Life as a Doctor

stainluss

Is there any time for a social life? I like helping people and I don't mind long hours, but I would like to have a life of my own also.

I believe that I would enjoy life as a doctor (and am considering GEM), but does your passion have to be deeper than that (I science, couldn't see myself doing anything else etc.) in order to persevere through the hard times, or should logical thought suffice?

Xeyn

stainluss wrote: »

Is there any time for a social life? I like helping people and I don't mind long hours, but I would like to have a life of my own also.

I believe that I would enjoy life as a doctor (and am considering GEM), but does your passion have to be deeper than that (I science, couldn't see myself doing anything else etc.) in order to persevere through the hard times, or should logical thought suffice?

There are lots of reasons to want to become a doctor. I believe At at least some level you should have a genuine desire to help people. This doesn't have to be a primary or overriding factor however. People do it for lots of reasons. Scientific curiosity. Mental and physical challenges. Altruism. Etc.
Financially you will be comfortable at least although you certainly won't be well of for a considerable amount of time if ever especially as a graduate entry.
There are plenty of easier paths to financial gain than medicine.

It's hard going for sure, and at the moment the others are long and unsociable. Inevitably you gravitate towards colleagues as friends abd find it more difficult to schedule any leisure. But it is certainly possible to have a social life as a doctor. You simply won't have too much down time. If you're not at work or studying, you will be out with friends or sleeping. Social activities do tend to revolve around your work life mind.
There's time for relationships too but you find the vast majority of doctors end up marrying or in long term relationships with other doctors or nurses.

All in all being a doctor is a thoroughly satisfying career albeit frustrating and soul destroying at times, and there is certainly scope to have an active social life (with considerable time restraints)!

Good luck with your decisions!

Ihaveanopinion

There is loads of time to have a social life. There are a few obstacles along the way but they are easily overcome.

You have postgraduate exams - so do accountants, those studying law, and any other number of professions. You study in your free time, you learn a lot of the job and then you go for a beer after.

You have on-call. That can be difficult but it gets easier as you get more experienced. You accept that 1 day in 4 (in surgery) you are not available to drink a million pints - but I assume you're not drinking every day.

Hospitals are a great place to meet people, particularly if you are in one of the bigger ones. There are loads of doctors in the same position as you, loads of other health professional who can sympathise. There is always somewhere social nearby where people usually meet on a Thursday

People organise after work football, surfing is popular depending on where you work, loads of hospitals have social clubs or groups, you get HSE discounts on gym memberships usually.

The key is time management. Do your work. Work damn hard. Get out of there and do something fun in the evening. Unless you are on-call

stainluss

Brilliantly informative responses, thanks guys

Xeyn wrote: »

Financially you will be comfortable at least although you certainly won't be well of for a considerable amount of time if ever especially as a graduate entry.

I'm pretty sure you meant this in relation to the fact that GEM is more expensive than undergrad and that you're starting later, but (other than that) do GEM doctors get looked at differently in any (negative) way?

Thanks

Xeyn

stainluss wrote: »

Brilliantly informative responses, thanks guys



I'm pretty sure you meant this in relation to the fact that GEM is more expensive than undergrad and that you're starting later, but (other than that) do GEM doctors get looked at differently in any (negative) way?

Thanks

You're right I meant that GEM students tend to start life as a doctor under considerable debt. That is the only reason I mentioned it. They do not get treated any different to other doctors. In a few respects it can be an advantage. More life experience, generally more focused and driven (generalising here) etc.

RobFowl

Very limited social life outside of the hospital clique in your 20's. improves at about 28-30 if doing gp or 32-40 if doing a hospital based speciality.
Some specialities and single handed GPs especially in remote areas have very limited scope to get away from the job.
That said a very rewarding career but for everyone.

PhysiologyRocks

This week was pretty average for me.

I had to work all day Monday, all night Monday night and all day Tuesday. And I had normal working hours Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And then I had a 24 hour shift on Saturday.

If you can work a social life around that, you're far more organised that I am!

Xeyn

PhysiologyRocks wrote: »

This week was pretty average for me.

I had to work all day Monday, all night Monday night and all day Tuesday. And I had normal working hours Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And then I had a 24 hour shift on Saturday.

If you can work a social life around that, you're far more organised that I am!

That's what I was referring to. I am in surgery so hours are ridiculous. But you just have to account for every hour. And you have to accept there will be periods where you have no life. But you certainly can have a life even with our hours. It just won't be the same as non doctors.

stainluss

PhysiologyRocks wrote: »

This week was pretty average for me.

I had to work all day Monday, all night Monday night and all day Tuesday. And I had normal working hours Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And then I had a 24 hour shift on Saturday.

Thanks for this, gave me a good idea of a residents schedule - I hadn't seen one before.
What would 'all day' hours be? Would 'normal working hours' be 8-5 or similar?

PhysiologyRocks

stainluss wrote: »

Thanks for this, gave me a good idea of a residents schedule - I hadn't seen one before.
What would 'all day' hours be? Would 'normal working hours' be 8-5 or similar?

Monday, it was literally all day. I started at 9am and finished at 5pm the following day. So a 32 hour shift.

Wednesday and Thursday, I worked 9 to 5, so not too bad. Friday 9 to 4. Saturday 12pm to 12pm on Sunday.

It was a 79 hour week overall. But unless you're superhuman, you will require as much sleep as possible post call.

Some weeks only have one night of call, but I work some weeks with three. I do love my job, but sometimes I'd just love a bit less of it!

Ihaveanopinion

stainluss wrote: »

Thanks for this, gave me a good idea of a residents schedule - I hadn't seen one before.
What would 'all day' hours be? Would 'normal working hours' be 8-5 or similar?

It depends what jobs you are doing and what stage of your training you are at.

In surgery, they tend to start at 7 to 7.30 and finish at 5 (...6....7) and on call every fourth night, which works out at one night a week and one weekend a month. I think things have changed a bit and the rotas are a bit bigger now. But thats the general gist of it.

You learn to make the most of your free time