[Last Name] 1

Adam Bush

Morean

English 1201

3-19-2020

Literature Review

Many of young men and women pursue some sort of medicine after they graduate high

school. Thousands of students every year think they have a love for taking care of people and are

infatuated with the human body, but they do not know which road to take to complete their goal

of caring for people. Perhaps the two most common goals for these individuals who wish to

practice medicine are to become a nurse or medical doctor. There are hundreds of different

avenues you can take within the nursing and medical doctor fields. Therefore, thousands of

students every year ask the question, “What route would make me the happiest in my journey of

practicing medicine, what specialty or tasks within my job would I like to do on a day to day

basis, and is the medical filed right for me in the first place ?” This is a very tough question to

answer that requires lots of deep thought and research. I am currently trying to answer this

question for myself.

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When reading though my articles, I began to notice a few trends. The first trend I noticed

was that all the articles placed a huge importance on being happy with your job for the rest of

your working career. Most people will spend 30-40 years working after they complete their

formal training. According to Eric J. Keller, an MD who conducted over 250 interviews,

concluded that there are three groups that all people who want to practice medicine fall into.

These three groups are managers, fixers, and diagnosticians (Keller 1). An article on

Medscape.com titled, “Physician Lifestyle & Happiness Report 2020,” has numerous charts and

graphs providing information about physicians’ happiness outside of work. The reports

concluded that rheumatologists, general surgeons, preventative medicine doctors, and orthopedic

surgeons are among the happiest outside of work (Martin 1). In order to be a great doctor like all

pre-medical school students aspire to be, one must be certain they will love their job for 30 or

more years.

A second trend that was noted is that people planning to pursue the medical field need to

decide what type of interaction they would like with their patients. For example, a psychologist

is going to have long lasting and deep conversations with their patients creating a strong bond. A

person pursuing family medicine or pediatrics can expect to develop relationships that grow and

develop for years. “I have had many of my patients in my practice for 15-20 years, so I get to

form such long-lasting, meaningful relationships with them. I truly get to know my patients as

people, and I am forever grateful for that,” said Susan Thompson Hingle, MD (Murphy1). On the

other side of the medical practice are doctors who may only see their patients a minimal amount

of times. These doctors would be trauma surgeons and radiologists (Murphy 2).

Among the authors of the sources studied, it became obvious that individuals think

differently about what is most important when pursuing a career. “The most obvious move-
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particularly considering the $100,00 plus loan debts most medical students accumulate-may be to

go straight to a list of the highest-paid medical specialties and proceed from there” (Murphy 1).

While this was the opinion of one article, another focused on an individual’s personality, the way

they think, feel, and act. People who enjoy putting together and taking apart objects, working

with their hands, while not caring so much about lasting relationships may enjoy orthopedic

surgery. Someone who thrives on high pressure, high stakes situations would love to practice

emergency medicine. While both articles bring valid arguments to the table, I side with Keller’s

article more that Murphy’s article. I believe most people who are going to become doctors want

to be great at their job, and if you do not love your job you will not be a great doctor. Although it

is important to pay off your student loans, all medical doctors are compensated well enough to

pay off their loans in a reasonable amount of time.

A common misconception about medical physicians is that they are greedy and choose to

pursue medicine for the sake of the dollar. This could not be further from the truth. To become a

doctor, it takes 11-16 years of rigorous schooling, and if an individual does not have a passion

for medicine, they will not finish the training. Best medical degees.com has an article consisting

of a graphical money break down comparing teachers to doctors. Statistically doctors make three

cents per hour less than teachers over the course of their careers and schooling (Best 1).

Although money may be a factor when deciding to purse medicine, it is certainly not the leading

factor. Doctors choose to be doctors because of their love for the profession.

As a possible future medical student, I found value in each of these articles. It was

important to read critically in order to determine fact from opinion. Each article introduced

information that allowed me more pieces to the puzzle in determining which medical specialty I

may be interested in investigating further. From this information, I have concluded that it is most
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important to love the people you work with as well as love the duties you will be required to

carry out on a day to day basis.

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Works Cited

Berry, Jeniffer, and Alaina Biggers. “Types of Doctors and What They Do.” Medical News
Today, 2019, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/types-of-doctors.
DeNoon, Daniel J. “Which Doctors Are Happiest? Healthiest?” WebMD, WebMD, 22 Mar.
2012, www.webmd.com/balance/news/20120322/which-doctors-are-happiest-healthiest#1.
Jubal, Dr. Kevin, director. How to Choose a Specialty. Med School Insiders, May 2019,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQLD_HZPBwM.
Keller, Eric J. “What Personality Type Fits Your Medical Specialty?” KevinMD.com,
KevinMD.com, 29 July 2018, www.kevinmd.com/blog/2018/07/what-personality-type-
fits-your-medical-specialty.html.
Murphy, Brenden. “Choosing a Medical Specialty: 4 Questions to Help Get You Started.”
American Medical Association, 2 Oct. 2018, www.ama-assn.org/residents-
students/specialty-profiles/choosing-medical-specialty-4-questions-help-get-you-started.
Peckham, Carol. “Medscape Physician Lifestyle & Happiness Report 2018.” Medscape Log In,
2018, www.medscape.com/slideshow/2018-lifestyle-happiness-6009320#3.
Scheepers, Anton. “Top 7 Reasons Why Medical Students Dropout of Medical School.” The
Apprentice Doctor, 7 Dec. 2018, www.theapprenticedoctor.com/top-7-reasons-students-
drop-medical-school/.
“Study Finds High Attrition Rates among General Surgery Residents: 4 Things to Know.
Attrition Rates among General Surgery Residents Is 18 Percent, with Higher Rates among
Women than Men, According to a Study Published in JAMA Surgery.” Becker's Hospital
Review, 2016, www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-physician-relationships/study-
finds-high-attrition-rates-among-general-surgery-residents-4-things-to-know.html.
“The Deceptive Salary of Doctors.” BestMedicalDegrees.com, 2020,
www.bestmedicaldegrees.com/salary-of-doctors/.
“WOLFPACC Center.” WOLFPACC, 2014, wolfpacc.com/blog/news-tips/usmle-failure-rates-
and-how-you-can-beat-them/.