Randomramblings

Today, I will finally keep my promise and write some more about medical school. It is really difficult for me not to keep promises, but for you, my dear Google bot I try to do my best. So today, after many weeks, I will tell you what kind of person in my opinion is ideal for a future doctor.

After passing my matura exam with flying colours, I went to medical school. Med school in Slovenia lasts six years and when you finish it and complete a few months of practical work (mainly ER) in a hospital, supervised by a senior doctor, you graduate. Then you either do a postgraduate course or try to apply for specialisation in one field of medicine. This takes a futher 5 to 6 years and after approximately 12 years you're ready to start working on your own.

The first day of October approached and I started my higher education. Needless to say, one expects to be encouraged and assited in the long and winding path leading to the graduation. That is not to say you expect someone else to do the work for you, but you expect people to try and make life outside higher education easier for you. Turns out that not even the people in the University really believe in you.

Before lectures began, the Dean came to greet us. I will never forget what he said then. He began his speech with: "The studying of medicine is long and difficult." The crowd of first-year students became restless. They also probably expected a better welcome than someone trying to tell you that - well, you might not make it, pal, but don't take it to heart. The Dean later went on with his speech and emphasized how difficult med school is, how almost impossible it is to finish it... And one could not help but wonder, how then is it that he was standing before us, with his degree and specialisation and everything. Could it be that he was some sort of a superman?

Of course not. But for some reason people try to scare you about medical school. I will not attempt to hide the fact that medical school is quite difficult, more difficult at least than several other university courses offered in Ljubljana. But it is possible to complete your education in a med school and what is more - it is possible to pass with flying colours. When and if you decide to try your hand in studying medicine, there are, however a few things to consider.

If you think doctors are well paid, think twice. As a junior doctor you will not get a terrific salary, you'll work long hours, often doing night and weekend shifts. As you get older (and become a more respected doctor) however, you will do less of these. Your friends with degrees in economy and marketing will be much better paid. If you're looking for a well paid job, medicine really isn't the right path. It's not so much trying to ignore the fact that certain respected and very good doctors get high salaries later in their careers as it is that the path to getting those amounts of money is long and torturous and if you cannot appreciate the profession, you will not be happy. Depressed and frustrated doctors cannot be good healers.

It takes a lot of courage to study medicine. As mentioned before, people generally don't think you'll make it and that goes for teachers as well as your relatives. It's not that people don't want you to succeed. It's just that they continually talk about how difficult it is - so with a part of your consciousness you start to believe them. Oh, the countless of times I've heard: "12 years before you actually start working on your own?! You're telling me you'll be studying 12 MORE years?!!" And I tried to reply as calmly as I can: "Yes, it's 12 years. No offence, but I can do the math, too."

Anyway - the students already know this themselves. It is more dangerous if they start believing that they are not capable of passing and exam just because there are (and always will be) people who are better than themselves. Also, there are exams, famed for their difficulty and (I am not ashamed to admit it) something like this happened to me as well. There was a difficult exam last year that I was supposed to pass but I was so frightened at the mere thought of it, I let myself be persuaded that whatever I do, it is almost not possible for me to pass it. I started studying a little too late (as I always do) and then I lost all hope of ever having studied enough to finish this exam. I continued to study for this exam, but at the same time I didn't believe I'll ever pass. And I effectually failed this exam.

Courage and self esteem is vital in studying medicine. It will take more than brains to get you through med school - loads of courage (but not foolishness or carelessness!) and high self-esteem are good starting points. While studying medicine you will be faced with many difficult situations and learning to believe that you'll able to conquer them (and emerge victorious) is essential.

In the immortal words of the Fake Doctor - "[...]Seeing as this is the medical profession, I assumed that most of the hazing would involve various demeaning verbal assaults on my intelligence, ability, and/or character by preceptors or angry residents." In short: on entering med school you're aware that you'll have to amass a whole load of information and the thought might scare you. But you also know that you'll be put down. Either by older students, by frustrated TAs or the snobbish professors. Here again, the ability to cope with this and just get over it is essential.

What I've been trying to say in this entry is that when entering a med school it is not just your brain entering an institution where you'll be filled with so much information as you couldn't have imagined happening to you before. You (and this is the real distinction between med school and other university courses) have to be a formed personality with some very strong character traits, someone who can manage a lot of stress if you want to be a doctor. Sheer intelligence can't help here.

Join me in a couple of weeks for episode three - surviving the med school.