Glass half full?

So, in the absence of any emails stating otherwise, I have got a job! I’m pretty happy about it really, especially as I’ve been told time and time again how competitive my chosen rotations are.

However, while I am feeling happy and am looking forward to starting my career, a huge number of junior doctors everywhere are panicking about theirs…yup, you guessed it, MTAS. Nobody likes it, and it really doesn’t seem fair. I was having a look round some blogs written by fellow medics this evening, in the absence of anything productive to do, and I have to say it makes pretty miserable reading.

Most of the docs out there seem to truly hate their jobs.

I can’t really say anything because I have yet to become immersed in the NHS proper, but I really, really hope that I won’t end up that disillusioned with medicine, and I hope I won’t end up as miserable as these poor people.

I love medicine, I’m a total geek about it, I read things when I don’t have tests to study for, I look things up randomly, I look forward to going in to the hospital. Sometimes I even get goosebumps, I love it all so much. Obviously I have bad days, as everyone does, but the good days far outweigh the bad.

Am I destined to become disillusioned, grumpy and hateful of my chosen career? Is MTAS going to ruin my oncology dreams despite all my best efforts and prayers? I sincerely hope not. I want to become one of the doctors that I have admired during my training – a doctor who really cares about my patients, who is keen to teach students rather than dismiss them or give them crap jobs, who loves medicine and for whom it shows.

Is this too much to ask?