Today I shadowed Dr. Manning who is a family practicioner in Conyers, GA. I absolutely loved shadowing him and I really love his job. I am really glad that I have been able to compare researching in a lab with shadowing a physician this week.
One thing that I don't like about researching in a lab (at least the one lab that I have experienced) is that it's not a very social job. There aren't too many people in our lab, and the people that are there generally don't collaborate too much. Most of the people work on the same general theme but they all do their own projects and independent research. In comparison, Dr. Manning's office was much more of a social atmosphere. I really loved talking to all of the patients, nurses and doctors in his practice. Just that aspect of his job was a big improvement in the nature of the work and more suitable to my personality.
One reason I sought out Dr. Brown's lab to shadow is because I am very interested in malaria and research that could possibly improve the condition of people with malaria or prevent the transmission of malaria from the mosquito to people. One thing that I don't like about working on the research is that it is a very distant way of bringing relief to people. The mentality of the research is that we are doing this research because there is a correlation with insulin and mosquito lifespan and transmission of malaria which could help to decrease the number of people affected, but first, we need to learn more about ILPs and the insulin pathway in mosquitos which is a very indirect way of solving a problem (and I am so I glad that there are people who are willing to do all of the research and work for medical advancements, but I don't think that I want to do that). I really liked the patient/doctor relationship between Dr. Manning and his patients and the direct way that he was able to improve their conditions and help them to live better and healthier.
One thing that has kind of kept me from definitely wanting to go to medical school is the fear that I would go through a lot of school, have a specialty and then eventually have an incredibly repetetive job and not really learn anything new too often. Dr. Manning told me that because he has such a general practice, he has to know about so many different conditions and problems in every part of his patients' bodies. He also said that because of technology there are always advancements and new treatments that he has to continually read about and learn about in order to provide his patients with the best care. That is one aspect of his job that he likes and something that I really liked about his field as well.
Today I arrived at his office around 8:30 and saw patients with him until about 12 and we had lunch and then went to see a patient of his in the hospital until 2. Then we came back and saw patients for another hour or two. He stayed later but I left around 3:30. I really enjoyed the experience and it has made me much more excited and enthusiastic about potentially applying to medical school.
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