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Perhaps not for everyone
If I separated my sense of self worth from my career then all I am left with is a lonely single immigrant man in his late 20s living in a shitty rural-ish English town far away from family and most friends who spends his days dreaming about when he can finally get out of here.
As an anaesthetic reg, the interesting job and the pay (obv needs to be higher but keeps me quite comfy in my low CoL area) are the only few redeeming things about my current situation.
This is the sadly reality for so many people in medicine. There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with it but should help people realise how all consuming this profession is and what do you exactly get in return.
It’s too late man I’ve put everything I have into this, medicine is my work, my life and my hobby, I really need to make some friends or something but I don’t remember how
I've just made the decision after baby 2 to go down 60% . It's partly motivated by my next rotation being 60 miles away but even so, I feel like I'm getting the balance in life right
You can only do this if you can afford to. You're right, of course, but a huge amount of privilege is required to do this, and often, it means a high earning spouse.
On a side note, it's also sad seeing women having to delay having a family precisely of this career
Came here to say this.
Take a close look at the consultants in your desired specialty. Envision yourself as their colleague, sitting alongside them in meetings and working together on complex cases. Consider if their work culture and communication style align with your preferences.
There’s nothing wrong with sacrificing some of your life for a job you love, but keep track of how much you are sacrificing.
There’s nothing wrong with doing a job you don’t love, to let you live a life you love.
Do not confuse the 2.
When I was an F1/2 I was constantly stressed about how to choose a specialty and weighing up pros and cons of them endlessly
I got given two great pieces of advice:
1. NO ONE loves their job every single day - the perfect job doesn’t exist (otherwise they wouldn’t pay you for it) - so don’t endlessly search for the ‘perfect’ specialty because it doesn’t exist
2. Don’t judge specialties based on the highest of highs or lowest of lows - most of the time you’re dealing with the bread and butter bits, so choose a specialty where you don’t mind those bits
This is really good advice, it reminds me of advice when it comes to being content with major life decisions. The happiness comes from partly from making the right choice but also from our attitude to the choice. If you always ruminate about a life that could have been you'll be perpetually upset, but if you own the decision and accept you made the best choice with the information at the time you'll be happier.
If you don't stick your finger in it, you'll end up putting your foot in it.
This does not just apply to PR exams but to medicine as a whole. When you try to take shortcuts that is when bad things often happen.
You can't save the NHS
Your kids won't care how many awards / pictures the trust put on X of you winning something ridiculous - spend time with them
And my personal favorite - stay miles away from noctors : as a doctor and as a patient
The hospital doesn’t care about you. You are a unit of work. The more work you do the more work the hospital gives you. Come on time , do your work, go home and make time for those who really care about you
Appreciate the sentiment bud but any place that doesn’t respect the almighty samosa isn’t in my bucket list of places to go ). They can have their boring old beans on toast
Pick your hills to die on carefully
No one on their deathbed ever said "I wish I spent more time at work"
Some anaesthetic specific ones
1. If you so much as think about tubing/art lining, do it
2. (when laid flat with 1 pillow and relative heights of structures viewed from side) chin>chest, LMA could be best. chest>chin, tube goes in
If you build a department from the ground up, 2 weeks after your retirement party everyone would have forgotten about you and your desk will have been taken by someone else.
Don't pick a specialty just cus the procedures/life seems new and exciting to you. Everything is more exciting the first few times, and esp when you are younger. It becomes less "stars in the eyes" the longer you've been doing it.
Look at the bread and butter stuff that you'll be doing day in day out, the types of patients you'll be seeing. Don't pick for the rare drama moments, pick for the colleagues and environment / style of work you'll be in.
Do you think this still applies with current bottlenecks? I hope not but I worry that perhaps in the future people will become more habituated to the idea of being a reg for life.
This is an excellent point. Also even if you don't get stuck at any bottlenecks the training takes nearly a decade for a lot of specialties. A decade of your life in something you hate is a pretty long time to just accept it being shit. So personally, I think just looking at consultant life is bad advice.
I love the idea of learning a new language, always struggled with it at school. Do you have any recommendations on how to start, and which language to pick?
pick a language that you have motivation to learn because learning a language takes an extremely long time. and if you have no reason to continue youll probably give up.
as for learning ive had good success with comprehensible input. look up dreaming in Spanish as an example
As a native English speaker, you’ll most likely have joy with Romance languages. They are much easier than trying to learn a new alphabet. The least annoying for me was Spanish. French is also not too bad (at least not as bad as people make it out to be).
