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Things to know before starting off with your MBBS

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When you choose MBBS you don’t just choose a profession but rather a lifestyle.

Over the years as you’ll move ahead with your career you’ll notice a stark contrast in your lifestyle and that of your friends who went the other way and choose careers in engineering or law or maybe CA.

This difference will be even more pronounced as their student life ends and they start working but you’re still studying.

The medical career is a long one with at least 12years of your life (5.5yrs MBBS + 3yrs MS/MD/DNB + 3yrs DM/Mch) spent in studying and mastering the art of diagnosis, investigation, intervention & management of a patient.

It also circles around the emotional aspect of life, which you’ll realise alters a person’s thought process and outlook on life.

Below are a few things that one should know before starting off on their new journey of becoming a doctor in India.

1. Your life will be radically different from that of your friends in other careers. You’ll find yourself having a lot less time for yourself than most others. Such is the nature of the field that you’ve chosen.

2. The only time you won’t be giving an exam will be when you’ll be preparing for the next one. 

More often than not, by the time you’ll end up finishing one exam you’ll be notified of the next exam date sheet and within a few days after that you’ll be given the syllabus for the upcoming exam as well.

3. Studying just a night or few days before the exam stops working. 

We all did this at some point of our lives. Most of us were smart enough to study a few days before the exam and score very good marks but that changes now. 

The MBBS curriculum is new and unlike anything that you’ve read before. The introduction of complex terminologies and myriad of syndromes with each one having unique spectrum of signs and symptoms and treatment modalities means confusion is obvious. The only way besting the exams now is to make sure you study throughout the year even if it’s not a lot to make sure you don’t jumble up answers and pass.

4. For the visual learners you’ll find yourself surfing on YouTube more than you ever have before. Not because you wanted to check out a new movie trailer or listen to a new Punjabi song but because you’ll be searching for explanation of various diseases that you have to read about.

My YouTube history is filled with searches like: “Budd Chiari syndrome”, “PCOS”, “Asherman syndrome”, etc etc.

5. Speaking of online resources here are a few YouTube channels that every medico must follow to make the most out of their pursuit on understanding better: Osmosis, Armando Hasudungan, Dr Najeeb lectures, Dr Aditya Gupta (Paeds Onco, AIIMS-D).

6. You’ll soon come to realise that the things you’ve learnt about doctors making plethora of money isn’t always true. Though a doctor on an average makes more money than an engineer, the learning curve is slow and the settlement in life is also several years ahead down the line which is not the case with engineering counterparts. It takes a skilled surgeon years before reaching the point where he can demand a considerable amount of money for the operations that he performs.

Nevertheless, it’s an interesting journey.

Speaking on a broader utilitarian aspect of things the respect in the society and the satisfaction that one gets after doing a lifesaving intervention is unparalleled. 

The thrill of having performed a lifesaving Heimlich maneuver or tracheostomy and pulling a man out of the grips of death at the last minute is unrivalled.

Have a good one!

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The founders of PracBee are senior IITians, passionate about education in India and ensuring high performance of students.

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