Posted: Dec 30, 2010 7:34 am
inkaStepa wrote:-Must one be a fast learner to be a doctor? I tend to take more time to understand things to be honest.
Medicine is more of a combined discipline of a lot of different subjects. Some parts require analytical skills, others need practical wit while others need mindless cramming. As a result, you have a whole lot of different types of doctors, some pursuing research, others doing hands-on clinical medicine, some excel at surgery, some are good at emergency management etc. So it might be a tad difficult to say whether one has to be a fast learner or not. It might help in some parts while it is not essential in others.
From my experience, the people who take longer to grasp a concept, are usually the ones who get it best. Not that medicine has a lot of difficult concepts. TBH, most of medicine is pretty fucking easy.
-is it possible to do more than volunteer work abroad (like work at an Indian hospital or example)? Someone told me I'd have to do a residency to practice anywhere outside the states.
Until recently, India did not have a medical licensing exam like the USMLE but it has recently been introduced and you will need to pass it to get the licence to do medicine in India. The exam's an easy one and they ask pretty basic questions. And you need to do the one-year internship that comes compulsory with all med-schools to be eligible for that.
Indian hospitals are very hard to work at and they usually handle a lot more pressure than the western ones. But that can always be a good thing if you want to learn how to tackle practical situations. So it's always a good idea to come here for the experience.
If OTOH you want to do volunteer work for the sake of it, then I think, a better idea would be to be attached with Red Cross or DWB etc. That way, you can actually be where the need is.
-Will I be able to have a family? The counseler told me I would be too busy to manage a home life so I'm a bit worried. I'm not planning to think about kids until I'm 30-35 but I'm 20 now.
All the doctors I know have a very healthy family life. Things may get a little rough or busy at times but that's a part of every job, I guess.