Weary Mind

By Sheila R. Alcantara, MD

After endless countless sleepless nights, I am finally going to be a doctor. Five years of my life has just passed, and it now astounds me…indeed, I have survived. All the frantic cramming for impossible exams and physical, emotional, and mental drain of going on duty at the ER, wards, and outpatient clinics all seem to fade in a blur in the not-so-distant past, where I guess they now truly belong. Med school, indeed, can make or unmake you; however, it is out of choice, not some predestined fate one cannot escape from. Still, regardless of the many detours and roadblocks along the way, in the end, there is only that ever-elusive-but-now-within-reach MD-and that is something that can never be taken away from me.

	Indeed, medicine can make or unmake you. But the choices are there to be made, and whatever you decide on, just remember that ours is a noble profession above all, and may we all strive to give honor to it.

    I realize then, that far from being the end, graduation from medical school connotes the beginning of an even more difficult phase in one's life…a crossroads, actually, where, free from the protective shield of apprenticeship, I have to begin making tough decisions about the rest of my life. For getting that MD is quite one thing, what one does after is another.

    So what are the options for the fresh-faced, ready-to-conquer-the-world newly-installed-in-the-society doctor? Ah…the answers may seem ever hard to find…but for you and me-new MDs-the world is indeed spread before us.

    Of course, the first and obvious choice is to go into residency. The next question, especially now with the land of milk and honey beckoning the best and brightest, is "where?" In deference to Sen. Juan Flavier's call for more dedicated and patriotic daughters and sons to stay and serve the motherland, residency in the Philippines is a very viable option. Besides, the bulk of patients alone can make astute physicians even out of the more happy-go-lucky types. However, if the urge to resist the US of A (and the several thousand dollars basic monthly pay US hospitals endow their healers) is beyond you, then go ahead, train in the best hospitals abroad-it really is your own decision. But be sure to come back-this country needs you more than they do.

    On the other hand, not all doctors are meant to be clinicians, and research, albeit still in its developing stages in this country, is increasingly luring sound scientific minds into its fold. That is not to say, however, that each is exclusive of the other. Doctor doctors (the MDs, PhDs) can find fruition in the laboratory and in the clinics just as well.

    Community work, meanwhile, is becoming more popular among new graduates. For those with solid health-for-the-people orientation and vision, then working for the state as a municipal health officer or better yet, as DoH secretary in the not-so-distant future, may as yet alleviate the poor state of the healthcare delivery system in the country. Both government and NGOs can provide excellent opportunities to do CBHP (community-based health program) work and other meaningful health-related projects.

    Academia may also beckon the true educator's senses, as some MDs have opted to join the ranks of the university faculty. Going back to school as a student is another possibility, as graduate school serves to further one's scholarly achievements, whether in the field of basic or health sciences, public health, or health administration (and of course, to lengthen the already long list of titles after one's name).

    If you're not yet too sure about what you want to do, but would still like to earn some money (we are definitely too old to ask for allowance from our parents), then moonlighting is a good way to earn some bucks while taking life easy at the same time. One can go as far as Aparri to Jolo, but some prefer to work in exotic places such as Boracay and Palawan, where the atmosphere is definitely relaxed, the sight one to behold, and the pay not too bad.

    Of course, need I mention that writing is truly exciting, fascinating work, and the doctor-medical writer has in his hands both the power to heal and to reach?

    And if all else fails to interest you, then you can just decide to bum around and not do anything …perhaps, to cleanse out the horrors of med school for some time, and maybe, accumulate a bit of cellulite in the process. And when you've tired of living the life of a wasted man (an eat-and-sleep cycle), then you start thinking again what you want to do with your life.

    Indeed, medicine can make or unmake you. But the choices are there to be made, and whatever you decide on, just remember that ours is a noble profession above all, and may we all strive to give honor to it. Me? Still weighing my options. And yes, a bit weary, but nonetheless, fulfilled.