My Profession

Goodwin, Jim. "US Navy 041117-M-0000G-004 U.S. Navy Surgeons and Hospital Corspman, assigned to the Surgeons and Hospital Corpsman, assigned to the Surgical-ShockTrauma Platoon (SSTP) at Camp Taqaddum, Iraq, operate on a Marine." 19/11/2004 via wikimedia. Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. 

I am currently a pre-physiology major, but my goal is to someday become a surgeon. I will be discussing what is expected for my major, as well as what my major is preparing for me in the real world. Lastly, the blog will discuss people and events who have gone through schooling who have, or have had, successful careers in this field.

1) So, what do students in my major need to know how to do? 

The most important thing that students in my position are preparing for is getting accepted into medical school, and in order to get into medical school, you must receive high marks on the MCAT exam. That is the focal point of our current education curriculum. Then, you lead into medical school and residency.

This will lead to the students being accepted into medical schools and eventually residency. Surgeons need to know how to work under pressure, retain vast amounts of knowledge of different conditions, how to identify different problems and what is the best solution to fixing the problem at hand.

2) So, more specifically, what can students actually do with all this knowledge? 

Once medical school is complete, you usually know what area of expertise you want to dive in to. This niche will determine the length and journey of your residency. As of now, I am thinking of going into orthopedic surgery, which will take 5 years of residency. (Thanks to the information provided by Washington University School of Medicine.) Once completing training, at that point, usually the experienced surgeons can find jobs at hospitals, or in a private practices. 

But going to medical school is not the only path you can take coming out of my major. There is always physical therapy, dentistry, physician assistant, and many more.

3) What drew me to this field?

Well, I have always loved science and found it to be the most interesting topic throughout my years of schooling. I knew I wanted a profession that involved helping and interacting with others. This was a way for me to help others while keeping my mind active. Also, the salary doesn't hurt. Being a surgeon allows me to use the coordination that I have been building upon during my time as a dancer.

This profession would allow me to be push myself mentally as well as physically.

4) But who are the big names in this field and what are they doing? Why are they popular?

Doctors that have made names for themselves are either popular through TV or other media sources spreading health information to the general public,  or are doing research to better our understandings of how our bodies function.

Wuertenberg, Michael. "Mehmet Oz- World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2012." 27/1/2012 via wikimedia commons. Attribution- ShareAlike 2.0 Generic. 

For example, there is Dr. Mehmet Oz M.D. a cardio-thoracic surgeon who now has his own TV show, which shares medical facts with his viewers. On his site, you can watch full episodes, as well as see topics that he has discussed and ideas and tips on how to improve the viewers' health. This makes the complicated topic of the human body simplified for the general viewer to understand. It also bring the light the importance of health the the severe outcomes of ignoring the well being of your body. The TV is a convenient way to learn, and it helps that his shows are also entertaining.

There also individuals like Michael Brown and his partner Joseph L Goldstein who traced the genetic marker for metabolizing cholesterol and discovered a way to control it. There are more examples on the Nursing Degree cite. These people are two of many who have made important medical discoveries. Another popular one was the man, Dr. Jonas Salk, who came up with the polio vaccine. These are individuals who have made a significant influence on the health of the general public and their accomplishments have been rightly recognized.

There are two sides to the medical field; the actual patient practice side and the medical research side. Dr. Oz or Dr. Phil are rare exceptions of individual doctors becoming famous. The more a doctor specializes in their field the more unique and in demand they become since there become fewer and fewer people who practice the same specialty they do.

But for the general public, a lot of what is important now in the health profession is getting people to be more aware of what is good and bad for their bodies.

5) What are the leading academic/scholarly journals in your field? Where are they published?

Some well known journals in the medical field are the New England Journal of Medicine, and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). These journals are highly regarded as they publish original research, editorials, and  reviews of different aspects of the medical field. 


Reflection:
After reading though Samantha's and Elliot's blog posts on their profession, it really makes me question if I am dedicated enough to complete all the work and time it takes to become a surgeon. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love science. I think working in a hospital and saving lives would be an amazing accomplishment, but do I love the topic enough to go through 4 years of medical school, and however many more years of residency before I start really working on my own? 

Like Samantha and Elliot, I have known for quite some time that I wanted to go into the medical field. Throughout middle school and high school, science classes have always been my favorite, despite some questionable teachers. It has always been the topic that has kept me most engaged.

Also like Samantha and Elliot, there are many different things I can do with the physiology major. So even after my 4 years of undergraduate I decide not to be a surgeon, I can still do something else medical related. I will just be helping and interacting with people in different ways. Some options include nutrition, physical therapy, sports therapy, or even another doctor specialty that I have not truly considered. 

I will never know truly what I want to do until I experiment around a bit, and after all, that is part of what college is suppose to do, help students figure out what they want to do with the rest of their lives and how to put their education into use.