Careers - Focus on the medical profession
Jan-Walter De Neve MD (OG 2000)
I did medical school in Belgium and an exchange year in Switzerland. In contrast to the US, where you start medicine at a later stage in life, we take this decision at 18. It's early to know what you really want, or understand what medicine is. Having said that, I definitely do not regret it. Even if I end up in business, politics or philosophy (which I probably will), it's a wonderful experience. It gives an understand of the human body, the brain, chemistry, physics, basic sciences, psychiatry, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and the list goes on. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jwdeneve
Dr Ann Elizabeth O'Brien nee Walpole (OM 1970)
I have a portfolio career in General Practice and I am Medical Director at Redbridge Primary Care Trust (since May 2008) as well as a Clinical Teaching Fellow at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry (since April 2004). I am also a salaried GP in Redbridge. I trained at Kings College Hospital Medical School and then undertook postgraduate training for General Practice. It took me ten years from start to the end of my training to enter practice. I worked as principal in general practice from October 1980 until March 2008 having a very successful practice which was involved in innovative service development and various aspects of training of health staff and undergraduate medical students.
Medicine is a rapidly changing career. It offers opportunities for wide clinical specialties. As a GP you may specialise in a set area and become a GP with a special interest, education or become involved in clinical commissioning or leadership within the new polysystem arrangements. In hospital medicine the choices are as wide.
If you want to be more sure of entry success you need to succeed in the UKCAT test- worth doing research about it early. At interview, schools are looking for individuals who have sparkle and a good understanding of the good and bad aspects of the career. You need to know something about the school and population the medical school serves. Just having high grades is not enough - be interesting, have a different side to yourself to offer. Remember that different schools have different curriculum structures so choose one that suits your style of learning. Some courses are problem-based learning format and others more didactic. Some have multiprofessional groups in the early years.
Constant Busch (OG 1984)
I am a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Ashford and St Peter's NHS Trust in Chertsey. I have been in post for five years now. My specialty is to perform joint replacements of the hip and knee joint of patients and repair them again, when they eventually wear out!
I am the only person in my family that has chosen a career in medicine. My decision to choose medicine as my job was based on my experience of having had an admission to hospital as a young child. In fact, I had a number of small operations in the early 70's, which was the time when hip replacement surgery was just starting to become more popular. This left quite an impression on me and started my fascination with the medical world.
The medical profession has a great many subspecialties. You can be a doctor in the community like, for example, a general practitioner or work in a hospital as a specialist like a medical doctor, a surgeon or a pathologist. To become a doctor you are required to go to medical school. After I left St George's College I took a year off and spend some time at Duke University in North Carolina, USA before I returned to study medicine at St Thomas's Medical School in London. For me it took six years to become a doctor as I did an extra Bachelor of Science degree during my study. Being at medical school was a great time. Of course the main aim was to learn about medicine but there was also a lot of opportunity to experience other things. Being in London gave me a lot of opportunity to take part in many other activities apart from medical study. Having played hockey at St George's, it allowed me to play for the University of London hockey team for six years! There are certain advantages to being a student for a longer time than most other studies!
For those who choose medicine as a career you must understand that there is an element of "vocation" to the profession of medicine. Although doctors will rarely be struggling to make a living, there are other professions that are financially much more rewarding. Whatever medical specialty you decide to choose the social and humanitarian reward should out way the financial reward by a large margin for those who chose medicine as a career.
We are lucky that in the United Kingdom at least the medical profession is still highly regarded and respected by the general population. I would hope that those students who would like to embark on a medical career have an ambition to maintain that public opinion. Unfortunately such dedication is associated with hard work and personal sacrifice.
One great advantage of medicine over some other professions is that as a doctor you will be exposed during your work to a great number of other professions. Taking my job as an example. I do not only need my medical and surgical skills as a daily requirement but I also need have legal and managerial skills, to carry out my job. I deal with the police, fire service and the ambulance service. We also require a large helping of economic and political knowledge. And, of course, our patients come from all walks of life and although we deal with them on a professional basis there is a lot of interesting worldly information that we can learn from them.
There are still many areas of medicine where scientific advances are being made, sometimes, at a frightening pace. Certainly you can be at the forefront of medical science if you choose to get involved in research in your medical career.
A career in medicine will suit both men and women and there is probably more equal opportunity then in some other professions. The hours of work can be long and often unsociable. Especially during the early years, as a trainee doctor, on call duties during the night are common. Often family life has to adjust to that. Because of the training schedule of a junior doctor you will often get training at different hospitals. This means that you really only get to "settle down" when you have reached the end of your training and become a general practitioner or consultant. Some people may not like the semi-nomadic existence during what can be up to 10-12 years from the time you leave medical school until becoming a consultant. Training to be a general practitioner is much quicker and may take between 4-6 years.
To those who are considering a career in medicine I would say it is a career which is very interesting, practical and greatly rewarding for those people who are happy to accept patient gratitude, maintaining professionalism in adverse circumstance and for those of you who are prepared to work hard for perhaps not so much financial reward as some other professions.
Doctors by and large, over the course of history have been well respected and trusted pillars of society and the training and practicing of the art of medicine has often shaped doctors into these type of personalities. In the world of medicine you will never stop learning, there is always excitement and there is always human interaction, be it either with patients or other associated healthcare personnel.
Medicine is a great opportunity to enrich your life and the life of others.
In my opinion a good doctor has to be honest, hardworking, fair, sociable and ambitious. Of course a few grey cells will help too! The medical profession is a great way to walk the path through life!
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