Become a general practitioner. Where to get training

Stephen Leacock

How to become a doctor

Progress in technology is, of course, an amazing thing. A person can't help but be proud of him. For example, I must say directly that I am proud. Every time I happen to talk to someone - of course, with someone who understands even less about this than I do - to talk, well, at least about the wonderful achievements in the field of electricity, I have this feeling: as if I was personally responsible for all of this. When it comes to the Linotype, the airplane and the vacuum cleaner, then... well, here it begins to seem to me that I invented them myself. I believe that all open-minded people experience exactly the same feeling.

However, now we will talk about something completely different. I want to talk about progress in the field of medicine. Here, if you like, something amazing happens. Anyone who loves humanity (at least one half of it - female or male) and who looks back on the achievements of medical science cannot help but feel how his heart melts with delight, and his right ventricle expands under the influence of the pericardial stimulus of legitimate pride.

Just think! After all, just a hundred years ago there were no bacilli, no ptomaine poisoning, no diphtheria, no appendicitis. Rabies was almost unknown and extremely rare. We owe the appearance of all this to medicine. Even diseases such as scabies, mumps and trypanosomiasis, which have become widespread among us, were previously the property of a few and were completely inaccessible to the general public.

Let us consider the successes of this science from the point of view of its practical application. Only a hundred years ago it was generally accepted that fever could be cured by simple bloodletting. Now we definitely know that this is impossible. Seventy years ago it was believed that fever could be treated with drugs. Now we know that this is not true. Finally, as recently as some thirty years ago, doctors thought they could cure fevers with a strict diet and ice. Now they are absolutely convinced that they cannot. In these examples we clearly see steady progress in the treatment of fever. However, we are seeing the same inspiring progress in all other areas of medicine. Let's take rheumatism. Suffering from rheumatism, our ancestors carried round potatoes in their pockets and believed that this helped them. Now doctors allow them to wear absolutely whatever they want. Patients, if they wish, can walk around with their pockets full of watermelons. This doesn't change things. Or take the treatment of epilepsy. Previously, it was believed that in the event of a sudden attack of this disease, it was necessary first of all to unbutton the patient’s collar to help him breathe more freely. Now, on the contrary, many doctors are of the opinion that it is necessary to fasten the collar as tightly as possible in order to help the patient suffocate.

And only in one area related to medicine do we observe complete absence progress - I'm talking about the amount of time it takes to become a good medical practitioner. In the good old days, a student, equipped with all the necessary knowledge, flew out of college after studying for two winters, and he spent the summer holidays floating timber for the sawmill. Some students left even faster. Now it takes five to eight years to become a doctor. Of course, we are all ready to testify that young people are becoming stupider and lazier every year. Anyone over fifty will readily confirm this. And yet it is somehow strange that a person should now spend eight years to acquire the same knowledge that he previously acquired in eight months.

However, that's not the point. The point that I want to develop is that the craft of a modern doctor is very simple and can be learned in two weeks.

This is how it all happens.

A patient enters a doctor's office.

Doctor,” he says, “I have terrible pain.”

Stand up straight, says the doctor, and put your hands on your head.

Then the doctor stands behind the patient and hits him on the back as hard as he can.

Did you feel anything? - he asks.

Yes, the patient answers.

Then the doctor suddenly turns to face the patient and, with his left hand bent, strikes him just below the heart.

Well, what about now? - he asks gloatingly when the patient collapses on the couch as if knocked down.

“Get up,” says the doctor and counts to ten.

The patient gets up. The doctor silently and carefully looks at him and suddenly stabs him in the stomach, after which the patient doubles over in pain and cannot utter a word. The doctor goes to the window and deepens in reading the morning newspaper. Then he turns and begins to mutter something, addressed not to the patient, but rather to himself.

Hm,” he says, “here we have a slight anesthesia of the eardrum.

Really, doctor? - asks the patient, half-dead with fear. - What should I do?

You need rest, says the doctor, complete rest. You should lie down, maintain strict bed rest and avoid agitation.

