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If you can be talked out of medicine, you should be.
I have to differ and say I’m not a big fan of this sentiment. There is, and will continue to be, a big need for healthcare providers for our growing and aging population. My suspicion is there aren’t enough people out there for whom medicine is a passionate ‘calling’ to even come close to meeting society’s needs if that were the standard of entry into the workforce. It’s therefore important that the healthcare industry and medical profession continue to meet people in the middle, adapting to make medicine a desirable career choice in the future. The biggest example of this is, as recently discussed on the blog, crushing educational costs/debt.
As for the broader question of advice to one’s kids, I would hypothetically discourage my child from going to medical school. The many reasons are too easy to list: crushing debt, declining and confusing reimbursements, increasing regulatory nonsense, long stressful hours, decreasing intellectual stimulation, physical demands of procedural specialties (a big one, seldom discussed), decreased autonomy/respect from growing administrative bureaucracy, a population of patients who increasingly seem to be almost purposefully wrecking their health through bad lifestyle choices leading to difficult to treat chronic illnesses, etc, etc, etc. I don’t like that I would want to say, “Go ahead and go to med school, but you’d better chose an E.R.O.D.E. specialty.”, so I would just say I’d recommend against it. Get ready for the future where medicine is no longer something that our school’s best and brightest want to pursue.
I think this sentiment is that if talking someone out of medicine works, then they would definitely grind out of it anyway along the path. Medicine is still an obviously great profession income wise. Now with us grumpy codgers telling people to save/invest wildly as opposed to our mentors who suggested we all buy beach houses and ferraris and things will just “work out”….they will be okay. I would definitely make sure they have a financial mindset about it, and choose specialty with a heavy weight on that and length.
The other likely great gig for less everything but most importantly time is a PA. They will probably be taking over primary care with NPs.
I agree with what I think is the intent of WCI’s comment. If someone can be talked out of it, they may not have the commitment it takes to get through it.
Exactly. Long road and if you have this idea that "I should have done law" in the back of your head the whole time, you won't get to the end of it or be happy when you do.
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