Okay so I've been interested in medicine literally since I was three. My mother told me I used to look in her patients mouths when I was three so I'm serious. And now, surprise surprise, I'm premed and completely committed to it. I actually love helping people. It really makes me happy to know that I made someone's life better or I helped them. My family, my boyfriend, helping people and chocolate from Trader Joe's make me happy. It's not about the money because with the health care reform I don't know how well doctors are going to do money wise. But I do have a few issues with the medical profession.
1. "Take an aspirin and call me if anything changes." See I must not be reading the same pill bottle because I didn't know aspirin could cure everything. Hmm that's new to me.
2. Sticking your neck out. I know no one really wants to do this 100% of the time but you're in the business of saving lives... hence you're in the business of sticking your neck out for the greater good. That's why you spend all that time in school. So you can stick your neck out and make the best decisions. You're trained for this and if you don't have the answer please ask for help.
3. Okay I know this isn't the doctor's fault but the average amount of time a doctor spends with a patient is 8 minutes. I don't know about you but I don't talk that fast and usually the first couple minutes are spent talking about school, kids, life etc. How can you diagnose accurately in 8 minutes?
4. The medicalization of birth. I took a doula training course so I am a trained doula or birthing assistant and personally I think the C section rate is scary. Sometimes it's up around 50% and 50% of women do NOT need c sections. And scissors and vagina do not belong in the same sentence let alone within at least a foot of each other so episiotomies should not be routine. I know it's to prevent tearing but women have been doing this for a while and they shouldn't always be necessary.
5. Being a doctor should not be a backup. I think a passion for helping people is definitely necessary so having it be a fall back option when you were set on being a lawyer isn't very ideal.
6. Explain to your patients what's happening to them. I don't like it when a doctor is doing something to my body and I have no idea what's going on. If I had 10 doctors doing things I can't understand to MY CHILD I'd be going out of my mind with worry. So please take some time and explain.
I know some of these aren't the doctor's fault, medicine isn't perfect. Just as long as I'm different, it's not much but it's a start... especially when it comes to kids.
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