Exploring a Medical Career
How do I know if a medical career might be right for
me?
First ask yourself what kind of future appeals to you. Do you want challenges,
opportunities, a chance to make a difference? Many bright and motivated
college students describe a "dream career" with the following characteristics:
Service: Allows you to help people and advance knowledge.
Action: Doesn't tie you to a desk all the time.
Respect: Your work and contributions are an important part of your community.
Security: Enables you to earn a good living with a secure future.
Excitement: Changes daily, so it's hardly ever boring.
Mobility: Your skills and knowledge are in demand, wherever you choose to live.
Flexibility: Offers you lots of career options from the same education
base.
Few occupations meet all of these standards. None meets them better than
a career in medicine.
What is a doctor's career like?
Few fields offer a wider variety of opportunities. Most doctors' professional
lives are filled with caring for people and continuously learning more
about the human body. Every day in communities around the country, doctors
work in neighborhood clinics, hospitals, offices, even homeless shelters
and schools to care for people in need.
But physicians also do many other things. Physician researchers are at
work today developing exciting new treatments for cancer, genetic disorders,
and infectious diseases like AIDS. Academic physicians share their skills
and wisdom by teaching medical students and residents. Others work with
health maintenance organizations, pharmaceutical companies, medical device
manufacturers, health insurance companies, or in corporations directing
health and safety programs. People with medical skills are in demand everywhere.
Would medicine provide me with a good living?
Medicine has many rewards—personally, intellectually, and financially.
On average, doctors make about $160,000 a year, but this amount can vary
depending on where physicians live and what type of medical specialty
they practice. As the American health care system changes, fewer doctors
are working for themselves and more are joining health care systems, often
as salaried employees. In these organizations, physicians often can command
salaries comparable to executives in other occupations.
I've heard a lot about primary care doctors lately.
What are their careers like?
About one-third of the nation's physicians are generalists—"primary
care" doctors who provide lifelong medical services for the entire family. General internists, family physicians, and
general pediatricians are all considered generalist doctors. They are
the first doctors people consult for medical care. And they are trained to
provide the wide range of services children and adults need. When patients'
specific health needs require further treatment, generalist physicians
send them to see a specialist physician.
Specialist physicians differ from generalists in that they focus on treating
a particular system or part of the body. Neurologists who study the brain,
cardiologists who study the heart, ophthalmologists who study the eye,
and hematologists who study the blood are just a few examples of specialists.
They work together with generalist physicians to ensure that patients
receive treatment for specific medical problems as well as complete and
comprehensive care throughout life.
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