Medicine after a PhD? Not working in the NHS?

[GoPlayer]

pal (pāl)
n. A friend; a chum.
intr.v. palled, pal·ling, pals
To associate as friends or chums. Often used with around.

[Romany phral, phal, from Sanskrit bhrātā, bhrātr-, brother; see bhrāter- in Indo-European roots.]

Word History: Pal, like buddy and chum, has an informal, thoroughly "American" ring to it. Its source, though, is rather unusual—Romany, the Indic language of the Gypsies. First recorded in English in the 17th century, pal was borrowed from a Romany word meaning "brother, comrade," which occurs as phal in the Romany spoken in England and phral in the Romany spoken in Europe. Gypsies speak an Indic language because they originally migrated to Europe from the border region between Iran and India. In other Indic languages we find related words meaning "brother," such as Hindustani bhāi and Prakrit bhāda or bhāyā; they all come from Sanskrit bhrātā, which in turn traces its ancestry to the same Indo-European word that our word brother does.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

Hardly sexless! (Etymology lacking from your command of English?)

I'm surprised everyone thinks I'm anti-NHS, all I said was that I didn't want to work in it. Strewth. I don't want to work in the Royal Navy either (similar reasons: hierarchical system, lots of red tape) but I think it is a good organization.

[yazoo]

Irrespective of any origin of the word, I suspect Jim's use of the word pal was not literal

[Gizmo says -]

the motivation for the two roles can at times be at odds wif each othe, i suspect.

you will sometimes feel like you are being pulled in two directions, and bits of you might get torn off, macca.

[Gizmo says -]

macca is chum, btw.

sorri sorri

[yazoo]

macca is chum, btw.

As in shark bait or pal

[GoPlayer]

It appealed to my sense of whimsy to use an American dictionary since pal has such a transatlantic ring to it, in contemporary usage at least. Anyway, etymology is essential to our understanding of language. Having even a basic grounding in Latin and the Romance languages is a great facilitator (a nice Latin root there, incidentally) for achieving an appreciation for the colour and subtleties of modern language.

All of this is completely beside the point though, which was to establish a possible path to a career comparable to the physician-scientist role of primarily research but with clinical elements that exists in North America (and the viability thereof).

[Chwirkytheappleboy]

I'm surprised everyone thinks I'm anti-NHS, all I said was that I didn't want to work in it.

Ok. But if you want to study medicine in the UK then you'll have to join a medical school which is affiliated to an NHS hospital (or hospitals), and then you'll have to do many years of postgraduate training in the NHS. If you don't want to work in the NHS then don't apply for any UK medicine programs. I guess you can go to med school in the US... you seem to like their way of doing things already anyway, why stay here?

[northoftherriver]

If you don't want to work in the NHS (out of interest, why not?) then I'd agree that training here is probably a no-no (not least because you have to do your time to get registration). I guess if you can stump up the cash the US is a good bet (I think Hopkins want a cool quarter million dollars upfront in an escrow account...) Although there are MBBS-PHD programmes around here (UCL do one). I guess as medicine isn't generally a postgrad degree in the UK, people here tend to do their Phds as a Reg/ST - there are a lot of clinical training fellowships around. As someone with a scientific background my impression is that while some people manage to do research and practice clinically, doing both well is rare.

You will have less freedom as a medic than you do as a scientist no matter where you practice - there is less scope for the kind of creativity and inspiration you need to be a good scientist (and medicine isn't science). There was something interesting in nature recently about physician innovators - Back to first principles, Medical innovation, Medical education, Medical school curriculum, Prospects, Naturejobs.

There are loads of opportunities for medics to do research in the UK - Wellcome trust clinical training fellowships spring to mind. And the academic FY programme. There is money out there from various funding bodies (there seems to be more sloshing around for medics than for actual scientists, a shame, I think).

Anyway, I'm not sure what the benefit would be for you - could you not just push your research towards more medical applications? Medicine is a slog and the preclinical stuff is pretty unstimulating. It seems from what you've said that it might be a bit of a waste of time, frankly. Didn't they close that course down in Miami for a reason? I don't think that it would be possible to get a good amount of clinical experience in two years, no matter how bright and motivated one is.

Also I wouldn't worry about the scars - if you've been well since then it isn't an issue. If people with a past history of mental illness weren't allowed to practice then there would be a lot fewer doctors out there...

[aspirant doc]

GoPlayer

After the views you have expressed here, personally I would pay good money to be a fly on the wall in a GEP interview if you were sat in the chair!

Thers is nothing wrong with your approach to where you want to go, but if you are thinking of applying to a UK-based GEP course where you will be trained in the NHS, it would be worth considering how selective they can afford to be. Like it or not, medicine in the UK is traditional; going in there to interview with guns blazing is an unlikely tactic to result in the offer of a place. Believe it or not, there are thousands of bright graduates in the UK who really want to work in the NHS. funnily enough, they make good candidates for the UK's medical schools.

[biomed12]

To Goplayer:

Im currently doing a PhD too but not in physics and in chemistry. Im only in my 1st year and i am thinking about letting go of it because my desire is to do medicine and not to do research. i think teh major difference between the two is that reseach is purely 'lab based' and you are constantly on teh benchtops doing experiements and lacks what medicine also intergrates. Medicine is more 'people' based and requires people skills as well as the knowledge of science. Of course without researchers there wouldnt be teh knowledge and without medical doctors the science can not be applied to good use. Before making the decision to withdraw from my PhD i have asked my peoples advice. academias, clinical consultants, career advisors. and the main advice they have given me is that a PhD wont actually benefit much in getting into medicine expecially as my PhD is not a direct linkage one with the medical field. I think to intergret research with medicine you go down the clinical scientist route... but im unsure whether you need to take a medical degree for that.
I have also graduated biomedical science BSc, and the course is not research based its more to do with learning more about diagnosis of diseases and also teh human physology and pathology of disease. it is directly linked with medicine and if you want to do medical research maybe this would be a beter course? to become a biomedical consultant you would need to do a PhD, but im unsure whetehr a physics PhD would be accepted?
I think it is important to ask yourself why you want to do medicine... it is a long course and requires a lot fo dedication and commitment. but also, its a course which one must enoy doing because otherwise it will be near impossible fo completely successfully. Like i mentioned at the beginning medicine requires working with people aka patients and if you are more lab focused and research focused then maybe medicine is not for you?
Its not a way of discouraging you, but i think just a way to maybe help you think about what alternative courses you could do to achieve you desired goal other than medicine. because to my understanding, once you complete a medical degree you become a doctor. and if you dont want to become a doctor which helps patients.. then teh whole course may have gone to waste?
But no matter what is being siad teh decision is of course yours at the end of the day. gaining work experience in the medical environment may also help you decide whetehr medicine is the right couse for you or not. hope this helps.