In our short break, I was able to catch up with some of my good friends in medicine. Of these, a considerable number of them had done Psychiatry - a field that baffles my mind. An area that can offer therapy through abrupt means, or no therapy at all. That is of course a judgement rather than a fact, but that is really how I will feel about it until it's my turn to plunge into its complexity. However one of my friends did mention a fact I didn't know - it's very easy to get onto the Psychiatry training program. In fact, one may apply directly after medical school without internship or residency. I was very surprised to hear that.
Well it confused me. I started thinking about the first time I attended a careers expo and the College of Psychiatrists handed out booklets, stickers, pens and DVDs. This was while I was in first year and well, I thought I'd give the DVD a go, seeing as though one of my heros in high school was Dr. Hannibal Lecter - yes, I'll explain that later.
So the DVD showed a few registrars explaining how good the pay is and the hours being very friendly. Showing them with their stethoscopes (God knows why) and ties with no pagers attached to their belts. Big smiles and enthusiastic tones.
Remembering the moments I wasted watching that stupid DVD got me thinking about the Colleges and their marketing campaigns. At that point, the penny dropped. What sort of marketing does the College of Surgeons have for medical students?
The College of Surgeons do not need a marketing campaign. They have waiting lists long enough to supply the third world with enough enthusiastic doctors for at least half a decade. I then remembered at that same careers expo showing up at the RACS desk, lining behind about eight people. When I finally got to the front and met the only representative working there, a Vascular Surgeon, he looked at me and waited impatiently for me to ask my questions. He was already irritated with the guy before me, but that's another story. How do I get into the College of Surgeons?
Everything you need to know is in this booklet. Thanks.
So I walked away with a booklet printed on some respectable paper that was but a few pages. There was no registrar quotations, any suggestions about hours of work or pay. Only the requirements for admission, the process of application and factors that influence the application.
Now it was obvious. Why would they need to advertise? No, they have plenty of applicants.
This all brings me to the purpose of this post. CH, one of my good friends since the first year of medical school, decided last year that he wanted to devote his life to Orthopaedic Surgery. Now, I am sure a lot of people make that [temporary] life-changing decision, only to realise that they are on the brink of suicide well before they get admitted into the training program. But CH was different - he was 28 years of age, about to get married and ready to serve humanity, like his father did as an Ophthalmologist. He appreciates my passion toward General Surgery and he teased me all until last week. This is a man, a friend, who spent what little holidays we had at the end of last year as a volunteer in the Orthopaedic Emergency operating theatres in Southeast Asia, helping those in need as a surgical assistant. He loved it, couldn't get enough of the involvement, the life-changing interventions and I am sure to this day that it influenced his decision to pursue Orthopaedics ever more.
But then I got a message from him last week:
Just had my first proper day in theatres on a General Surgical Service... 7 procedures, scrubbed on six including the final for the night a crash laparotomy, right hemicolectomy and anastomosis for ischaemic bowel... With a boss who wanted to teach... It was awesome. Thinking of you and wondering how you'll cry when I snag your spot on the Gen Surg training scheme...
At first I thought that was a great message and smiled. Then I realised that it was true. With his reputation and passion, which is well and truly beyond me, he could take my position in any training programme. And he isn't the only brilliant star out there.
How sad that our futures are determined not by our passions or goals, but by the hands of the few that classify us as competent. Albeit necessary, it makes me feel like getting into the College of Surgeons is almost asymptotic... I'll get closer and closer, but never get there. Sometimes it feels like no matter how much you sacrifice, how hard you work, what you sacrifice and how detached you are from your family and yourself - you will be unsuccessful because more is required of you.
You do have to do your intern year before you can start psychiatry training - you can apply earlier though, and start in PGY2.
ReplyDeleteI think you can do surgery if you want it badly enough. Work out what you'll need in order to be competitive, make a plan about how to achieve it, and you'll get there!