How to drop out of medicine. Posts.
Category: How To Drop Out Of Medicine
Why do we still need human Doctors when we’ve got AI and robots?
That’s the question I’ve been exploring in an anonymous survey of Doctors that I’ve been carrying out…and the responses so far have been fascinating.
I’m sharing the results first with everyone who takes part once I’ve compiled them. So if you’d like to play along, then click the link below before this Thursday 31st January 2019 (Deadline is 11.45pm, UTC-11) :
Doctor dies after working 18 hours
In response to this story about the late Dr Zhao Bianxiang:
Maintaining systems where the well-being of the many is built off the exploitation of the few is not new.
Maintaining systems where the well-being of the many is built off the exploitation of the few is not new.
We’ve been doing this throughout history in every culture around the world…just as we are still doing in the NHS. The question is: what are we going to do about this?
Two options.
Door #1: Do nothing. Whinge about it every now and again, express outrage at the deaths and suicides of the Medics who are crushed by the system, but ultimately carry on with the status quo.
Door #2: Dare to take simple actions that actually change the status quo. Things like: refusing to prescribe less sleep for yourself than you do for your patients…creating enough financial leverage to allow you to say “No” to stupid requests that damage your spiritual, mental and emotional well-being…making time to explore alternative career paths before you’re forced to by changes in medical technology…taking 30 minutes this weekend to setup an automated savings account using an app like Plum…
Simple steps that are far less emotionally demanding than putting up with the endless nonsense of the current healthcare system setups.
Because when Medics start to prioritise their own health – putting on their own oxygen masks first – and put themselves in a position where they do not need the NHS to survive…that’s when the healthcare system will change.
Thoughts?
Medics being shot in Sudan
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
Medics in Sudan are being shot, simply for being Medics.
Simply because they possess the potential to take a stand against oppressive leadership and speak out against unjust legislation.
Simply because they are willing and able to objectively diagnose a situation and prescribe the correct course of action that they’re willing to follow through on.
We’re not being shot in the UK and many other parts of the world.
Instead, we’re being sleep-deprived, overworked and stripped of our humanity such that we can be eventually be replaced by next-generation robotic empaths.
And whilst we can feebly protest, whinge and whine on social media or just wait for somebody else to do something about it…we can do much more than that.
You can do much more than that.
You are one of the most intelligent and respected human beings on the planet.
You have ideas, creativity and leadership skills that you’ve not even begun to tap into.
And you have the power to make things better in your own life, such that you have the freedom to have an impact in the lives of others.
Start with you. Free yourself. And then use that freedom to help those around you.
But whatever you do, remember:
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
Human empathy and sex robots
Part of a debate happening in the Junior Doctor’s Contract group about human empathy and AI. Here’s something I shared that I hope will be of value (particularly the last 3 paragraphs)
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Doctor’s comment: there will be a place for AI but it will never fully make human drs redundant. Ultimately decisions regarding best interests will need to be made and just because something has been found doesn’t mean anything needs doing about it etc. A large part of medicine is about human empathy, difficult to artificially create that.
My response:
Thanks for pointing this out Jamie, as it further underscores the dangers that unprepared Doctors are facing. I agree with you that human empathy is at the heart of medicine. But I disagree that empathy is difficult to artificially create, given that stressed, overworked, sleep deprived Medics have to artificially create empathy all the time. We don’t feel like being empathetic all the time. And in those moments, the techniques we use to create an empathetic connection with a patient are easily replicated by the current state of AI-powered robot doctors…robot doctors that don’t get tired or stressed.
And when you consider an entire generation of patients being trained to emotionally engage with search engines, Alexa, Siri and even AI-powered sex robots (https://www.forbes.com/sites/andreamorris/2018/09/25/prediction-sex-robots-are-the-most-disruptive-technology-we-didnt-see-coming/#61437b3b6a56)…interacting with an attentive, caring robot unit when you’re unwell isn’t hard to imagine.
Even with this reality upon us, your point about human empathy is vital. Human empathy is the only real value proposition that Medics have to offer…and they’re competing with AI-robots in delivering it.
But when you consider how the current healthcare system is systematically stripping Medics of their empathy for their patients, Doctors need to make radical changes to guard their ability to empathise with other human beings at all costs…to avoid becoming collateral damage of progress.
I think one way of doing this is for Medics to reinvent themselves and find ways to express their full range of talents, whether or not they can figure out a way to integrate them into the current healthcare system.
Writers, musicians, dancers, painters, coders, YouTubers, video gamers…Medics should explore ways to work in these areas, and even get paid for doing the other things that they love.
Once Medics are financially and emotionally independent of the healthcare system, they’re then free to engage with it from a position of generosity, empathy and inventiveness that will complement and direct the progress of AI technology in medicine.
Thoughts? 🙂
Jeff Bezos’ Guide To Quitting Medicine
I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. — Bronnie Ware, Top 5 Regrets Of The Dying
When it comes to the decision to quit Medicine…it is going to hurt a lot.
This isn’t going to be a “sharp scratch”.
The moment you tell your parents or guardians or society that you don’t want to follow the plan you’d previously agreed to…the one they’ve helped you pursue your whole life…there’s going to be conflict.
Painful conflict.
And a brutal emotional and psychological battle between their expectations and your exasperations.
This is going to hurt a lot, particularly since it involves people you love.
But as painful as this confrontation might be, it’s a fun day-on-the-beach when compared to what you’re left with if you don’t have this confrontation:
Regret.
