Tania Heller - On Becoming a Doctor: The Truth about Medical School, Residency, and Beyond

Introduction

As a student planning to enter medical school, you probably expect to take subjects that are at a far greater level of difficulty and intensity than those you took in college. However, some aspects of medical training, such as the dissection of human bodies, are a departure from anything that you faced as an undergraduate. Medical school will challenge you in many different waysboth intellectually and emotionally. Youre expected to know a lot and do a lot, said pediatrician Dr. Bertha Koomson. You only appreciate the hard work and what youve learned later. My goal in writing this book is to provide you with information on the process of becoming a doctor, including medical school requirements and ways to finance your studies. Youll receive valuable tips and how-to advice from real doctors and medical students as well as other qualified individuals. You will have an inside look at the practice of medicine through interviews with specialists who describe their own exciting and varied experiences. Here, we will also examine the business side of a career in medicine. Numerous resources are included to help you navigate the process from start to finish.

WHAT INSPIRES YOUNG PEOPLE TO GO INTO MEDICINE?

My father taught me that our purpose in life is to leave the world a better place. Although I believe that to be true, I have asked myself, What can one person do to make a difference? As a physician, I think of famous people in the medical fieldpeople like Drs. Salk and Sabin, who both discovered polio vaccines, and the cardiac surgeon Dr. Christiaan Barnard, who performed the first successful human heart transplant. Clearly, they made a difference, but can and should each one of us hope to achieve something as significant? Yes, as a physician you will be able to make a contribution and influence peoples lives, even if your name doesnt go down in the history books.

There are doctors who have had a big impact on my life, people who have touched my heart, even though they may not know it. Ill always remember the emergency room doctor who treated my sons elbow injury with great skill and the internist who showed compassion when my grandmother was hospitalized. Ill never forget the neurologist who offered reassurance and support when I worried unnecessarily about a symptom I had. In every field and every walk of life, there are ways that each one of us can make a difference. The practice of medicine is one of those fields in which we have enormous opportunity to do just that.

When I was sixteen years old, I considered a future in either science or education. Many years later I was able to combine the two by pursuing a medical career and becoming a physician, enjoying practicing clinical medicine as well as lecturing on medical topics. I attended the University of Cape Town in South Africa and did clinical rounds at Groote Schuur Hospital, where the famous cardiac surgeons, the Barnard brothers, operated. I intended to practice medicine in that region.

However, life takes many interesting turns. Because of the political climate, our family immigrated to the United States, and I did my residency training in pediatrics at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Somehow, things seemed to work out, and Ive never looked back. Ive always appreciated the fact that I had exposure to third world medicine and the medical needs in Africa, an experience that has served me well. For example, when one of my first young patients in the United States had tuberculosis, I was able to recognize his clinical symptoms and radiological findings more readily.

Next, several others will speak about their own reasons for choosing a medical career.

Wanting to Make a Discovery

I was always interested in trying to discover things, said Dr. Roscoe Brady, who became a world-renowned scientist at the National Institutes of Health. As a child, Edison was my hero, and my favorite book was The Life of Thomas Edison . Dr. Brady was the first of several people I interviewed about their choice to pursue a medical career. He told me that his father had been a pharmacist who made remedies and that some of his fathers remedies are actually still in use to this day.