A potential career field I am interested in to pursue for the future is public health and medicine. Specifically, becoming a physician. This interview did more than just answer my questions, it reminded me of why I wanted to become a doctor in the first place. I had the pleasure of interviewing Robert Carroll, MD. An emergency medicine doctor from Eastern Connecticut Health Network. Dr. Carroll went to Fairfield University. He worked at Manchester Memorial and Rockville General Hospital since 1997. Dr. Carroll’s inspiration for becoming a doctor is due to a program he joined during his high school years. In the program, he would volunteer and he realized how much he loved the field of medicine and enjoyed working with others.
I've gained so much knowledge when interviewing Dr. Carroll. In order to become a doctor, you need to pass your MCAT exams during your undergrad years and it is extremely competitive to get into medical school. However, once you get into medical school, it doesn’t just stop there. Your first two years of medical school is typically “in-class” learning while your last two years are more hands-on where you can work in a clinical setting and do rounds but you aren’t getting paid. Now in your last year of medical school you have to go through a lottery for residency. During this, I’ve learned that students will have interviews with certain programs and you will rank them from 1-10 on your list, 1 being your favorite and the programs will do the same to everyone they interviewed. The system will then match everyone together. So say you marked a program 5 on your list, and they listed you 5 as well, you will get matched to do your residency with that program. However, the scary part is not everyone gets matched. For those who aren’t matched, they’re put into a scramble. A scramble is when you need to find other programs and reach out to them so that hopefully they allow you into the program.
Throughout medical school it can be very challenging. Dr. Carroll’s challenge was that he felt as if he was delayed in life. Watching all his friends move on with their lives, having jobs, spending time with their other friends and family while he was still studying in school. Upon that, he had lots of self doubt since it was very intimidating. However, he wouldn’t trade his job for the world. He loves it very much and kept pushing himself in medical school. Whenever he doubted himself, he kept pushing and reminded himself why he wanted to be a doctor. He realized that school was more important than going out so he planned out his studying days. He would study all day on the weekdays leaving Friday as his free day and then he would study for four hours on the weekends. Balancing school life and personal life all depended on the circular you’re learning at the time.
As for work life, he relies on the hospital for most of the equipment, lab work, nurses, and more. Working in health care, you’re likely to get all the benefits, from dental, to vision, retirement, medical, and much more. Most doctors either retire in their late 50s or 60s, depending on when they pay off their debt. Your debt typically all depends. Whether you’ve had help from your parents or taken out loans, it all varies. It’s a little tougher to schedule vacations especially for a surgeon since you’re on call 24/7 even if you’re off. Your shifts will also depend on whose service you’re on. In the emergency department, you’re working 10-12 hour shifts which is 30-36 hours a week. You have less hours when you’re closer to retirement. If you’re working as a trauma surgeon you get about 50 hours a week. Working in a hospital setting can be stressful depending on what case you’re assigned but with more confidence, you’ll be less stressed. In order to have more confidence in your work, you typically have to be working for a while. Depending on your hours, emergency doctors’ starting salary is $300,000 and promotions will apply. If you apply for programs as a starting employee, you can possibly be given partnership opportunities which lead to promotions. Dr. Carroll stated that the most challenging part of his career is when COVID hit since it was scary at first. Especially when the daily patient visit count would drop from 100 to 45 but eventually it went back up to 170 patients and then dropped again to 90-95 patients a day. The key to patient care is to listen to them, ask them what brings them to the hospital, don’t rush them, introduce yourself to the patient and their guests, and listen to their worries.
This interview was a great experience for me. Dr. Carroll’s last advice was to remind yourself why you chose this career path and how your main focus shouldn’t be due to money. Enjoy what you’re doing and be in the moment. Be flexible with your time and be there for your patients, don’t blow them off since their needs are before yours. My thoughts in pursuing a similar career have stayed the same. If anything, it made me more interested. It encouraged me to focus on studying health sciences even more once I go to undergrad after high school. I’m excited about what this career has to offer and I’m ready to face the challenges head on and overcome them.
I've gained so much knowledge when interviewing Dr. Carroll. In order to become a doctor, you need to pass your MCAT exams during your undergrad years and it is extremely competitive to get into medical school. However, once you get into medical school, it doesn’t just stop there. Your first two years of medical school is typically “in-class” learning while your last two years are more hands-on where you can work in a clinical setting and do rounds but you aren’t getting paid. Now in your last year of medical school you have to go through a lottery for residency. During this, I’ve learned that students will have interviews with certain programs and you will rank them from 1-10 on your list, 1 being your favorite and the programs will do the same to everyone they interviewed. The system will then match everyone together. So say you marked a program 5 on your list, and they listed you 5 as well, you will get matched to do your residency with that program. However, the scary part is not everyone gets matched. For those who aren’t matched, they’re put into a scramble. A scramble is when you need to find other programs and reach out to them so that hopefully they allow you into the program.
Throughout medical school it can be very challenging. Dr. Carroll’s challenge was that he felt as if he was delayed in life. Watching all his friends move on with their lives, having jobs, spending time with their other friends and family while he was still studying in school. Upon that, he had lots of self doubt since it was very intimidating. However, he wouldn’t trade his job for the world. He loves it very much and kept pushing himself in medical school. Whenever he doubted himself, he kept pushing and reminded himself why he wanted to be a doctor. He realized that school was more important than going out so he planned out his studying days. He would study all day on the weekdays leaving Friday as his free day and then he would study for four hours on the weekends. Balancing school life and personal life all depended on the circular you’re learning at the time.
As for work life, he relies on the hospital for most of the equipment, lab work, nurses, and more. Working in health care, you’re likely to get all the benefits, from dental, to vision, retirement, medical, and much more. Most doctors either retire in their late 50s or 60s, depending on when they pay off their debt. Your debt typically all depends. Whether you’ve had help from your parents or taken out loans, it all varies. It’s a little tougher to schedule vacations especially for a surgeon since you’re on call 24/7 even if you’re off. Your shifts will also depend on whose service you’re on. In the emergency department, you’re working 10-12 hour shifts which is 30-36 hours a week. You have less hours when you’re closer to retirement. If you’re working as a trauma surgeon you get about 50 hours a week. Working in a hospital setting can be stressful depending on what case you’re assigned but with more confidence, you’ll be less stressed. In order to have more confidence in your work, you typically have to be working for a while. Depending on your hours, emergency doctors’ starting salary is $300,000 and promotions will apply. If you apply for programs as a starting employee, you can possibly be given partnership opportunities which lead to promotions. Dr. Carroll stated that the most challenging part of his career is when COVID hit since it was scary at first. Especially when the daily patient visit count would drop from 100 to 45 but eventually it went back up to 170 patients and then dropped again to 90-95 patients a day. The key to patient care is to listen to them, ask them what brings them to the hospital, don’t rush them, introduce yourself to the patient and their guests, and listen to their worries.
This interview was a great experience for me. Dr. Carroll’s last advice was to remind yourself why you chose this career path and how your main focus shouldn’t be due to money. Enjoy what you’re doing and be in the moment. Be flexible with your time and be there for your patients, don’t blow them off since their needs are before yours. My thoughts in pursuing a similar career have stayed the same. If anything, it made me more interested. It encouraged me to focus on studying health sciences even more once I go to undergrad after high school. I’m excited about what this career has to offer and I’m ready to face the challenges head on and overcome them.