Physicians have it worse than PhDs

People often say to me that they don't know how I went through so much schooling and training to be a neuropsychologist. When I look back, it sure was a lot of schooling beginning with a college degree, graduate degree (PhD), an internship, and a 2-year fellowship. There was lots of training at other sites along the way as well. But what I always tell people is that what I went through in schooling and training is nothing compared to what it must be like to train to be a physician.

The amount of information medical students need to memorize in medical school is simple astounding. The demands on their time are all-encompassing. The competition is incredible. All nighters are common to cram for crucial tests. Double shifts are common to learn the ropes and pay one's dues. If you are lucky, you'll catch some z's on a small cut in a tiny room designed for you on the nit floor. How do I know all this? You witness a lot when you train in medical settings and when you have friends training to be physicians.

The demands on personal time are still great when one earns an MD or DO. For example, physicians are on call for most of their life. For me, there is no such thing as a neuropsychological emergency and I am never on call. For physicians, there are problems patients have with medication side effects, surgeries, and all sorts of emergencies (on non-emergencies being described as emergencies) that rouse them out of bed. Yes, this is the life the physician chose, but sometimes I wonder if you ever truly understood what they were getting into until they actually got into it. By then they have invested so much time and energy, that it is too late (and too expensive) to pull out. Someone has to do it though…I'm just glad it is not me.