Medicine is an Apprenticeship Profession: Why I Choose Medicine

The following is a post I wrote in May 2017 during my first gap year from undergrad, I was working for a medical billing company at the time and was taking an 11 month study break before a job transition into clinical optometry management, and a third MCAT attempt. I felt burnt out, exhausted, and disheartened with my perceived failure and rejections from my second AACOMAS application cycle. At best I hope this post demonstrates to pre-med students how to effectively cope with depression during a gap year before medical school:

• Don't stop shadowing physicians! Seek out physician-mentorship, there are plenty of doctors out there who want to pour into the next generation of healthcare providers. 
• Work on yourself. Don't lose sight of why you still choose medicine everyday. Enjoy life, live balanced, build healthy habits, learn to budget, do something unrelated to medicine - take time to reflect and grow spiritually. 
• Community. Surround yourself with positive encouraging people. If you're discouraged and dealing with setbacks like a poor MCAT score, who you surround yourself with will make all the difference. 

Make the most of your gap year before medical school and know that everyone's path looks different, emulate strategies, don't assume that what works for someone else will work for you. 

Photo Credit: Google Images

Medicine is an apprenticeship profession, I learn how to be a doctor by studying doctors. I choose to model my career off the advice and success of physicians who practice medicine the way I hope to.

Since I started my journey to become a physician I am reminded of all the experiences, accomplishments, and failures that have brought me to this point in my healthcare career. After shadowing various physicians and working in healthcare, I know that there is nothing more challenging and rewarding to spend my life’s pursuit. I have decided to be a family practitioner because it is the most practical and meaningful way that I see fit to serve others.

It is my desire to serve and fascination with patient-centered medicine that inspires me to become a physician. Passion does not exist without suffering; it exists as a dichotomy: suffering compels me to pursue and attain what I believe is worthwhile. I cannot bear to see others in pain, I hope to make a lasting difference and alleviate even some of the suffering in the world. My hope is to meet the physical, mental, and spiritual needs of people in a community who would otherwise not be receiving top quality care, serving where the most need is. The daily challenges of my journey life remind me of my purpose to use medicine as a means to benefit others and serve intentionally with everything that I am and have to give.

In an era marked by healthcare reform and population surge, there is an ever increasing need for rural primary care physicians in the U.S. The need for healthcare is consistent, but the need for great physicians is paramount to meet this need. Medicine is an apprenticeship profession, I learn how to be a doctor by studying doctors. I am thankful to have many outstanding role models in medicine who are supportive and encouraging in my pursuit. The following paragraph is a notable story from my past 5 years of direct physician shadowing that greatly influenced my decision to pursue family practice.

In the summer of 2014 I had an amazing opportunity to participate in a 3 month pre-med volunteer internship at the Jackson-Madison General Hospital in Jackson Tennessee. During the program I shadowed first-year resident Dr. Heather Perry (D.O.) at the UT Family Practice residency. After spending several 12 and 24 hour shifts delivering babies, admitting patients from the ER, rounding and determining treatment plans, I knew that this is exactly what I want to spend the rest of my life doing. Being a physician is a great responsibility, observing Dr. Perry conduct herself under the stresses of managing multiple patients while learning a new medical charting software exhibits the importance of multitasking and adapting osteopathic medicine to the changes in conventional medicine. My exposure to a wide variety of specialties and 250+ physician shadowing hours has collectively inspired me to serve with excellence, holding myself to the highest standards of professionalism and responsibility for the greater good.

Since first applying to medical schools in 2015 and again in 2016, I have completed a B.S. in nutrition, increased my MCAT score, and gain experience in healthcare with an ambulatory surgery management company. My exposure to the medical revenue cycle (billing, contracting, coding, and collections) equips me with first-hand knowledge of how to run a successful private practice and recognize who I need on my revenue management team, further driving my desire to become a clinical family practitioner. I have the personal character and professional demeanor of an outstanding physician. I am a sensitive and compassionate humanitarian and believe holistic-patient centered medicine is the best fit for my strengths and personal philosophies regarding health, wellness, and order. 

I can confidently say that I will become a successful family practitioner because I choose to model my career off the advice and success of physicians who practice medicine the way I hope to.

Challenges and Sacrifice

This post was originally written in July 2017 before my 3rd MCAT attempt. I was at the tail end of a depression and was groping for encouragement, for light at the end of what seemed to be an endless tunnel. Whether you're reading this as a pre-med student struggling with the MCAT or GPA, or you're looking for encouragement amidst what seems impossible: don't give up! This entry is raw, transparent, and vulnerable for me to share. 

