Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by bronbron 4247 days ago
Sorry, just going through I just saw your comment, but I thought you deserved a reply.

> apparently the medical system even under such physiologically unhealthy conditions still has all the MD's it needs

Interns will agree to work 100 hour weeks because they have no alternatives, but I don't think that it's necessarily efficient from an economic standpoint. They have all the MDs they need, sure, but it's highly arguable about whether it's efficient from an economic standpoint. We'd have to compare the cost of medical errors (which is non-negligible) from interns due to fatigue vs. the cost of hiring another intern.

> I was just worried the problem was that students were not aware of what awaited them after 6+ years of bank breaking schooling...

We're talking about basically a decade between when you make the decision to become a doctor and when you receive a MD. Even if you start out on the path to be a MD with perfect intentions, people change heavily over the course of a decade (and especially so at that age).

The grim reality is that even after undergrad (halfway in), if you chose a typical "med school" major you're still in a bit of a bad spot unless you decide to go into research in the life sciences. After graduating med school, your MD qualifies you for 1 thing and comes with the heavy cost of crippling debt. Deciding you don't really like medicine in your 3rd year of med school is incredibly costly and practically unfeasible for most people going through school.