Feeling blergh

[Bozo]

Originally Posted by Keile

I am a medical student, just of a different sort than you are.
You seem to think "medical student" always means doctor or nurse. When, in fact, it means: Doctor, nurse, physicians assistant, pharmacist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, anesthetist, psychologist, radiologist....ect ect ect.

If you want ever further proof...

My University is widely and highly accredited. I am currently in the Biomedical Health Sciences field, set to graduate with Bachealors April 2015, and then am going right back for a Masters of Occupational Therapy, I might even dual major with another field just to get the experience.

So no, you are not a medical student.

Medical student ONLY means you are directly on the path to getting an MD or DO degree. I don't know what you're being told or why you're being told that, but there is indeed a distinction. People going to nursing school are nursing students, not medical students. People going to podiatry school are podiatry students, not medical students. People going to dentistry school are dental students, not medical students. People doing physician's assistant programs are called PA students, not medical students. People going to medical school are medical students. You're not going to medical school and it doesn't sound like it's even part of your plan, so you're not a medical student.

YOU are an undergraduate. You're, what, a Junior? You don't even have a Bachelor's degree yet. YOU aren't even trying to be a doctor. I'm sure you could if you wanted -it's not a question of your ability- but your path of choosing is different than that of doctor. Your responsibilities will be different. What you know will be different. Stop saying you're a medical student. You are mistaken.

It's a serious mistake. Getting into actual medical schools, DO or MD, is extremely hard and competitive. It's not just some choice you make. By calling yourself a medical student you are blatantly disrespecting all of us ACTUAL medical students who have gone through a considerable amount of stress and sacrifice to be where we are, the likes of which the average college student looking to get in and out in 4 years has never even heard of. Just to be CONSIDERED by an American medical school you need one year of biology with lab, one year of general chemistry with lab, one year of organic chemistry with lab, and one year of physics with lab. And you should mostly have A's in those classes. Certain schools even want a couple of classes more on top of those. .

And furthermore, even though actual medical students STILL aren't doctors and thus are totally ill-suited to giving medical advice, it is very easy for us to alarm people because they know that we know stuff, and often think we know more than we do. You, who do not have any sort of clinical background and are not a medical student, should not be raising any sorts of alarms. You should not be uttering the phrase, "As a medical student," ever, but especially not in response to someone's list of signs and symptoms. I don't care what school you're from bro. If you're a junior in college, you don't have enough medical knowledge to advise anyone on anything. Since people know you study biology, they'll come up to you, but you should have one cookie cutter response to ALL of them: "If it concerns you, then you should go see a doctor."

Everyone in the medical field has their role in helping patients. It benefits no one if occupational therapists start calling themselves physicians and dentists start calling themselves radiologists.

You have been mislead and it would behoove you to correct your thinking on this matter.

EDIT: And as a medical student, just like all my other medical student classmates, EVERYTHING is supposed to be my strong suit until I specialize after I graduate. In June I am going to take an 8 hour exam that will include: anatomy, physiology, pathology, biochemistry, nutrition, pharmacology, behavioral science, immunology, and microbiology. I'm probably missing something. I happen to like nutrition so I tend to do more extracurricular study in it, but I have an excellent knowledge base to understand the biochemistry of it as well. We don't get the luxury of choosing not to focus on some aspect of health or disease because it isn't interesting.