I admire their single-mindedness and commitment to choose a profession and stick with the school for so many years and invest so many thousands of dollars. Having the confidence in yourself to pull that off is something I admire.

I was more the PhD type who sat around the office eating brownies in sweats and occasionally solved a math problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on type.

Ortho - jock
Radiologist - antisocial
Pedi - bleeding heart
Derm - did really well in med school
Cardiologist - likes evidence

This. Also: surgeon - douchebag

Surgeon: poor social skills and may come off as a douchebag.

If male, I think they must have been really nerdy and probably didn't have friends in high school. If female, I am usually pretty impressed. I would love to be a Dr.

Anonymous wrote:I have no problem with them socially. The doctors I know are smart, funny, and kind. But when I need a health care provider for me or my family, I try to avoid MDs. I have a strong preference for PAs or Nurse Practitioners. I think they are much, much better at listening and treating patients as people and not just a collection of symptoms. And I think they are usually smarter than doctors.

DH is an MD and some of the stories of the highly qualified and really good at what he does PA makes me shudder. Give me an MD anyway.

Well, my son is in med school, so I just wonder where they did their residency and if they liked it.

Doctors or their husbands, I'm fine with. Doctors wives OTOH - I stay the hell away from at parties etc. I'm sure there are some normal ones but everyone I've interacted with has been a little to stuck on the fact that HER man is a DOCTOR while letting it be known she drives a Mercedes and they're off to Hawaii next week. And often while at the same party, their doctor DH will be in a different conversation complaining about loans or how he's gotten such a late start on retirement planning or whatever. Doctors' wives who have nothing going on of their own put on too many airs.

Smart, ambitious, determined to make lots of money

Anonymous wrote:I have no problem with them socially. The doctors I know are smart, funny, and kind. But when I need a health care provider for me or my family, I try to avoid MDs. I have a strong preference for PAs or Nurse Practitioners. I think they are much, much better at listening and treating patients as people and not just a collection of symptoms. And I think they are usually smarter than doctors.

Good God. If I can get a US trained MD (not always a given anymore) with more than 5 yrs experience post residency, I'll take them over an NP or PA any day. If my choice is a University of Punjab grad or an NP/PA then I'm foregoing the doctor for primary care.

I wonder if I can ask them about a current ailment.

Anonymous wrote:I have no problem with them socially. The doctors I know are smart, funny, and kind. But when I need a health care provider for me or my family, I try to avoid MDs. I have a strong preference for PAs or Nurse Practitioners. I think they are much, much better at listening and treating patients as people and not just a collection of symptoms. And I think they are usually smarter than doctors.

+8 million! I COMPLETELY agree with this and have had the same experience, time and time again. The quality of care is far superior, as is their hands-on knowledge and patient engagement

I assume they are super smart. Then I'm kind of confused if they aren't.

I think a few things: 1) they're hard-working and at least reasonably book smart, 2) it's too bad practicing medicine isn't what it used to be, and 3) they probably have a ton of debt if they're a younger doctor.

Both my parents were physicians and they discouraged me and my siblings from pursuing medicine. We had a very comfortable living growing up, but they both wouldn't go into medicine in this day and age. Too much training and not enough pay for the effort. Add med mal costs, lower reimbursements, trend toward large groups (don't really see solo practioners anymore), and fewer perks (gone are the days drug reps would shower doctors with gifts, trips, fancy weekends - admittedly getting rid of this is probably a good thing for practice of medicine). This is a few decades ago, but I remember one year drug companies closed down an amusement park for doctors and their families who were part of the American College of XXXX.

I don't know why people care so much about what people think of doctors. I'm personally not that impressed - just not what it used to be and it's not a particularly unique profession. Aside from cosmetic procedures, there are much better ways to make a lot money than in medicine. The richest doctors are either super specialized, do cosmetic procedures, or really good business people (I.e. Owning a bunch of clinics)

I have no problem with them socially. The doctors I know are smart, funny, and kind. But when I need a health care provider for me or my family, I try to avoid MDs. I have a strong preference for PAs or Nurse Practitioners. I think they are much, much better at listening and treating patients as people and not just a collection of symptoms. And I think they are usually smarter than doctors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My husband is a doctor. The doctor part was easy. The hard part was getting a PhD to be a research scientist. Way more fulfilling, though, even though it pays much less.

Translation: not impressed unless they have your husband's credentials. Nobody's asking you to be impressed, but stop being such a douchebag.

research. if you like the slow, slow, slow paced work cadence. with minimal decision making. Practically the opposite of being a surgeon, litigator, hedge fund manager, fighter-pilot, C-level -- anyone that has to use judgement fast and make daily decisions under uncertainty. The academic stuff was just the initial hurdles, in most professions you truly learn on the job and via pattern recognition (residency, patients, precedents).

Anonymous wrote:Depends on type.

Ortho - jock
Radiologist - antisocial
Pedi - bleeding heart
Derm - did really well in med school
Cardiologist - likes evidence

This. Also: surgeon - douchebag