Posted on Apr 20, 2023
One reason the push for diversity in medicine is lagging
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https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/04/20/ [login to see] /one-reason-the-push-for-diversity-in-medicine-is-lagging
Sabina Spigner says she's always known she wanted to be a doctor. But, as a premed student at the University of Pennsylvania, she found herself struggling to balance a heavy class load while also working as much as 20 hours a week.
"I was always working, because I didn't have money and I was a work-study student," says Spigner.
Her grades suffered as a result. In her junior year, she turned to her pre-med adviser for help. "She was like, well, you know, you're just not going to get into med school with that GPA. so I think you should consider something else. And she didn't really present me with many resources or options other than just giving up," Spigner says.
That conversation happened nearly eight years ago. Spigner — who is Black and Southeast Asian-American — says when she recalled the experience on Twitter last month, "unfortunately, a lot of people shared similar stories."
Sabina Spigner says she's always known she wanted to be a doctor. But, as a premed student at the University of Pennsylvania, she found herself struggling to balance a heavy class load while also working as much as 20 hours a week.
"I was always working, because I didn't have money and I was a work-study student," says Spigner.
Her grades suffered as a result. In her junior year, she turned to her pre-med adviser for help. "She was like, well, you know, you're just not going to get into med school with that GPA. so I think you should consider something else. And she didn't really present me with many resources or options other than just giving up," Spigner says.
That conversation happened nearly eight years ago. Spigner — who is Black and Southeast Asian-American — says when she recalled the experience on Twitter last month, "unfortunately, a lot of people shared similar stories."
One reason the push for diversity in medicine is lagging
Posted from npr.org
Diversity
Medical
Health
Posted >1 y ago
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Medical school is grueling. Residency is even worse. Sometimes we are training doctors in over supplied areas were jobs are not available. I have watched doctors come out of the sausage grinder over $200,000 in debt. I watched a doctor( last 6 months of residency) screw up and ticked off the chair of the department. He got booted, fortunately mercy was granted and he finished the residency. We had one doc whose father was a bigwig in medicine. He wanted his child to be in his branch of medicine. The child did 5 years of a extremely demanding residency. The kid then went out as a wholistic med doc in California. Another fellow graduated the residency and moved to an underserved area. Unfortunately the specialty he was graduated in wasn’t in high demand and he made more money moonlighting as an Emergency Doc.
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In Georgia we have the lottery funded Hope Scholarship, it pays the instate tuition for an undergrad degree. You must have a certain HS grade point average and maintain it while at University. If you lose it, you do have a chance to regain it by getting your gpa up.
Both my sons went to school using the Hope, #2 son lost it after year one and regained it for years 3-5.
One of the scrip techs I worked with, a black woman, during her sons high school years, took him all over the state to test and compete for scholarships. In addition to the Hope, he had enough scholarships to afford a car, tuition to Mercer University for an undergrad and graduate degree in engineering. He had enough money to live off campus as well.
There are ways to fund college tuition with prior planning.
As one gets ready to graduate, there is also the military option to fund medical school and residency.
Both my sons went to school using the Hope, #2 son lost it after year one and regained it for years 3-5.
One of the scrip techs I worked with, a black woman, during her sons high school years, took him all over the state to test and compete for scholarships. In addition to the Hope, he had enough scholarships to afford a car, tuition to Mercer University for an undergrad and graduate degree in engineering. He had enough money to live off campus as well.
There are ways to fund college tuition with prior planning.
As one gets ready to graduate, there is also the military option to fund medical school and residency.
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This is not isolated to med students, PA's, Nurses, Paramedics, and any other provider goes through this. I went to a two-year degree program to become a Paramedic as opposed to a "shake and bake program." I worked 2-3 jobs to get by. This didn't include the mandatory ride a longs you have to do to gain experience. This IMHO is why younger people are not going after careers in medical/nursing/allied health fields. It also doesn't include job hazards: the exposure to diseases, violent patients, carrying morbidly obese patients' downstairs.
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