Would you train to be a doctor at 31?

[boredwantachange]

i did a degree in medical engineering, then a PhD then post doc'ed for a bit (had 2 children) and now with the youngest approaching school age i am thinking, i don't want to continue in academia but love the medical aspect of my job, so was thinking about going and doing medicine.

I have a 2.1 and a PhD both in sceince subjects, so i think that should be ok.

but i am i crazy to embark on a 5 year degree and then the extras years of training? i quite fancy orthopaedics.

Finacially it would be a struggle but DH has a good wage and we could re-do the mortgage, but i could get a student loan ect.

I've been riveted all along too deeny- it's just so tough with the career structure, isn't it- I really feel for Sarah.

here

If I was entering medicine now, especially as a mature student, I'd be concernd about the travelling. Also the NHS is in a shocking state at the moment.

Juniors are leaving by the bucket load. I'm in no way certain that I'll be returning, even when my childrn are older.

You would need to move around the country to persue a successful hospital career and with my husband being a GP (and a partner in a practice) we're not in a position to do that - nor do I value my career suficently to move my children with the regularity required.

I'm at my mum's tonight for her birthday so won't be able to log in later - but am more than happy to answer any questions you have tomorrow if it helps.

Wish I had.
DH (was DP then) offerd to support me thru' - I was 32 but I figured I was too old @ that point.
At my now advanced age I would have qulified aeons ago if i'd had the guts to do it....
Go for it!!!!

DD2 was very ill when she was born and we have her here thanks to the staff of our regional teaching hospital. If I had the brain power, I would apply for Med school tomorrrow (I am 40).

Alaso your life experience should make you a great doctor. It's only in the last couple fo eyars that I have realised how vital the art of communciation is to being a great doctor.

yes, lots of people who are dissing the new nhs structure are used to a certain way of being trained, change is frightening... if you really want it go for it. however as someone said the hours are horrendous,
your maturity will be an advantage with the staff and the patients
however if you fancy that but better hours , have you considered dentistry?

I am a doctor, although working full time, I have given up clinical practice, because I need to devote some time to my children. The 9-5 job I am doing now, feels like part time after the years of doing 24 and 36 hour shifts. If I new what I was getting into, I would have never studied medicine in the first place. My point is, that although medicine is a great profession, you have to give up your personal life if you are going to do it properly, especially hospital medicine.

it is possible to do orthopaedics as a woman with childen . Three of our current registrars are pregnant, and two have just had a baby......

once you're on a surgical training scheme, you can stay within a region, so travelling wouldn't be too bad, but you might still have to commute to a unit 50 miles away.

I hope that by the time you leave medical school, the problems with MMC (Modernising Medical Careers) will be ironed out, and all will be hunky-dory, but at the moment it's not.

In terms of hours worked, it's never been better! Gone are the 120 hour weeks that I used to work, our juniors get stroppy if they're still at work half an hour over their finishing time, and they only do a max of 56 hours a week. But whether training is any better to make up for the 60-ish hours a week they no longer do is another question!

Problem-based learning is horribly frightening to many medical students. But that's hardly surprising when they have spent six years rote learning facts in cramming schools.

Under the old system, only somewhere around 60% of students went onto to clinical training, and only 40% were in practice 5 years after graduation. That's an appalling, shocking waste of money and medical school places, and explains which so many institutions want to move to graduate training.

Is there a link? Yes, I think there is. Medicine is about people, and the worst sort of person to train as a doctor is the one who has spent years learning to parrot answers to A-level biology. I'll bet you can all think of at least one doctor you've met whose social/people skills were laughable ...

again thanks for the comments.
Still thinking about it all

i did phone the medical admissions office who said they say off the record if i stood a chance based on my current CV so might look into that.

thanks for the link to the thread - i will go and read it

Don't know if anyone has mentioned this but some of the London teaching hospitals do 5 year courses now (dh looked into it a while ago) eg St Georges. There are probably others elsewhere too

Sorry I mean FOUR year courses

Go for it - a friend did (at a similar age) and does not regret it at all. Also do not just dismiss Oxbridge (if convenient) as said friend went that route very sucessfully.

