The decision to embark on a career in medicine isn't one to be taken lightly. Higher education courses in medicine take considerably longer to complete than your typical three-year Bachelors and, when coupled with post-graduate study and specialist training, students may find themselves waiting up to 16 years before they become a fully fledged doctor.
Your typical MB ChB (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) takes five years to complete, three years of which is focused heavily on vocational work in hospitals and medical centres.
Medicine is one the UK’s most competitive courses and the universities which offer the course are at the higher end of most typical university rankings. Out of around 130 total universities in the UK, there are currently 33 medical schools. All of these are members of the Medical Schools Council and are considered to be some of the top areas of study for medicine worldwide.
Recent UK government plans for medical schools promise five new schools over the next three years. This is part of the UK’s plans to increase the amount of medical students by 25% in order to meet rising healthcare demands. These schools will be opened in Sunderland, Ormskirk, Chelmsford, Lincoln and Canterbury. Medical qualifications are highly-transferable, and a British medical degree enables you to be a doctor in most parts of the world without additional tests or qualifications.
Of course, the time frame of the path you take will vary greatly depending on your choice of career - the NHS states that there are over 60 specialities for students to choose from, like cardiology, psychiatry, surgery, teaching - all of which have their own rewards and demands.
The wealth of choice when it comes to figuring out where your career in medicine will take you is something of a luxury in higher education. While some degrees are relatively limiting, you'll never be at risk of feeling pigeonholed once you finish university - as long as you're determined to help people, the world will be your oyster!
A life in medicine has the potential to bring with it great prosperity and opportunities, but it's important to consider whether or not you're ready for the psychological commitment that healthcare brings. Firstly you need to ask yourself if you're prepared for the intense selflessness and round-the-clock focus that comes with many concentrations associated with medicine. While the answer to this may seem straightforward, remember that you may be required to keep that same mindset in the operating theatre at 2 am, or while running diagnoses at highly unsociable hours. This is a profession that's all-consuming once you enter your workplace.
There are very few 9 to 5 working days within a career in medicine, and there will be practical and intellectual challenges facing you on a regular basis.
We don't mean to start by painting an unhappy picture of the career but it's really important to point out that medicine isn't perhaps as glamorous as some students may have of it. Medicine is regarded as perhaps the most prestigious of all careers, helped by TV portrayals from the likes of House, Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy - the perception is often a lot more fun than it is in reality. You should be 100% sure you want to study medicine, having thought long and hard about the hours, salary and study needed to succeed. The last thing you want is to go down the long road of trying to secure a place in medical school only for you to regret that choice, either at medical school or during your training.
Now you've had a good hard think about this, let's move onto some of the more positive points of considering a career in medicine! There will never be a time where doctors aren't in demand - medicine is a wholly future proofed profession. With uncertainties about careers, and particularly the human input into careers, you can be pretty certain medicine will always require doctors, no matter how advanced technology gets. Medicine is always evolving, so it's a career that offers lifelong learning. You won't become bored easily or stuck in the same job for your whole working life. It is a well respected career that ( after training ) can also become very financially rewarding too.
So if you believe that you're in a position to thrive among the physical, psychological, adaptive and cognitive challenges that medical studies bring then read on, you may just have found your calling.
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