5 ms·

“What do you call a medical student who graduated at the bottom of their class?” “Doctor.”

by p-e-w 15d ago

draw_down 15d ago
Well, I guess it would be nice if the graduation cutoff were above the level of “knows what rhabdo is”
echelon 15d ago
I studied biochem in undergrad and my classes were full of premed students. I loved the subject and nerded out about the course material - I spent my time designing my own experiments around gene cloning that took several semesters to run. They were sharing last year's tests with their frat buddies and laughing at us nerds. I've never looked at doctors the same way again after college. I looked up to them as a child, yet after seeing how the sausages were made, I started to doubt everything. I frequently ask doctors, who spend all of ten minutes with me while the nurses do all the work, about the molecular specifics of what they're talking about. They talk down to me as if they're explaining to a child, yet they're frequently quite wrong. I'm not trying to sound superior to them, but I'm shocked they seem to care so little about the subject. It doesn't give me much hope about what they know and their abilities or competency. I suspect surgeons and specialists are a different breed and aren't like this at all. And to be clear, this isn't everyone. But it does seem to be the majority I've interacted with throughout my life. When they act disgruntled at patient interaction, I detest that their profession tries to cap the number of med students per year. We should be letting in as many med students as we can take. We should let doctors from overseas immigrate and easily become practicing doctors here in the US. We should provide easy paths for nurses to become doctors. The premed students in my university were chiefly concerned about money and prestige. They drove BMWs gifted to them by their parents and laughed at what I drove and how hard I studied. I had to put up with their bullying for years. I know not everyone who studies to become a doctor is like that, but it permanently skewed my view of their profession.
- qsera 15d ago
  >When we should let doctors from overseas immigrate and easily become practicing doctors here in the US. Lol, what does this has to do with anything regarding aptitude or curiosity!?
  - Dylan16807 15d ago
    If we reduce the artificial shortage of doctors then the number of people entering the field specifically to make big money goes down.
    - qsera 15d ago
      > people entering the field specifically to make big money goes down... This is a self defeating argument, because for it to work it requires that there is a larger number of people who love the field than the number of people who are in only for the $$$ (or else there will be even more scarcity of doctors).. Which is not the case.
      - Dylan16807 14d ago
        We have a surplus of people that want to become doctors and would work hard enough to do so. If we removed the artificial limits on residency, the supply of doctors would increase, which lowers wages somewhat, which lowers the number of people that want to become doctors. It reaches a new balance point with more doctors than before. That itself is a good thing. For it to also improve the motivations of doctors, all that needs to be true is that someone more motivated by money is more likely to be in the group that switches career. It does not require the number of people that love the field to be a majority. Not that loving the field is a binary in the first place. People are a mix of motivations and cutoffs are arbitrary.
        qsera 14d ago
        > It reaches a new balance point with more doctors than before. But you just pull this "more doctors than before" out of your ass. There is no such assurance. If less people want to become doctors, then eventually there will be less doctors, not more.
projektfu 15d ago
At the bottom of their class from the worst school in the country.

“What do you call a medical student who graduated at the bottom of their class?” “Doctor.”

by p-e-w 15d ago

“What do you call a medical student who graduated at the bottom of their class?” “Doctor.”

draw_down 15d ago

Well, I guess it would be nice if the graduation cutoff were above the level of “knows what rhabdo is”

echelon 15d ago

I studied biochem in undergrad and my classes were full of premed students. I loved the subject and nerded out about the course material - I spent my time designing my own experiments around gene cloning that took several semesters to run. They were sharing last year's tests with their frat buddies and laughing at us nerds. I've never looked at doctors the same way again after college. I looked up to them as a child, yet after seeing how the sausages were made, I started to doubt everything. I frequently ask doctors, who spend all of ten minutes with me while the nurses do all the work, about the molecular specifics of what they're talking about. They talk down to me as if they're explaining to a child, yet they're frequently quite wrong. I'm not trying to sound superior to them, but I'm shocked they seem to care so little about the subject. It doesn't give me much hope about what they know and their abilities or competency. I suspect surgeons and specialists are a different breed and aren't like this at all. And to be clear, this isn't everyone. But it does seem to be the majority I've interacted with throughout my life. When they act disgruntled at patient interaction, I detest that their profession tries to cap the number of med students per year. We should be letting in as many med students as we can take. We should let doctors from overseas immigrate and easily become practicing doctors here in the US. We should provide easy paths for nurses to become doctors. The premed students in my university were chiefly concerned about money and prestige. They drove BMWs gifted to them by their parents and laughed at what I drove and how hard I studied. I had to put up with their bullying for years. I know not everyone who studies to become a doctor is like that, but it permanently skewed my view of their profession.

qsera 15d ago
>When we should let doctors from overseas immigrate and easily become practicing doctors here in the US. Lol, what does this has to do with anything regarding aptitude or curiosity!?
- Dylan16807 15d ago
  If we reduce the artificial shortage of doctors then the number of people entering the field specifically to make big money goes down.
  - qsera 15d ago
    > people entering the field specifically to make big money goes down... This is a self defeating argument, because for it to work it requires that there is a larger number of people who love the field than the number of people who are in only for the $$$ (or else there will be even more scarcity of doctors).. Which is not the case.
    - Dylan16807 14d ago
      We have a surplus of people that want to become doctors and would work hard enough to do so. If we removed the artificial limits on residency, the supply of doctors would increase, which lowers wages somewhat, which lowers the number of people that want to become doctors. It reaches a new balance point with more doctors than before. That itself is a good thing. For it to also improve the motivations of doctors, all that needs to be true is that someone more motivated by money is more likely to be in the group that switches career. It does not require the number of people that love the field to be a majority. Not that loving the field is a binary in the first place. People are a mix of motivations and cutoffs are arbitrary.
      - qsera 14d ago
        > It reaches a new balance point with more doctors than before. But you just pull this "more doctors than before" out of your ass. There is no such assurance. If less people want to become doctors, then eventually there will be less doctors, not more.

projektfu 15d ago

At the bottom of their class from the worst school in the country.