In reality, the doctor, of course, has no idea what this person is sick with. But he knows for sure that if the patient goes to bed and lies calmly, absolutely calmly, then either he will calmly recover or die a calm death. And if during this period of time the doctor comes to him every morning, shakes him and beats him, then the patient will become submissive and, perhaps, the doctor will finally force him to admit what exactly he is sick with.

What about your diet, doctor? - asks the patient, already completely afraid.

The answers to this question are quite varied. They depend on how the doctor himself feels and how long ago he left the table. If it is already approaching noon and the doctor is brutally hungry, he says:

Oh, eat more, don't be afraid. Eat meat, vegetables, starch, glue, cement, whatever you want.

But if the doctor has just had breakfast and is barely breathing after blueberry pie, he firmly states:

I don't advise you to eat. No way. Not a crumb! Hunger won't hurt you. On the contrary, a little self-restraint in food is the best medicine in the world.

What about drinking?

And there are different answers to this question. The doctor might say this:

Oh, you may well drink a glass of beer every now and then, or, if you prefer, gin and soda, or whiskey and mineral water. And before going to bed, if I were you, I would probably drink warmed Scotch whiskey, after putting two lumps of sugar, a lemon peel and a little ground nutmeg in it.

The doctor says all this with genuine feeling, and his eyes sparkle with selfless love for medicine. But if the doctor spent the previous evening at a small party in the company of colleagues, he, on the contrary, is inclined to categorically prohibit the patient from alcohol in any form and dismisses the poor fellow with icy severity.

Of course, this kind of treatment in itself may seem too primitive to the patient and, perhaps, is not capable of inspiring him with due confidence. But these days, this deficiency is compensated by the work of the clinical laboratory. Whatever the patient complains about, the doctor declares that it is necessary to cut off everything that is possible from him and send all these particles, pieces and pieces to some mysterious place- for research. He cuts off a lock of hair from the patient and writes on a piece of paper: “Mr. Smith's hair, October 1910.” He then cuts off the bottom of his ear and, wrapping it in paper, labels it: "Part of Mr. Smith's ear, October 1910." Then, with scissors in hand, he examines the patient from head to toe, and if he likes any other part of his body, he cuts it off and wraps it in paper. And this, oddly enough, fills the patient with that sense of self-importance, for which it is worth paying money.

How to become a real doctor?

The recipe is very simple.

Every day, drop by drop, you need to squeeze out... your grandmother.

What does this mean?

In short: continuously, persistently, gradually get rid of myths, inertia, closed-mindedness, cliches and stereotypes in your thinking. The vacated space needs to be filled with modern scientific knowledge, refined by clinical experience and wisdom. Moreover, this applies not only to specialized medical knowledge, but also to understanding and perception of life in general.

In more detail: the initial knowledge of a medical university student is the sum of information received at school, a little personal life experience and family traditions.

Family foundations are the experience of many generations, folk wisdom passed down from generation to generation. These are the most difficult concepts to understand and repress, since they are imprinted from childhood as dogmas, when there is not much criticism yet.

In general, often winged and bright stupidity, something accidentally overheard on public transport, seen on TV, is remembered much better than a scientific, but boring lecture.

Personal experience of illness is invaluable. It is difficult for a doctor to understand sick people and their relatives if he himself has never been sick, suffered, or experienced grief in his life. But it is not a fact that the patient correctly interprets what is happening to him, and then the conclusions may turn out to be false.

And finally, the knowledge gained at the university. Now let's understand everything thoroughly? Partly.

By the way, who teaches (trains) at the University? Considering that a teacher’s salary is about 10-15 tr. per month (2016), there is little hope that the best of the best will go there. And indeed, many assistants and associate professors and even professors, oddly enough, have only a vague idea of medicine, being pure theorists. If the teacher is a real doctor, you can’t really expect him to spend a lot of time with students for a meager salary.

You can, of course, study medicine on your own, fortunately from teaching aids, manuals and textbooks line the bookstore shelves. Just a small question - who writes these manuals? Clinicians who spend all their time with patients? Partially, yes. But basically, textbooks are written and rewritten from year to year by medical theorists sitting in their dusty offices, where real patients may not have looked for several decades. Moreover, before a medical book reaches the press and goes on sale, many years often pass, during which some of the information has already become outdated.

