Part One
MEDICINE
On being a physician
Why study medicine?
The reality of a physician's career
The challenge ahead
Historical overview
The need for physicians
Physician supply: current debate
Desirable attributes for a medical career
Facing the future
Physicians are acknowledged practitioners of the art of medicine. They are expected to be people of high ethical standards since they are entrusted with the intimate details of life and death. They are expected to have the capacity and enthusiasm for difficult work extended over long hours, and they must be able to perform efficiently under a chronic load of heavy responsibility. Physicians are ex…
The medical profession offers much to a young person. It provides an avenue for attaining satisfaction of many of the most fundamental human desires. Medicine can satisfy your intellectual curiosity; it permits you to successfully apply the enormous body of information that has been accumulated in recent decades to reduce pain and suffering and extend the average life span. At the same time, it pr…
On average, the professional career of a physician can extend close to 40 years, assuming he or she starts to practice at 27 and retires at 65. Obviously, quite a number of physicians will work beyond the traditional retirement date. The pattern of an average physician can be portrayed in a linear fashion as follows: It is imperative for every premedical student to have a genuinely realistic view …
As noted, medicine can be a most attractive and fulfilling profession, but before one seriously embarks upon the journey to become a physician, it is most essential to fully recognize the potential obstacles that lie ahead and that need be overcome. These can be briefly summarized as follows: In addition to the aforementioned hurdles, the fact is that physicians face potentially long working hours…
In seeking to become a physician, you are planning to join a fraternity of professional men and women who have a profound influence, both physically and emotionally, on the lives of many millions of people. The roots of medicine penetrate deeply into the history of humankind. Cave paintings reveal the existence of “healers” as far back as theIce Age. The medical practitioners of anci…
Until about 1980, the increasing need for additional manpower in the health professions, and particularly medical manpower, was shown in governmental studies of both urban and rural areas. Thus medical educators strongly urged that efforts be made to increase the number of physicians and other health science personnel. As a result, increased financial support, especially from the federal governmen…
A new major debate is developing over the issue of physician surplus. It was fueled by a report by a commission of health care policy experts funded by the Pew Foundation. The commission recommended that 20% of the nation's medical schools be closed by the year 2005. It warned of a surplus of 100,000 to 150,000 physicians in the next century, and urged closing some schools as the bes…
The changing environment for medical practice that is gradually taking place, which is discussed later in this chapter, will fully impact on those who will practice in the twenty-first century. Thus, while ten specific desirable attributes are noted below, one major personal quality should be emphasized at this point, namely, the need for a strong commitment to medicine. Having such a commitment w…
The first step to becoming a physician is to decide that at all times you will be realistic and honest with yourself. Before you reach the stage of applying to a medical school, you should periodically reevaluate your abilities and the sincerity of your conviction to become a physician. You should determine if you possess the intelligence, scientific aptitude, personality, and inner strength …
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User Comments
about 1 year ago
collins john
i will like to know more on medicine