As Health Care Evolves, Consider Why to Go to Med School
Weighing the pros and cons of applying to medical school can be overwhelming.
The average student loan debt for medical school graduates is more than $180,000, not including undergraduate debt. Often students reach age 28 before seeing their first real paychecks. Financial compensation alone will not sustain the drive, energy and effort required to apply, matriculate and graduate from medical school, notwithstanding postgraduate training.
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Additionally, the current health care climate includes challenges like voluminous amounts of data to access, review and distribute via electronic medical records. The documentation requirements -- insurance companies, pharmacies, durable medical equipment, quality and so on -- are seemingly endless.
Adding in the Affordable Care Act, high cost of medical education, lengthy training process, rise of physician extenders and declining physician satisfaction, why go to medical school now or in the future? Here are five reasons to consider.
1. The U.S. has a doctor shortage. The Association of American Medical Colleges projects a shortage of 46,000-90,000 physicians by 2025. Physician demand in both specialist and primary care will continue to outpace supply, as there is no shortage of sick people or people to prevent from becoming ill.
2. The physician workforce must be diverse to advocate and provide care here and abroad. America has many languages, customs, ethnicities and backgrounds. Culture impacts care; physicians from Appalachian, Native American and Spanish-speaking communities contribute the wealth of their collective experiences to medicine and enrich health care by understanding the cultural context for care and dispelling stereotypes.
Each physician has something unique to offer medicine -- clinical experience, scientific knowledge, leadership skills, teaching expertise and more -- which may potentially lead to the next great discovery that moves medicine forward.
3. Champions are needed to encourage safe and healthy communities. Now as in previous generations, a physician can do good and make a difference, including ensuring communities have, at a minimum, clean air, safe drinking water and violence-free neighborhoods. For example, a Flint, Michigan, pediatrician identified the elevated lead levels in the water supply and sounded the alarm for a vulnerable population.
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Doctors Without Borders provides care for people in disaster and conflict zones around the world. The World Health Organization partners with countries to combat emerging public health emergencies, such as the Zika virus in the Western Hemisphere. Ongoing health care issues present opportunities for physicians to work for change and advocate for innovative solutions.
4. Enormous volumes of data need to be used in a meaningful way. Diverse ideas and opinions yield next-generation care, inventions and therapeutic options. For example, alerts in electronic medical records prompt the practitioner to change care or the pharmacist to prevent an adverse drug interaction. Physicians, in concert with engineers and researchers, apply data to make health care smarter, unlocking the keys to personalized medicine.
Enormous volumes of data are being collected by our phones, wearables and pharmacy records. The challenge for this century is to use those data to positively affect health.
[Take a look at the evolution of medical school education.]
5. Physicians are lifelong learners. Doctors know a single patient interaction can change the potential contributions of an individual to society, and even the trajectory of an entire family. For example, appropriate diabetes care can prevent blindness, limb loss, stroke, heart attack and kidney failure.
Becoming a physician is not merely about fulfilling a job vacancy but committing to contribute to the betterment of health. As the world continues to evolve in this new scientific, regulatory, financial and technological climate, there are good reasons to choose medicine as a profession. Endeavor to be a doctor to advocate and contribute to the world's health.
Sylvia E. Morris received her M.D. from Georgetown University School of Medicine and Master's in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. A former assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine, she is currently an independent health care consultant and a community health advocate. Find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.
