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The Cost of Becoming a Physician and the Reward!

      Becoming a physician is a difficult task and takes many sacrifices. Doctors are no longer making the same amount as they have historically and medical school is an extremely large investment with many students leaving with debt between $100-350,000 with the median debt being $115,000 according to the American Association of Medical Colleges. Follow this link: Stop The Raid on Student Aid to read an article about medical student indebtedness and actions students can take to help make changes in this trend.  According to the article, Medical School Tuition and Young Physician Indebtedness, on average >80% of students leave with debt. The monthly payment to repay this can vary between $500 to greater than $2000 a month.

      Not only is it a big investment financially, but also in time. Medical school lasts for four years, two typically spent in classroom lecture and two spent as clinical education in hospitals working under a preceptor. After passing two board exams, the student is then a physician. Their education is not over yet. They then participate in a residency, internship and/or fellowship. This part of their education can be highly competitive and lasts between 3 to 7 years depending on the desired specialty.  There is also the sacrifice your family must make. Most medical schools state that for a successful marriage during medical school, the spouse of a student must be equally if not more committed to completing school. Often medical school can be challenging for a spouse because they also sacrifice greatly but do not always have the support that a student receives. Many schools offer clubs and activities for spouses so that they also have a social network and support group.

      Even once all of your education is complete, a physician still sacrifices time, money, and psychosocially. Being a physician is not the best career for everyone. Even those who can get through the training don’t necessarily will want to. Before making a decision to become a physician, know your priorities in life and pick a career in which you will be most happy in. Don’t let other people’s expectations or thoughts designate which path you take. Spend a lot of time shadowing physicians and working in a hospital so you may make an informed decision.

      Medicine is also constantly changing. The rules and autonomy of being a physician has changed significantly just in the past few years. Many physicians face frustration battling with insurance companies over how they treat patients. Many schools are encouraging their students to get dual degrees in medicine and administration so that doctors can take back the control from the insurance companies. There is also the constant issue of malpractice suits. While this is a great and highly important safeguard for the American people, it also opens the door for frivolous lawsuits and causes conflict for doctors and hospitals having to pay the high cost of malpractice insurance. There is also the battle of compensation from government aid such as Medicaid and medicare to insurance companies and also the need to supply care to patients who are uninsured. These offer an example of a few of many issues doctors must continually face over the coming years. Many of these issues can be found discussed at the American Medical Association website.

      However, if you do decide to be a physician the field can be extremely rewarding. The AMCAS “Careers in Medicine” website lists the best reasons to be a physician as the following: it gives you an opportunity to serve, gives you respect, action, security, excitement, mobility and flexibility. It also states that the average salary of a physician is $160,000 a year. Despite all of the challenges of becoming and practicing as a physician, many physicians are very satisfied with their choice in careers. Even though the investment is large it is still considered a more profitable investment than if one were to invest the same amount of money and time into the stock market.