Questions about doctors.?

Question

Do doctors get to work in the lab a lot. I want to be a doctor but I also want to have a chance to work in the lab...often...

Answer 1

well they have like special doctors tht do. like when u have a sore throat- ur doctor like takes samples and sends them to people in the lab to test it. so they do have jobs tht can do tht.

Answer 2

After medical school a doctor does an internship. Then he does a residency in the field he chooses. He can choose to do research. Then he would work in the lab all the time.

The head of the lab at a hospital is a doctor of pathology. He does the autopsies.

Regular doctors do not do the lab work that they order, unlike you see on House.

Answer 3

it depends what kind. like an infectious disease doctor would, so would a geneticist. But a general doctor wouldn't get to do that as much (especially after med school).

Answer 4

Most of us are not even allowed into the lab.  If you like lab work, consider pathology.  Most labs and blood banks are run by pathologists.

Answer 5

Sadly, Pangolin is correct. Early in my career I always did my own cell counts on spinal fluid. If I saw a patient in my office in the middle of the night with abdominal pain, I could do my own WBC count before waking up the surgeon.

During pre-med I worked in a health department laboratory. It was a great experience, and I had a wonderful mentor.

But now, with Medicare, Medicaid and CLIA regulations, many tests have to be performed by a certified lab before they will be reimbursed. Discussing the merits and demerits of this would take more time than I am willing to expend, but it is to some detriment to medical students and residents.

Clinical pathologists spend a lot of time in the lab. So do many physician researchers in a variety of fields. You have good choices if you want to work in the laboratory.