4 ms·

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

by p-e-w 1mo ago

draw_down 1mo ago
Well, I guess it would be nice if the graduation cutoff were above the level of “knows what rhabdo is”
echelon 1mo 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 1mo 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!?
  - Omniusaspirer 1mo ago
    To the parent posters credit, he's very honest that he developed a personal complex against doctors when he was a poor student. He just sees it as a way to lash out at American doctors, the irony being that foreign medical graduates leaving their families and communities to practice in America largely do so because they are exceptionally money motivated. That doesn't make them bad doctors, but there's certainly less likelihood they're doing it purely for the love of medicine or a desire to care for their communities. I do agree with the sentiment though that the US needs to fund more residency slots as it's an asinine professional barrier, and that we would benefit from more physicians coming from more diverse financial backgrounds.
    - throw234259 1mo ago
      > certainly less likelihood they're doing it purely for the love of medicine or a desire to care for their communities. Maybe self preservation? In east europe, public hospitals will force doctors to work 36 hours shifts (overnight ER with theoretical sleep). Doctors have a full criminal liability for mall practise.
  - Dylan16807 1mo 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 1mo 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.
projektfu 1mo 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 1mo ago

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

draw_down 1mo ago

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

echelon 1mo 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 1mo 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!?
- Omniusaspirer 1mo ago
  To the parent posters credit, he's very honest that he developed a personal complex against doctors when he was a poor student. He just sees it as a way to lash out at American doctors, the irony being that foreign medical graduates leaving their families and communities to practice in America largely do so because they are exceptionally money motivated. That doesn't make them bad doctors, but there's certainly less likelihood they're doing it purely for the love of medicine or a desire to care for their communities. I do agree with the sentiment though that the US needs to fund more residency slots as it's an asinine professional barrier, and that we would benefit from more physicians coming from more diverse financial backgrounds.
  - throw234259 1mo ago
    > certainly less likelihood they're doing it purely for the love of medicine or a desire to care for their communities. Maybe self preservation? In east europe, public hospitals will force doctors to work 36 hours shifts (overnight ER with theoretical sleep). Doctors have a full criminal liability for mall practise.
- Dylan16807 1mo 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 1mo 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.

projektfu 1mo ago

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