Just for fun, suppose you had acceptance letters from a medical school, a pharmacy school, a dental school, and a nursing program. Which profession would you choose?
Would you go for the prestige and salary of an M.D., even though you'd have a load of student debt, years of residency, and the requirement to carry a load of malpractice insurance? What specialty would you like best?
OR, would you go for dental school instead, as there's little to no time in residency (I think you actually do it as part of the four-year program), there's arguably more job growth, and lots of dentists make more than proper doctors, with less malpractice worry?
How about pharmacy? Would you be worried about encroaching automation?
If you're a guy, do you think that whatever's left of the male nurse stigma would stop you from trying for an RN?
Comments
Plus, I can't stand those watches that NHS nurses have to wear.
Dentist would be third pick, because it is kind of gross to deal with spit and I would have trouble drilling and scraping teeth. The sound bothers me, and even though I am okay having it done to me, the idea of causing discomfort to people on a regular basis, especially some that makes creepy noises and smells, is distasteful to me.
Nursing would suck, because it is a lot of dealing with injections and needles, and also cleaning up people when they soil themselves. I would not like to give people shots all the time. Maybe I could practice until I didn't pass out any more, but it is not a job I would relish doing.
Oral hygenists clean teeth and perform most routine prep work.
Dentists fill cavities, place crowns, and handle more advanced kinds of cleaning.
Oral surgeons perform root canals, gum surgery, etc...
There is a big overlap in between dentists and oral surgeons, and sometimes debate as to which should handle a particular procedure. The same goes for between dentists and oral hygenists.
Then, provided I'm still interested in medicine, I'll go to med school. I want to eventually do my residency in Interventional Neuroradiology. Basically, you implant a stent, actively image the patient's brain and circulatory system, and insert and manipulate instruments in their brain through catheters. It's pretty much the coolest thing ever. Once my residency is done, I'll have MD/PhD qualifications, giving me full rights to stay on as an active MD and a teaching doc at any med school in the country.
I will also likely do nighthawking so that I can fly to Australia or Hawaii and read films for a bit less than full pay there. The internet is a wonderful thing.
A sad but accurate use of this knowledge can be to determine whether or not a person was born into middle class or above wealth. Said people usually receive expensive orthodontic care in their youth, which is much more costly and difficult later in life. Straight, but not perfect, teeth are a good indication of a middle to upper-middle class origin.
Crooked teeth are more often than not an indicator of money problems in youth (obviously there is no other useful correlation or insight into character). Perfect teeth are often an indicator of high wealth in one's adult life, as they are extremely rare without substantial cosmetic intervention.
I'm not smoking anything. All told, I'm pretty confident in the course I have set, and even if I deviate from the path at point, it all ends with becoming a Neurorad.
Also, even if an MD and PhD is crazy, it's good to have an impossible dream. Pushing for it will be a fascinating experience, in my eyes; I don't care if I don't care if I come out with just one of the two degrees. There are some awesome premed postbacs if you prove to be correct, and plenty of research to be done. It's going to be one hell of a trip to being a doctor.
It's Jason.
He knows his shit and is clever with his jokes.
--Kaptain K