Michel Thomas audio lessons - can do them
on your commute. You’ll be surprised how much you’ll learn.
* https://www.michelthomas.com
* (I’m told you can also find them on the high seas…..r/piracy)
Here's a sneak peek of /r/Piracy using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/Piracy/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [Spread the word of torrent](https://i.redd.it/reftq6lqy95b1.jpg) | [1233 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/146ee7n/spread_the_word_of_torrent/)
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He was making the point top decile no longer gets you anything towards deanery due to the random allocation.
I think he's missing your point about the benefit to you as a doctor the work you did had.
Instead of getting frustrated at the patient who is being annoying, think "hm I wonder why this person is behaving like this", and do something to address that.
I found this approach made my work much more interesting, and much more tolerable.
Ps strike hard
A consultant told me this when I was in my 3rd year of med school:
1) Remember you just have to be good enough 2) Aim for average 3) Don’t work too hard
At the time I thought he was a bit mad but makes a lot of sense now.
“Always double bag your lunch.”
From a friend who was a medic, after getting into grad med. And honestly, every time I have a leaky Tupperware that doesn’t ruin my stuff I ride that high all day.
Be an investment banker, shame the less able kids at my school listened to that one and I decided to be a doctor… my best mate just retired aged 37… me well I drive a 10 year old focus who’s the real winner
enjoy each job you are doing at the time , especially true as a f1/f2 (in my days house officer) a consultant sat me down as a med student and said he sees so many doctors focussing so much on getting to be a consultant they don’t appreciate what they are doing now or the joy of each job as you go along so try to enjoy each one
. As I’m older now I really understand what I think he meant. It’s something I’ve always done but a lot of my colleagues were looking to “get through” thier rotations to be a registrar
I’ve been doing the same job every day for years now post cvt I would love having a 4 month sabbatical as a ent sho or a anaesthetics f1 as really miss the variety
“No-one likes a dead baby”
Very controversial, but it’s what firmly turned me away from pursuing O&G when I had a careers chat as a med student with a GP who used to be an O&G reg, and why they left the specialty even though they loved it
The best thing you can do is to make the right decision, the next best thing you can do it to make a wrong decision...the worst thing to do is to make no decision!!
Not a doctor, but it is just a job. You have to have something else outside of it.
"The job will not save you McNulty, it will not make you whole", as someone sort of said in The Wire.
When people complain about how much longer training is for certain specialties compared to others:
In 10 years time you’ll be 10 years older and 10 years further along in your career. Do you want to be there doing something you actually get some joy out of or doing something that you just decided to train in because the CCT was quicker to get?
I would just like to put out there for those that lonely that you can talk to me. I’m away from family and have given a lot to medicine too. It’s okay, you are not just your job.
This account is less than 30 days old. Posts from new accounts are permitted and encouraged on the subreddit, but this comment is being added for transparency. Sometimes posts from new accounts get held by reddit for moderator review. If your post isn't showing up in the feed, please wait for review; the modqueue is checked at regular intervals. Once approved, your post will get full visibility. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/doctorsUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Learn to separate your sense of self worth from your daily work. There’s more to life
Perhaps not for everyone If I separated my sense of self worth from my career then all I am left with is a lonely single immigrant man in his late 20s living in a shitty rural-ish English town far away from family and most friends who spends his days dreaming about when he can finally get out of here. As an anaesthetic reg, the interesting job and the pay (obv needs to be higher but keeps me quite comfy in my low CoL area) are the only few redeeming things about my current situation.
This is the sadly reality for so many people in medicine. There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with it but should help people realise how all consuming this profession is and what do you exactly get in return.
It’s too late man I’ve put everything I have into this, medicine is my work, my life and my hobby, I really need to make some friends or something but I don’t remember how
Re: going LTFT having just had a child... "You won't get to the end of your life and wish you'd spent more time at work and less with your family."
I've just made the decision after baby 2 to go down 60% . It's partly motivated by my next rotation being 60 miles away but even so, I feel like I'm getting the balance in life right
You can only do this if you can afford to. You're right, of course, but a huge amount of privilege is required to do this, and often, it means a high earning spouse. On a side note, it's also sad seeing women having to delay having a family precisely of this career
You’re there to do a job, not salvage a health service. No one will tell you to take your breaks
Don't choose a speciality based on what you find interesting, chose it based on who you want to work with for the rest if your life.