Photo Credit: Google Images

Challenges do not define me, I choose to be defined by how I respond, not react, to all challenges I encounter. I am a perfectionist to a fault. Arguably it’s my worst weakness. I will not settle for second best – I always give my best work: I cannot offer more than I am capable of. I always choose to work within my capacity but am always improving and pushing my limits. I will not quit in the face of challenges, instead I welcome challenges. I choose to take on challenges for the sake of successful accomplishment simply to know I can and will do anything I set my mind to.

In high school I was bad at chemistry, no matter how hard I studied and invested time into additional tutoring I could not pass a test to save my life. In college as a pre-med student I minored in chemistry, a subject I once hated. You see I was so bad at chemistry I knew there would be nothing more worth my time than to minor in a challenging subject. To make my endeavor easier I majored in nutrition and food science, applying chemistry to food science was an easy correlation in my mind.

Ultimately I will become a physician, so nutrition and food science is a fitting mix of human physiology, biochemistry, and practical everyday knowledge. I managed to do well in all my college classes, however on my journey to become a physician I have encountered a much larger challenge to conquer - the MCAT. After spending thousands of dollars on AAMC prep courses and hundreds of hours studying in two years and a four-year college degree later, the MCAT is the only credential keeping me from admission to a medical program.

One of the first physicians I shadowed told me, “The hardest part of medical school is getting in.” I choose a career in medicine after extensive physician shadowing/mentorship and know what I am getting into and what it will take to be the physician I strive to become. Sure there will be setbacks and disappointments, to date I have applied to medical school twice in two years and essentially earned a sub-average MCAT score twice. Everything academically and professionally completed up to this point is in preparation for my career in medicine. To give up would be foolish, I let myself down by giving up now. This journey to medical school is not easy, which is why I choose to do whatever it takes as long as it takes because I am compelled to become the best physician I can possibly be.

"[Many people] think all the world's problems can be fixed without any cost to themselves. We don't believe that. There's a lot to be said for sacrifice, remorse, even pity. It's what separates us from roaches." ~Paul Farmer, excerpt from Mountains Beyond Mountains (pg. 40)

Introduction: Perspectives from a Medical Student

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This blog will function more or less as an extension to my personal journal, which will document my journey through medical school and shed insight on the unique pre-medical experiences and opportunities that paved the way to acceptance.

A little background on me, I graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 2016 with a bachelors of science in Nutrition & Food Science minoring in chemistry with a concentration in pre-medical studies. My university, like most, did not have a "pre-med program" rather it was a pre-med pathway consisting of academic advisers who make sure you're taking all the prerequisite classes needed for admissions into medical school. When I started undergrad I knew medicine was the route for me because of my interest in anatomy and biology in high school as well as my love for working with and serving people. What really solidified my calling to medicine was experiencing medicine firsthand in Mexico on a gap year mid-term missions trip after high school. I ended up contracting typhoid fever from bad tejuino and witnessed the realities of clinical medicine in a third-world developing country. Before I even returned to the U.S. in 2012 I applied and got accepted to MTSU. 

As a college freshman, and being an ISFJ personality type, I immediately began shadowing physicians, developing my personal statement, building relationships for letters of recommendation, getting involved with student government, and healthcare organizations on campus. I read the book, Get Into Medical School: A Strategic Approach by Kaplan and did everything I possibly could to make myself the best most competitive candidate for medical school by being involved on campus, my church, and logging hundreds of shadowing hours. Amidst the business of my social life and classes I thoroughly enjoyed the process and made some amazing friendships with many other like-minded pre-med students. 

My senior year in college I took the new 2015 MCAT, now the MCAT had not gone through any major updates since the 1990s so I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. Basically the MCAT was now 7 hrs. long, had new bell-curve scoring system (472-528) with a greater emphasis on 4 new subjects, Biochemistry, Critical Analysis and Reasoning, Psychology, and Sociology. After 3 attempts over 3 years, disappointment, and personal crisis I came to terms with my standardized test taking abilities and personally accepted rejection from every medical school I applied to in the U.S. Instead of giving up or reconsidering my career in healthcare all together, I sought counsel and was advised to consider Caribbean schools as an opportunity to achieve my calling to medicine.

In January 2019 I applied to the "Big Four" Caribbean schools landed interviews and got accepted to all four and chose to attend the best one (in my opinion), Saba University College of Medicine. Since I just accepted a management position at an optometry practice I decided to start in January 2020. It's now October 2019, 80 days before I ship out to the Dutch Caribbean. I am so beyond stoked to start this next chapter of my life and career!!

Over the next few posts I want to address some ideas, experiences, and perspectives I had during my pre-med and gap years before medical school starts, I hope it is useful to other pre-medical students, prospective Caribbean students (Saba U.) or individuals considering medical school.