Some heroes wear capes, and then there are some who wear the scrubs. Now if you are inclined to become one of the second kind, you will have to prove yourself to be worthy. And to become worthy, you will have to acquire an extensive qualification.
Your stint in med school will probably be the toughest challenge you’ve had to face in your academic career. There’s a saying that the best parts of medical school are when you join and when you graduate. Even though it’s going to be demanding, your journey to becoming a doctor will still be fulfilling. To help you sail through this phase, here are a few things you need to know before going to med school.
1. You become fluent in a foreign tongue
Most of your medical language seems to be linked to Greek or Latin. You will frequently find yourself uttering words like lingual artery, integumentary, and glossopharyngeal nerve. And a lot of your sentences will begin with things like “hemat” “lapar,” “histo,” and so on.
People won’t completely understand why you read books on Latin etymology. Studying Greek and Latin roots, suffixes and prefixes lets you learn and remember medical terminologies.
2. Time becomes the prime focus of your existence
You try to maintain a schedule for everything that must be done. You underestimate the amount of time it may take to review and study your course notes. You end up cancelling movie nights and meetings with friends because you are running out of time.
In your hectic life, you may forget you sister’s birthday; your car dies because you couldn’t find the time to get the maintenance done. You rarely return phone calls and check your email in days.
3. You’d find yourself diagnosing everyone around you
You will frequently have an urge to play ‘doctor’ wherever you are, from the dinner table to your way back home. Subconsciously, you begin to witness and diagnose symptoms shown by the people around you.
“Difficulty on exhale with slight wheezing, excessive sputum— must be a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,”
You would often think to yourself. Often, scoring an accurate diagnosis becomes a fierce competition amongst your med school friends.
4. Teamwork is essential for your success
There will be times you would need your classmates to help you if you’re having difficulty with a particular subject. In this case, some noted institutions provide the scope for study in groups and tutoring sessions with peers.
Similarly, in clinical rotations, your success will depend a lot on how well you work with a team of residents, physicians. It’s also important you develop a thick skin because they won’t sugarcoat anything if you falter. Imagine working with Gordon Ramsay or Simon Cowell. Again, picture working with them every single day. Most of the time, there is a good reason why they are hard on you.
5. Everyone develops weird study habits
After spending a year or so in medical school, you will realise that everyone develops unusual study habits. Some need complete silence, while others need to reward themselves with 15-minutes of gaming after every paragraph they read from the textbook.
Even worse, there are some students who just stare at the textbook, waiting that knowledge, like molecules, will diffuse from a space of high concentration to low concentration. What’s even weirder is you could be any one of these three types.
6. It isn’t always about studying medicine
While medical studies are quite demanding. But you must take some time out from your hectic schedule to do something fun. The activities you pursue may not always be about having fun. While it’s perfectly alright to enjoy yourself and take your mind off work, but it’s also important to use the leisure time for “personal development”.
“Invest time on skills which are outside the scope of your academic study but are still important. For instance, indulging in physical activities will help develop stamina and keep you active”,
suggests George Matthews, an expert on assignment help from Essaygator.com. These added skills, in turn, will help you sail through prolonged shift timings later in your career.
7. Studying anatomy goes beyond looking at pictures
Anatomy is going to be a significant part of your curriculum. In fact, some traditional institutions emphasise in this area. In some cases, you may be asked to dissect a “subject” who has decided to donate their body to training medical students.
This automatically means you need to pick up the scalpel yourself. Some of you might be comfortable with the idea of getting a hands-on, practical approach in anatomy, and some of you may not. Many universities use only pre-prepared dissections (prosections). This way, even though you will still have to learn and examine the structures of anatomy, but without actually getting your hands dirty.
8. You’re not going to be the only smart person in the room
You may have spent your entire academic career being the most intelligent and accomplished student. But when you pursue medicine, you’re surrounded by accomplished people. It’s highly likely that someone in the room holds more knowledge than you do, and that can be humbling at times.
You may find it hard to swallow your pride in the beginning. But the sooner you do it, the sooner you’ll enjoy being around these brilliant people.
9. You’ll learn just as much from your peers as you will from your professors
Everyone has their share of strengths and weaknesses. As aspiring medical practitioners, some of you become efficient at finding diagnoses for strange sets of symptoms but lack the bedside manner. While some doctors may be more approachable with their patients but struggle with problem-solving, or vice versa. If you lack any skill, you can always to take inspiration from your peers. This provides you with the opportunity to learn many things along the way from your peers.
10. You may lose interest in the speciality you are attracted to
When you join the med school, you probably harbour a dream of becoming a cardiovascular surgeon. But it’s likely that preference will change after learning about the different areas of medicine. Once you’ve moved ahead in your academic journey, you’ll be convinced you are suited for at least five other specialities.
This may lead to a dilemma. Even though some people have clear goals about their future, it’s alright not to know what speciality would be suited for you, because your preferences may change over a span of time.
11. If you’re in it for the money, you’ll be disappointed
Pursuing a career in medicine is comfortable in terms of remuneration. But you shouldn’t expect to be rich by any means. In fact, if you calculate what you make per hour, you will find that your friends are earning the same salary while working half the hours that you are putting in.
Your prosperity in the field of medicine will be driven by how passionate you are about saving lives.
12. At some point, you’ll wonder if it’s all worth it
Medical school is going to be a long stint, and you’ll sometimes lose your focus. It will feel worse when everyone around you is climbing the ladder of success in their respective careers, while you’re still slogging for your medical exams.
But ultimately, you have to remember that despite all the prolonged hours spent in the wards, endless lectures and innumerable nursing assignments, there is nothing else you would rather do.
Endnote,
Being a doctor is the closest you will get to being a superhero. For that, you need to spend considerable time in med school to acquire the necessary qualifications. In this case, knowing a few crucial things will make your med school journey a lot less daunting.
Author bio: William Shell a Writer and Enthusiastic blogger. He is also associated with a reputed company for the past couple of years. Here, he deliver biology assignment help to students on their requests.