I teach Southampton Medical students and they have quite a lot of mature students. (My day job is as a Community Paediatrician - I teach on the Paediatric bits ).
In Southampton you need to have at least a 2:1 in their first degree and go onto a 4 yr course. I have met quite a few female students older than you - some of whom have had three children.
Should you do it? Yes, if you will always regret it if you don't. However the course is expensive and at present job prospects for Junior doctors are dodgy (check the BMA site for info on Modernising Medical Careers). The hours are not awful now (but I come from the generation that genuinely did work 136 hrs some weeks) and meet the EWTD.
Different Universities have different requirements but more of them are offering graduate entry to shorter courses.
Good luck!

haven't had time to read all the posts but there are medicine courses out there designed for people like you, i had a friend at uni who did music and now 10 years on (having travelled and taught english all over the world) he is on one of these courses at Newcastle uni nand although its been hard he is loving it. But i know there are other unis with courses specifically designed for those who have graduated already, and the fact that you have a science background is really helpful. Think the hardest part may actually be when you are a house officer after uni, and have to be on call all day and night - might not get to see your family much then!
All the best..
i am doing a law conversion course now which will take 4 years to qualify as a solicitor having worked in another field for some years - its tough but i am glad i am doing it!

I would - go for it. I'm just embarking on a long-winded approach to become a chartered Psychologist and I will be in my 50's before I qualify!!

thank you all again for taking the time to advise me on this.

I'm still undecided about the whole thing but it has been so useful hearing other peoples experiences.

My brother went through all this to become a consultant, years of exams, even now over 40, on call nights but he is able to get home most evenings reasonably early to see his little children. It is manageable and no reason men shouldn't follow women's careers. Plenty of us have had husband who have done that so moving around isn't necessarily a problem unless you're in a sexist marriage or something.

BUT a lot of those ex Oxbridge doctors we know wish they'd done something better paid in the City etc and without the NHS political problems and a good few have left for industry, the law, banking etc.

Hi there all,
To the OP, you def have more than the necessary academic quals to get on a med course.
The question is- how much do you want to do it? I'm 28 & at med school in London, have no kids as yet but know of a couple of mums on the course. It is def hard work but I enjoy it.

I'd say get armed with as much info as possible to make an informed decision. You can apply for a student loan & maybe more things as you have dependents.
You'd be looking at applying next autumn & starting 2009 as applications are closed now
think it's around oct 15th.

Are you crazy to embark on 5 yrs study now? well, I'd say it's probably more crazy to stick with something that you don't enjoy. Medicine will open up a new world to you, but it will be tough- more so as you have responsibilities beyond the scope of an average medic.
Good luck with decisions!

PS a good friend of mine works in orthopaedic sales as a rep- he says that the vast majority of his customers are male- that is, male orthopaedic surgeons.
He's only ever met 1 female orthopod who was a customer (she was a hand surgeon).

Not trying to put a downer on orthopaedics, but that is the reality in 2007.

By contrast, most of the theatre sisters are female but that's another debate/issue.

Ok OK bah humbug me!
I think your crazy, not so much for the study, its the on call and the late shifts and the working all hours, life experience is a good thing to bring to any job esp one where you deal with people and it will stand by you!
Orthopaedics is traditionally and 'old boy' club and difficult (nothing is impossible) for a woman to advance in...
My husband is a consultant and sometimes I think I'm effectivly a single mother, but there are a few of us medical widows and wwe all help out each other...

Do you want to work or to spend your life in education?

It kind of sounds like the latter - degree, phd, post-doc, now another degree ...

Looks a bit like postponing the inevitable.

We had a competition at work once to see how late we were at starting real work. The winner was a lovely bloke who, courtesy of degree, doctorate, post doc went reluctantly into the workplace at the age of 32. He explained that he hadn't really gone into work because that was only with the Inland Revenue so didn't really count - he he.

On the down side, it's interesting to read here the views of people who are doctors/have partners who are doctors- they are the ones who are living the reality of working in medicine!

For me, the big background niggling worry is wondering whether I'll manage to 'fit' children in- obviously there's no 'right' time for everyone, but particularly so considering the study I have left to get through then the rigours of junior doctor training.

For me, I definitely want children & seeing lots of people I knew from secondary school getting married now and starting families makes feel a bit scared that it might not work out like that for me because of the path I've chosen to go down now.

Put it this way, I can confidently say now that if I never make it to be a consultant it won't be the end of the world as long as I have children (& a husband/partner of course!).

I would go for it - I went to university late myself in the face of much nay-sayers. The same ones who'd put me off aged 20 fwiw. You've already proved that you're capable of studying at a high level, now all you have to do is fit the practicable training in .

It's always worth a shot and doctors are always going to be needed.