If only, what if, woulda, coulda, shoulda.
The sort of regret that will haunt you every step of the way into your 80s and taunt you on your death bed.
And when asked about the things they regret most, virtually every “senior citizen” mentions regret over things they didn’t do rather than things they did do.
Jeff Bezos used this insight as part of his “regret minimization framework”…and was inspired/compelled to quit his job as a successful stock analyst to start a company called Amazon.com
Here it is in Jeff’s own words:
The framework I found, which made the decision incredibly easy, was what I called — which only a nerd would call — a “regret minimization framework.” So I wanted to project myself forward to age 80 and say, “Okay, now I’m looking back on my life. I want to have minimized the number of regrets I have.”
I knew that when I was 80 I was not going to regret having tried this. I was not going to regret trying to participate in this thing called the Internet that I thought was going to be a really big deal. I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not ever having tried. I knew that that would haunt me every day, and so, when I thought about it that way it was an incredibly easy decision. — Jeff Bezos
The excruciating pain of disappointment and failure hurts way less than the agony of regret.
Either way, there’s pain. But you get to choose:
To disappoint them for a moment (and maybe delight them for a lifetime)…or just keep going through the motions to keep them happy, and live with terrible regret for the rest of your life.
The choice is yours.
Choose to live life with as few regrets as possible.
And a bonus video from Bronnie Ware, author of Top 5 Regrets Of Dying People:
Thanks for reading this article! If you’re ready to find your personal Escape Velocity…where you make the transition from being stuck, to living a life of happiness, freedom and fulfilment…click here for more info.
10 Famous Exit Strategies From Medical School
Start with the end in mind – Stephen Covey, 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People
Whether you’re robbing a bank, starting a business, or going to medical school, you need to be able to answer one question:
What’s your exit strategy?
As in, your “pre-planned means of extricating yourself from a situation that is likely to become difficult, dangerous or unpleasant”?
When it comes to the world of Medicine, the 2 default exit strategies are:
Retirement
Death
You will be a Doctor and practice Medicine until the day you die or retire, whichever comes first.
Now while these exit strategies may be the favourites of hospital managers, politicians and our parents’ generation…what about those of us who feel stuck, trapped and are looking for a way out of their medical career?
What about all the “happy” doctors who die by suicide?
I’m not a dropout…I’m an Exit Strategy
Thankfully, you don’t have to die or wait for retirement in order to get out of a miserable situation. Many of your predecessors have found their way out and modeled different Exit Strategies from the world of medicine.
Here are 10 famous exit strategies to inspire you.
Exit #1: Become A Teacher And Start A Family
Cindy dropped out of her 3rd year in medical school to become a teacher and start a family.You can read more about that here on her blog.
Exit #2: Pursue Your Lifelong Passion For Astronomy
Roshaan quit in his 4th year, to pursue a lifelong passion for astronomy, despite the lack of support or esteem from his community in Pakistan.
Exit #3: Finish Writing Your Sci-Fi novel (And Have Steven Spielberg Direct It As A Movie)
Michael graduated from Harvard Medical School, did a postgraduate fellowship study at the Salk Institute of Biological Studies…and then quit to become a full time science fiction writer…creating novels, movies and franchises such as Jurassic Park, ER, The Andromeda Strain, Twister, and many others.
Exit #4: Start A Rocket Ship Company
Peter wanted to fly into space…but went to medical school to make his parents proud. He launched a space company in his 4th year, graduated after promising the Dean he would never practise medicine…and launched the $10million X Prize, Planetary Resources (an asteroid mining company), just to mention a few projects.
Exit #5: Lead A Marxist Revolution In Argentina
Ernesto was inspired to tackle the diseases of poverty and inequality whilst travelling across South America. So he completed his medical studies and transformed the world of Argentinian politics as the force of nature we know as Che Guevara.
Exit #6: Join The NBA And Win 2 Championships
His mother was a doctor, and his father a senior nurse in Barcelona, Spain. And with two medical parents, Pau Gasol was set to follow in the family tradition. But along the way, Pau’s passion for basketball developed into a career that led him away from medicine and into 2 NBA championships as a professional basketball player.
Exit #7: Act In A World Famous TV Sitcom called Friends
After completing a psychobiology degree at Vassar College in New York, Lisa found her path to medicine hijacked by her love for show business and improv. This lead her to pursue a career as an actress, resulting in her being cast as Phoebe in one of the world’s most famous sitcoms.
Exit #8: Start A Comedy Troupe Called Monty Python
Graham went to the University of Cambridge to get a medical degree. Instead, he ended up deferring his studies to start a little comedy troupe called Monty Python.
Exit #9: Build A Private Medical Practice Designed By Your Patients
Pamela qualified as a Doctor, but quit the traditional pathway to build a medical practice designed by her patients.
Exit #10: Just Walk Away
Sometimes the simplest exit strategy…is just to simply walk away. Maria walked away from medicine 4 years after qualifying. She told TEDxJohannesburg it was the best thing she ever did.
You Are Not A Failure…You Are An Exit Strategy
Things are not as hopeless as they feel, and it’s never too late to change your mind and make new decisions based on new information. And when you’re ready to make a change, but feel guilty or condemned by those who choose to stay miserable, remember this:
You are not a dropout or a failure: you are an exit strategy.
QUESTION: What’s one thing that’s holding you back from making your exit?