Therefore, I would not put much trust in domestic manuals and textbooks, although, of course, sometimes valuable things come across there.

Maybe then it’s worth attending specialized conferences and reading periodical medical journals?

Yes, we should. But you need to filter. Up to 90% of the information in domestic magazines and conferences is blatant and even shameless advertising.

I remember at one cool conference of infectious disease specialists in Moscow with international participation (Belarus participated), an entire section was dedicated to healing properties Oscillococcinum. The hall was packed, a free coffee break (sandwich and cup) was announced instant coffee). From the high stands, associate professors and professors gathered from different cities, excitedly and pissing, talked about their pseudoscientific research. Oscillococcinum! Hooray! Applause! Treats ARVI and influenza! Hooray! Applause! It even treats meningitis and encephalitis! Hooray! Applause! It cures everything! And boosts immunity! Hooray! Applause!

This demoniacal meeting was very reminiscent of a sect.

Thus, the knowledge gained in medical institute very far from ideal. And how much of this knowledge is science, and how much is “grandmother” - the doctor still has to find out and check with his own mistakes and experience.

Western sources of information are not perfect, but they contain far fewer errors and virtually no myths.

To initially obtain information on a topic unfamiliar to me, I can, like everyone else, read the Internet, then a chapter in a domestic book on medicine. It is also interesting to read the forums of domestic doctors.

After receiving general idea I go to specialized sites about the problem. This is medscape - absolutely free, with brief information to the point and cool educational films. This is my favorite uptodate - a review site on all areas of medicine with regular revision and update of each article once a month. This is a fundamental clinical key, including books, atlases and articles on any medical topic. To fully understand the problem, I read specialized articles in periodical Western magazines.

But all this information is useless for now, she still has to face real life, run through daily clinical experience. Only then can I feel that I understand this or that problem at a normal level.

Every doctor (me too), even the coolest and greatest doctor still has grandmotherly touches. And realizing these inclusions in yourself is very difficult and painful.

I once attended a seminar for doctors, where a very good immunologist told us about different vaccines. At a high professional level, she spoke very correctly about various vaccines.

Nothing foreshadowed a bummer, but suddenly she gave out a typical grandmother’s thought: “As usual, after vaccination, we do not recommend the patient to wash and walk for two days.”

Excuse me, doctor,” I asked her, “what’s the joke?” What happens if a child takes a walk or takes a bath after vaccination?

The immunologist was surprised and thoughtful.

Well, maybe the infection will get into the wound?

But doctor, excuse me, tap water is used to clean the wound from dirt after an injury. It contains bleach, there is no infection. Moreover, the hole from the needle after vaccination is so small that it closes within a minute after the injection. What could get in there? Polluted air? Maybe then apply an aseptic bandage? Should vaccination be carried out in a sterile operating room? Moreover, not a single instruction says that after vaccination you cannot walk or wash. This is a myth.

A couple of weeks later we again had a seminar with the same immunologist. This time, looking sideways at me, she said: “As usual, after vaccination, we do not recommend... contaminating the vaccination site and... communicating with sick people.”

Thus, the doctor was able to recognize her grandmother’s thought within herself.

They say that being a doctor is not a profession, but a calling. Indeed, you need to study for a very long time, undergo retraining from time to time, and the salary is not high. Our article will help you decide whether to start this thorny path.

How to become a doctor, how much you need to study for this

If you decide to become a doctor, you need to start preparing from school. You need to study biology and chemistry especially carefully. Except school curriculum You can additionally study with a tutor.

We can start medical education from entering medical school, and then continue it at the institute or immediately enter the institute. After college, you receive the right to work in medical institutions as junior medical personnel (nurse, nurse, pharmacist in a pharmacy).

Studying at the institute lasts 6 years, if you enroll after college, then 5. Four years out of six are training in general medical knowledge, then future doctors are asked to choose a specialization. Our article will help you decide on your specialization.

