Written by Alex Reddy
The journey to working in a medical field is very rigorous and time consuming. Hundreds of young students dedicate many study hours just to devote their whole life to helping others. However, once out of school and officially in the medical field, these doctors have it easy. Or do they?
Is it true working as a doctor is a very competitive field? What about the credibility, is it true you're guaranteed a job when you have a MD?
This post was created to answer these questions and many more preconceptions about the medical field.
It’s true that it takes an average of 9 years to secure your MD. To many students, this fact alone can immediately change their mind when it comes to tackling medical school. On top of the extensive time in school, the amount of requirements to become a professional in the medical field are vastly greater than the requirements for many other fields. Is focusing all this time in one field even going to guarantee you a job? Is putting in all this time and hard work even worth it?
Graduating with an MD can be one of the most rewarding and honorable certifications a student is able to receive. On top of achieving the rewarding diploma, many medical students would be happy to hear that there is currently a 14% job increase in the medical field (Occupational Outlook Handbook). This is great news for medical students because it almost guarantees them a working position straight out of college. However, there are also many disadvantages when practicing as a doctor. One large disadvantage is Malpractice insurance. When working in the medical field there are some situations when a doctor gets blamed for faults in his or her practice. In these cases, doctors need malpractice insurance to protect them from some unruly patients. Unfortunately, malpractice insurance is very expensive and costs hundreds of dollars a month.
You might hear many people say that doctors get paid a very reasonable amount of money. You might also hear that they get to choose their own hours, vacation time, and don't have to put in substantial amounts of work outside of their job hours. This is only mostly true. These statements depend largely on what type of doctor you are and what field you work in. However, on average, one could say hours are normally very flexible. In addition to flexible hours, If a doctor owns their own practice, he/she is in complete control of the time they spend at work.
Aside from flexible hours, working as a doctor is not easy. From the outside, it looks as if doctors spend the majority of their time visiting patients and writing brief appointment summaries. However, as any doctor would know, there is a great amount of time spent on paperwork and activities aside from meeting with patients. Depending on what field of the profession you work in, most doctors even spend a great amount of unpaid time at home reviewing patient's notes and medical history.
A slightly useful resource, “The White Coat Investor: A Doctor’s Guide To Personal Finance And Investing,” helped me to answer some of these many myths and misconceptions. This book covers many different factual points about working in the medical field. The school debt involved, finding a job, and discussing the advantages and disadvantages were all covered within this book. If interested in the medical field I would highly recommend reading, “The White Coat Investor: A Doctor’s Guide To Personal Finance And Investing” because it takes you inside the world of the medical field particularly explaining life after graduating with an MD.
After doing a decent amount of reading up on the medical field and breaking a few of my own assumptions, through my research i've learned that the majority of my initial knowledge still holds true. There were a few surprising and interesting facts I learned along the way which lead me to a deeper understanding of the complicated profession they call the medical field. Many people may look at the life of a doctor and believe they have it made and everything comes easy, but the truth is, working in the medical field is nothing close to easy. Many people put their lives in the hands of doctors, and on top of a great deal of pressure, people who work in the medical field have endless amounts of paperwork and case files to review. From the outside, working in the medical field may appear like the ideal job. The truth is, people who work in the medical field put a great amount of money, time, and effort into what they do proving it’s no easy job.
Sources:
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections. Occupational Outlook Handbook. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/physicians-and-surgeons.htm. 17 September 2016.
James M. Dahle. The White Coat Investor: A Doctor’s Guide To Personal Finance And Investing. United States of America : The White Coat Investor, LCC; 2014.
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