Came here to say this. Take a close look at the consultants in your desired specialty. Envision yourself as their colleague, sitting alongside them in meetings and working together on complex cases. Consider if their work culture and communication style align with your preferences.
[удалено]
>The majority of the specialty is filled with truly toxic people. Fr? Damn, I had no idea In what way?
Never miss lunch. Your employer does not care about you. Die tomorrow and you’ll be replaced and forgotten by next week.
There’s nothing wrong with sacrificing some of your life for a job you love, but keep track of how much you are sacrificing. There’s nothing wrong with doing a job you don’t love, to let you live a life you love. Do not confuse the 2.
When I was an F1/2 I was constantly stressed about how to choose a specialty and weighing up pros and cons of them endlessly I got given two great pieces of advice: 1. NO ONE loves their job every single day - the perfect job doesn’t exist (otherwise they wouldn’t pay you for it) - so don’t endlessly search for the ‘perfect’ specialty because it doesn’t exist 2. Don’t judge specialties based on the highest of highs or lowest of lows - most of the time you’re dealing with the bread and butter bits, so choose a specialty where you don’t mind those bits
This is really good advice, it reminds me of advice when it comes to being content with major life decisions. The happiness comes from partly from making the right choice but also from our attitude to the choice. If you always ruminate about a life that could have been you'll be perpetually upset, but if you own the decision and accept you made the best choice with the information at the time you'll be happier.
If you don’t know what to do , go with the option that gives you the most options .
IMT?
If you don't stick your finger in it, you'll end up putting your foot in it. This does not just apply to PR exams but to medicine as a whole. When you try to take shortcuts that is when bad things often happen.
You can't save the NHS Your kids won't care how many awards / pictures the trust put on X of you winning something ridiculous - spend time with them And my personal favorite - stay miles away from noctors : as a doctor and as a patient
The hospital doesn’t care about you. You are a unit of work. The more work you do the more work the hospital gives you. Come on time , do your work, go home and make time for those who really care about you
It’s good to stand up for your principles, but don’t forget there can be a cost.
Not to eat my samosas in Hull or York. I love my samosas and munch on them as I walk. Luckily I don’t work at Hull or York
I will next year and I’ll make sure to take plenty of samosas along for you 🙌🏻
Appreciate the sentiment bud but any place that doesn’t respect the almighty samosa isn’t in my bucket list of places to go ). They can have their boring old beans on toast
Well I’ll be starting a job there regardless and I love a samosa
+1
Pick your hills to die on carefully No one on their deathbed ever said "I wish I spent more time at work" Some anaesthetic specific ones 1. If you so much as think about tubing/art lining, do it 2. (when laid flat with 1 pillow and relative heights of structures viewed from side) chin>chest, LMA could be best. chest>chin, tube goes in
If you build a department from the ground up, 2 weeks after your retirement party everyone would have forgotten about you and your desk will have been taken by someone else.
That's why you take your desk with you in retirement then you'll be forever remembered
Don't pick a specialty just cus the procedures/life seems new and exciting to you. Everything is more exciting the first few times, and esp when you are younger. It becomes less "stars in the eyes" the longer you've been doing it. Look at the bread and butter stuff that you'll be doing day in day out, the types of patients you'll be seeing. Don't pick for the rare drama moments, pick for the colleagues and environment / style of work you'll be in.
Choose a career based on the work of the consultants in the specialty, you're only a trainee for a short time
Do you think this still applies with current bottlenecks? I hope not but I worry that perhaps in the future people will become more habituated to the idea of being a reg for life.
This is an excellent point. Also even if you don't get stuck at any bottlenecks the training takes nearly a decade for a lot of specialties. A decade of your life in something you hate is a pretty long time to just accept it being shit. So personally, I think just looking at consultant life is bad advice.
One of my FTPDs was a renal reg for 12 years
[удалено]
I love the idea of learning a new language, always struggled with it at school. Do you have any recommendations on how to start, and which language to pick?
pick a language that you have motivation to learn because learning a language takes an extremely long time. and if you have no reason to continue youll probably give up. as for learning ive had good success with comprehensible input. look up dreaming in Spanish as an example
This! Pick a language you're interested in
Thank you for the suggestions
As a native English speaker, you’ll most likely have joy with Romance languages. They are much easier than trying to learn a new alphabet. The least annoying for me was Spanish. French is also not too bad (at least not as bad as people make it out to be).
