Doctors Excuse - Whats Real And Whats Not!

It might seem like doctors have all the breaks, with vacations and perks like that. So what's not to love about working in medicine?

You can go where you want, and dress as you please.

Three days off every week to explore new hobbies.

The hours are flexible, so it should be easy to work around your family schedule and social life.

Your coworkers are highly intelligent individuals who challenge your thinking in interesting ways.

And maybe most importantly, your job is literally saving lives!

But is all of this really true? And if so, what do you need to know before choosing a medical career path? Read on!

"Doctors Excuse - Whats Real And Whats Not!" by Dr. David Sugarbaker.

David Sugarbaker, M.D., is the Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine, and a practicing pediatrician in private practice. Dr. Sugarbaker received his BA from Brown University, and his M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine. As a physician, he has also taught medical students at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

He completed his pediatric training at Children's Hospital in Boston, MA. He has served as the Chief Resident in Pediatrics at UCLA from 1994-1995, and as a Department Head of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at St. John Hospital/Children's Hospital from 1998-2001. 

Dr. Sugarbaker currently serves as the Medical Director of Utah Ink, where he provides medical tattoo services for patients who want to cover up a tattoo or change the colors of their tattoos that are no longer desired by the patient.

Since this is an interview with a doctor and such an important topic, I decided to keep this one short... but we'll talk more about this later in the day!

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Posted by Jake Allison at 9:00 AM

About Dr. David Sugarbaker, M.D.: Dr. David Sugarbaker, M.D. is the Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine, and a practicing pediatrician in private practice. Dr. Sugarbaker received his BA from Brown University, and his M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine. As a physician, he has also taught medical students at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He completed his pediatric training at Children's Hospital in Boston, MA. He has served as the Chief Resident in Pediatrics at UCLA from 1994-1995, and as a Department Head of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at St. John Hospital/Children's Hospital from 1998-2001. Currently Dr. Sugarbaker serves as the Medical Director of Utah Ink, where he provides medical tattoo services for patients who want to cover up a tattoo or change the colors of their tattoos that are no longer desired by the patient. [POST_MEMBER] => 78 [POST_TEXT] => Recently I accidently bumped into some propaganda from the AAMC (American Association of Medical Colleges http://www.aamc.org/ ) and thought it might serve to provide some insight into what has worked for me and what hasn't worked over my 25 years in Medicine, both inside and outside e attendings eyes.  I am white, male, old fashion and have seen a lot of changes in my time.  So here is my 2 cents: 1.     I (like most of you) did all the right things when it came to getting into medical school: high GPA, MCAT etc.  I was also very lucky to get accepted into a very good medical school and although about 90% of my classmates were minorities who didn't have the same opportunities in life that I had, who were not as well prepared academically but had some how managed to get in the door. 2.  "You have to work hard and be willing to learn, but if you are willing to work hard and learn then you will be fine." Which gets me to my next point... 3.     I know this is a cliche but everytime I hear people say "you just need that one thing in medical school to get accepted" it is almost always a race, which is not true: you need a great GPA and MCAT'S, lots of experience or a really good letter from your residency program, but if you lack experience or letter from the program from which you graduated then chances are still low. 4.     I don't mean to be a jerk but this is the one thing I have seen most people do that gets them into trouble: They take (most times too much) the 80/20 rule way too literally.  It is true that 80% of the classes are useless and that you should only spend 20% of your time in class doing work for said class... But this does not mean you need to spend all your time doing nothing, or wasting your time.  Get out there and see what you can do outside of school, volunteering or internships. 5.     It's not what you know, it's who you know.  You are probably all to familiar with the expression "it's not what you know but WHO you know that gets you in the door".  In my experience this is 100% accurate and if any of my students want to work with me when they graduate I don't give a rats behind what they have done, they still need to come see me before they graduate and make sure I remember them. 6.     "What comes around goes around."  Again in my 25 years in medicine, some of the people that I have helped get into medical school ( who needed a little luck or guidance ) are now on the search committee for my next job.  Although a lot of this is just luck and some circumstances I know for a fact that my students in the future will need to think about that. 7.     You are never too old or too young to start getting into Medical school, in fact even if you are over 40 things may very well be worse for you than for your younger classmates.  I know many people who were over 40 when they started medical school and yet none of them seems to have any regrets now.  If you figure out early on in life what it is you really want to do you can start doing something about it before it's too late. 8.

Conclusion: When it comes to getting into medical school there are many things that you can do but the key which I cannot stress enough is that you need to spend more time studying than hanging out with friends.

I have seen too many people get really high grades in medical school and yet not pass their boards because they did not have enough time outside of work to study.

My advice is about studying for a test:

1.     Buy a material that goes over all the tests in your curriculum (or at least the tests on which you will be tested).  Preferably this book should contain the entire test and answers.

2.