightly worrying enthusiasm for it!
Being disturbed about dissecting a cadaver is not a definitive test for suitability for Medicine. Anyway, when I first started it was a bit weird (for starters I'd never seen a corpse before), but now it is just another part of the week.

[dr?]

Hi White_coat, thanks for such good advice. I think you're right - I should try out the clinical placement. As for the dissection I imagine there would be quite a few different reactions (never thought enthusiasm would be one of the them! ) lol.

[?dentist?]

The question is does anyone in any job like it 100% ALL the time? I'm beginning to realise there is no perfect job. I'm a grad and I keep doubting what is right for me but I am beginning to realise that there is no perfect job. Also, I think in general people expect too much from their jobs, it seems to me that people move around jobs and careers so much more these days than in the "old days" (my gran had the same job practically her whole life and it it wasnt a nice or well paid one) when people just stuck with their job. I'm beginning to be more realistic and realise there is not a 100% amazing career (not for me anyway) but it is hard!

[cat_bach]

dr? if cadarevic dissection worries you, there are plenty of universities that dont do it.At Liverpool, we`ve got prosecctions in the anatomy room (piecs of cadaver that have already been dissected) and lots of models/xrays etc. Some students from schools that dissect will laugh at this, but I quite like it. Its geared at what we`re meant to be learning, and it helps it all to make sense, and we get introduced to the human body in small manegable chunks. With the prosecctions, most people touch and deal with them; some avoid them like the plague. Personally, I like seeing the prosections, but in my defence before you jump to call me a freak they dont really look human. Cadavers do. Its pretty natural to be freaked out by cadavers, and it is by no means a test of your sutability to do medicine. On the other hand, if you are squeamish and dislike blood, guts etc etc I would think long and hard about it, because you cant really avoid it (obvious post here- not trying to be patronising believe me!!!).
Medicine is a huge field and I dont think its 100% right for anyone, but there`s a huge variety of possible career options for you to find your niche. Get some work experience, see if you like it, and just remeber that there`s no shame in deciding against it. Dont be on of these people that would actually prefer to be doing another related degree (midwifery/pschology/biomed sci) but jumped/ got pushed for medicine because of the status it has. Do it cos you like it!

[domi_stewart]

Originally Posted by dr?

I have always been torn between medicine and psychology. I am a student of Psychology but couldn't not stop thinking I had made a mistake choosing psych, and I thought about medicine all of the time.

Now i'm back to square 1...I don't know which route to choose because how do I know if medicine is for me? I mean, the idea of dissecting a cadaver disturbs & scares me a little, is that a bad sign?

I think I might just be panicking...

How did you know it was for you?

i second wats been sed already. for most ppl u wont know till u do it. having sed that, i did two degrees and 4 extra years that i didnt want to wen i left college to finally be a medic and now i couldnt be happier. for me there really never was any doubt as to wat i wanted to do; so maybe im that rare one who 100% wants to be a doctor. but i know loads of ppl who have dropped out of medicine after working so hard to get there to go and do other degrees. many went off to do other science degrees but i know one person whos now doin maths and he loves it lol.

bit cliche but i recon better to regret summin u did then didnt do. correct me if im wrong but i assume it'll be harder to go into medicine as a very mature applicant who spent 5-10 yrs in pyschology b4 realising it wasnt for them, then the other way around?

[dr?]

Thanks so much, the replies have really helped think a lot more from the different points of view

I think about medicine an awful lot, probably day dream a little too much about it too lol. I really don't mind blood or guts or anything, I was just a little panicked thinking about a real dead body in front of me - then cutting it open. I need my rational brain to kick in lol.

As I live in Scotland I can't really go anywhere else as I have a relative who relies on me for support. I suppose I will just have take a deep breath and dive

[Bex x]

Go for it, Dr?

I'm in my fourth year, I've never touched the prosections, I hate the thought of it. I dread anatomy sessions. Which is weird, I'm fine with whole dead people - when I was 15 I held a woman's hand when she died, and I've seen a fair few dead people since, so death doesn't actually scare me - and I've assisted in surgery, so it's not the cutting people up I don't like - it's just combining the two I can't cope with!

[Saq2k7]

For me it was like a build up through my life - when observing ill members of my family espcailly when my grandad had bypass surgery i was just taken aback by the knowlege behind it

then in yr 10 i sarted researching degree's and careers - i wanted a job in the science field - and after looking after my mum in hospital for just a few days and just watching the doctors work i knew thats what i wanted to do

ever since then so many have told me do something else! your gonna work for 5/6 years and you wont get paid jack!!! but i still havent budged:P cause to me it aint about the money, not about the name its something in my heart which i just cant describe :S medicine is on my mind 24/7i know it sounds sad lool but thats how it is :P

[Bambi]

I'm pretty surprised there are so many people here freaked by dissection. In my year there were about 360 people, only 1 had a noticeable issue with it and they got over it pretty quickly. Cadavers barely even look like real people anyway, you only get weird about it if you obsess. Dissection was always the best time of the week.

I would say if you don't know med is for you (especially if you are a grad) then it isn't for you.