What is it like to be a med student/intern/resident?

Question

I am very interested in the field of medicine (specifically surgery!) and I am very curious as to what your experiences in med school and residency were?

What did you like/what did you hate...

Tips/Suggestions...

Anything would be appreciated!

Thanks =]]]

Answer 1

Find a really boring book, and memorize as much of it as you can over 40 hours without sleep, spending at least 8 hours at a time on your feet and no more than a half hour sitting, while your husband or friend berates you periodically. Now extrapolate that, and consider that if you don't do well with your memorization, your life will be destroyed. It's lots of fun.

Answer 2

It's exhausting.  You can never learn all that you need to know, but you are expected to anyway.  

The first two years of med school are mostly lectures and studying, along with labs like gross anatomy (dissecting a human cadaver), histology (slides, slides, slides!) and microbiology (more microscope fun).  The last two years are primarily clinical rotations, where you find out what it is like to be at the very very bottom of the food chain.  It helps to read as much as you can so you don't look like a complete idiot.  If you're lucky, you'll work with residents who want to share their interest of the specialty with you.  If you're unlucky, the residents will use you as their scut puppy.

Residency is a bit better, because you're at least concentrating on the specialty you choose.  They have cut the work hours back to 80 per week in the US, so it isn't as bad as it used to be.  I worry, though, that residents are coming out less prepared.  Fewer cases = less experience.  Anyway, it's like having 2 full time jobs, plus having to study on top of it.

Family and social life is going to suffer during those years, but you can achieve some balance with people who understand what is required of you.  I managed to get married and have 2 kids during residency, although my husband STILL doesn't understand (18 yrs later) when I have to hang up on him because of an emergency!

If you want to be a surgeon, multiply everything I've said by 2.

It's a tough road, but worth it if you're meant to do it.  Best of luck!

Answer 3

i'm not in medical school, but i want to go into medicine as well. from what i've read about it, med school is a lot of hard work, and sometimes you'll have to be willing to sacrifice your social life for studying....not that you won't have any life, just that it's a lot of work. depending on what speciality you go into, the hours will be different, and you'll have different amounts of time to be able to devote to personal/family life. surgery, as far as i know, is a very demanding speciality. i would imagine that the last 2 years of med school are more interesting/fun than the first 2, because the last 2 are when you get to do rotations and experience medicine "hands on". the first two years are pretty much lectures i think.

hope this helped=)

Answer 4

Have a look at the medical blogs online... they're all great in that sense.

Summed up: it's lots and lots of hard work. Rewarding though.