After graduating from medical school, you should complete an internship (which takes another 1-2 years) and receive a certificate. After the internship, you can improve your qualifications in residency. But even after this, the training will continue, you will improve your professionalism in practice and take advanced training courses every five years.

In the article you can find out what you need to do to become a military doctor or cosmetologist.

The title of doctor can be obtained not only by completing medical school. You can become a Doctor of Science by choosing scientific activity in different specializations. A mathematician, a physicist, a musician, a historian - each of them can become a doctor of science by choosing a scientific activity and defending a doctoral dissertation. To do this, you need to complete a master’s degree after college, defend a dissertation, and become a candidate for doctor of science. Then, after a number of scientific publications, you can begin your doctoral dissertation.

She was considered very revered. This is not surprising, because these specialists not only help people, but often save their lives. Becoming a good doctor is not easy; for this you need to study a lot and love your profession with all your heart. Therefore, let's figure out where you can get a medical education and what subjects you need to take to become a doctor upon admission.

The road to becoming a doctor is a long and bumpy one. Unfortunately, many students never complete all required courses. Some lack patience, others do not show the necessary zeal, and others, in the end, understand that this is not their calling.

Doctor: features of the profession

The difficulty of working in the medical field is that you have to constantly come into contact with people. Therefore, a person who wants to become a doctor must be sociable, sociable and friendly. Otherwise, reaching the patient will be almost impossible.

Another important thing is empathy, because without it it is very difficult to maintain the desire to help people. Future applicants should also remember the responsibility that will fall on their shoulders. The health and life of the patient will always depend on the decisions they make. And if a person is not ready to take on such a responsible burden, then perhaps he shouldn’t even think about what subjects need to be submitted to a doctor.

In addition to all of the above, the doctor must also have a strong nervous system. Constant stress, overwork and arguments with finicky patients can greatly affect people with weak psyches.

Doctor's education

In our country, medical education can be obtained in three stages.

Medical school. Such institutions admit students after the ninth grade, and therefore, along with special subjects, they will have to catch up with the school curriculum.
Institute or academy. Recruitment here is carried out both after graduation and after college.
Internship. Last stage training, when the necessary experience is gained under the supervision of already established doctors.

As for what, it all depends on the specific educational institution. So, if biology, chemistry and Russian are considered mandatory and unchangeable, then the rest are chosen at the discretion of the university.

Life within the walls of a medical school

For graduates of grades 9-11, schools, including those with a medical bias, open their doors. This is the first step on the path to becoming a doctor.

Life within the walls of a medical school will give you the opportunity to plunge into the atmosphere of a hospital. The first injections to patients, bandages and blood transfusions will make it clear how suitable the student is for the role of a doctor. This is where students are taught basic anatomy, disease theories, and how to write recipes. In addition to ordinary languages, Latin is also added, in which all doctors in the world write.

After graduating from such an institution, a graduate can only apply for the position of paramedic, nurse or nurse. To become a doctor, you need to obtain a higher medical education.

Difficulty of studying at universities

Initially, you need to find the right one. After all, each institute or academy has its pros and cons. For example, some may have a good reputation, but the cost of training may be shocking, while others, on the contrary, will be more affordable financially, but with their diploma it is more difficult to find a job. You should also take into account the cost of living in the city where your favorite university is located.

After the final choice has been made, you should clarify which subjects you need to take to become a doctor and prepare to take the exams. It should be noted that the selection here is quite serious, so you should not neglect the help of tutors in preparation.

Studying at a medical school is not easy. Students have to memorize a huge amount of information in order to make accurate diagnoses in the future and be able to prescribe the right medicine. The duration of training depends on the specific institution, but on average it is about 6 years.

The final push - internship

After completing specialized training at the institute and passing all exams, it is time to look for a place in an internship. For those unfamiliar with the concept, it is practice in a hospital under the supervision of an experienced doctor. During this period, young specialists will have to spend a lot of time with patients, as well as carry out instructions from senior staff and work off their salaries. for many years study skills.