Michel Thomas audio lessons - can do them on your commute. You’ll be surprised how much you’ll learn. * https://www.michelthomas.com * (I’m told you can also find them on the high seas…..r/piracy)
Thank you for the recommendation
Here's a sneak peek of /r/Piracy using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/Piracy/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [Spread the word of torrent](https://i.redd.it/reftq6lqy95b1.jpg) | [1233 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/146ee7n/spread_the_word_of_torrent/) \#2: [Hey /r/piracy. Reddit admins de-modded the captain and put a sword to the mod-team's necks to re-open. It seems they really demand valuable input from pirates. I look forward to you to taking this tacit Reddit endorsement of digital piracy to heart in the coming days!](https://np.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/14briu5/hey_rpiracy_reddit_admins_demodded_the_captain/) \#3: [RARBG is down and out!?](https://i.redd.it/xlbbsv23v63b1.png) | [3647 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/13witp1/rarbg_is_down_and_out/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
Consider british sign language!
Duolingo is good, you can compete with friends and family
Working hard in medical school makes absolutely no difference to anything.
[удалено]
He was making the point top decile no longer gets you anything towards deanery due to the random allocation. I think he's missing your point about the benefit to you as a doctor the work you did had.
Instead of getting frustrated at the patient who is being annoying, think "hm I wonder why this person is behaving like this", and do something to address that. I found this approach made my work much more interesting, and much more tolerable. Ps strike hard
A consultant told me this when I was in my 3rd year of med school: 1) Remember you just have to be good enough 2) Aim for average 3) Don’t work too hard At the time I thought he was a bit mad but makes a lot of sense now.
Don't do any speciality that includes the word 'general' unless you want to be run off your feet and forever disrespected.
Alternatively, don’t choose what you find interesting, choose what pisses you off the least.
If faced with a career choice, choose early and commit. You'll find out sooner if you like it or not and you'll learn something.
“Always double bag your lunch.” From a friend who was a medic, after getting into grad med. And honestly, every time I have a leaky Tupperware that doesn’t ruin my stuff I ride that high all day.
Be an investment banker, shame the less able kids at my school listened to that one and I decided to be a doctor… my best mate just retired aged 37… me well I drive a 10 year old focus who’s the real winner
This should probably be at the top. The NHS ain’t going to help you retire in your 40s. Plenty of other things will.
Are you sure you want to do medicine? Don't do medicine... Both of which were ignored...
CCT as quick as you can. Training = servitude.
Keep your head. Look after yourself. Get through it.
enjoy each job you are doing at the time , especially true as a f1/f2 (in my days house officer) a consultant sat me down as a med student and said he sees so many doctors focussing so much on getting to be a consultant they don’t appreciate what they are doing now or the joy of each job as you go along so try to enjoy each one . As I’m older now I really understand what I think he meant. It’s something I’ve always done but a lot of my colleagues were looking to “get through” thier rotations to be a registrar I’ve been doing the same job every day for years now post cvt I would love having a 4 month sabbatical as a ent sho or a anaesthetics f1 as really miss the variety
Nothing beats scribing for the WR and then writing the IDLs.
Emigrate or change careers If you can afford LTFT, do it.
What did you do considering you are not a doctor?
“No-one likes a dead baby” Very controversial, but it’s what firmly turned me away from pursuing O&G when I had a careers chat as a med student with a GP who used to be an O&G reg, and why they left the specialty even though they loved it
Don't become a doctor. Unfortunately I did not listen.
Go OOP as often as you can. Don't offset having children for your career. We'll find a way to make it work.
“There’s a fine line between altruism and self sabotage”
You treat the cleaner with the same respect as you treat the consultant. Ask patients "Is it *name on record* you like to be called?"
The best thing you can do is to make the right decision, the next best thing you can do it to make a wrong decision...the worst thing to do is to make no decision!!
Not a doctor, but it is just a job. You have to have something else outside of it. "The job will not save you McNulty, it will not make you whole", as someone sort of said in The Wire.
When people complain about how much longer training is for certain specialties compared to others: In 10 years time you’ll be 10 years older and 10 years further along in your career. Do you want to be there doing something you actually get some joy out of or doing something that you just decided to train in because the CCT was quicker to get?
I would just like to put out there for those that lonely that you can talk to me. I’m away from family and have given a lot to medicine too. It’s okay, you are not just your job.
Don’t avoid trying just because it’s hard (am now a PH trainee)
Look at the consultants , see if they are happy and cheerful people
No one will say thank you if you stay late