The internship lasts from one to three years, and only after its completion a person officially becomes a doctor, capable of independently treating people.

But, unfortunately, difficulties on the path to becoming a doctor do not always end with internship. You need to understand that in the future you will still have to find a suitable job, and this is also not an easy process. Especially for those who live in a larger city or town. But still, if a person is serious, then he will definitely cope with this task.

The profession of a doctor has always been considered one of the most noble and useful. A doctor is a person who saves every day human lives. This profession is one of the most difficult and responsible, therefore, to learn it, you will have to spend a lot of time sleepless nights for textbooks. Nevertheless, the result is worth it: competent specialists are valued in any medical institution, and their work is decently paid.

How to become a doctor - where to start

If you are determined to become a doctor, you need to undergo a long course of study at a medical institute. For admission, as a rule, you need to pass exams in the Russian language, biology or chemistry, and physics. The competition for a place as a medical student is quite large, so it is worth preparing thoroughly for the exams.

And so you entered medical school! There is no need to rejoice ahead of time; it is better to prepare to learn tens of thousands of pages of theoretical material in the first two courses. Pass anatomy, biology, general and bioboundary You can’t do chemistry at random - in order to understand the material, you need to study it.

It is in the first or second year that most medical students drop out due to the large amount of theory. But without her - nowhere. A doctor of any specialization must know the structure of bones, location internal organs, basic principles of preparing saline solutions and much more.

By the middle of the second year, future specialists begin to practice in hospitals, but not as doctors. The students' field of activity is nursing and everything connected with it.

In the third year, the volume of theory noticeably decreases, and continuous practice begins. Working with real patients helps them gain knowledge of clinical disciplines such as general surgery, pharmacology, etc.

Studying in all subsequent courses allows students to combine attending lectures and working in clinics or ambulances.

The required period for future doctors is 6 years of study at a university. This is good enough for therapists. But those who want to master a narrower medical specialization must undergo a residency and pass the necessary exams.

What kind of training is required to obtain a narrow specialization?

How to become an emergency doctor

As mentioned above, a student can appreciate all the “delights” of working in an ambulance while still studying.

Those who want to dedicate their life to working in the emergency room have several options:

Choose an internship in therapy, after completing it, take professional retraining courses and get a job in the emergency room.
Complete an internship in emergency medicine and remain working at the same hospital as an emergency physician.

The first option makes it possible to change specialization in the future, and the second option narrows the doctor’s professional capabilities only to “emergency”.

How to become an ultrasound doctor

To become an ultrasound doctor you must:

Complete a therapy internship;
Complete training to become certified as an Ultrasound Technician.

If an ultrasound doctor wants to conduct endoscopic examinations at the same time, he needs to complete an internship or residency in surgery, and then get a specialization in endoscopy and ultrasound.

How to become a medical laboratory assistant

Any university graduate who has studied the specialty “Clinical and Laboratory Diagnostics” can become a laboratory doctor.

A graduate of any other specialty can retrain after completing initial training (training period is approximately 4 months).

How to become an oncologist

This specialization is rightfully considered one of the most difficult. Few students manage to immediately get an internship in oncology. Therefore, many have to pave the way to oncology through surgery. But obtaining primary specialization as an oncologist does not give a young doctor the right to call himself a good specialist.

The field of oncology today is actively developing, new methods of treating and diagnosing diseases are emerging.

Only regular participation in seminars, conferences, and advanced training courses in combination with continuous medical practice will make an oncologist a first-class specialist.

How to become a nutritionist

Future nutritionists after graduation undergo an internship in general therapy. After its completion, you will receive a primary specialization in dietetics.

How to become a cosmetologist

To obtain the right to work as a cosmetologist after graduation, a student must next steps:

Internship in surgery;
Primary specialization in maxillofacial surgery;
Primary specialization in dermatology;
Obtaining a cosmetologist certificate.

As you can see, to obtain the coveted certificate, the doctor has to go through a long and thorny path, including training and continuous practice. But, as Hippocrates said: “Medicine is truly the noblest of all arts,” and one smile from a happy patient is definitely worth all the effort spent on studying.