Is it the right choice?

After years of debating whether I should set up a blog of my own, with the support from my family and my closest friends, I finally gather my courage to share my experiences as well as some of the of medical students from my medical school, AIMST University. So I will start from the beginning, what influence me to become a doctor and the journey of becoming a healthcare professional. I really hope our stories might be helpful for those who are interested in becoming a doctor.

Deciding your own career path could be horrifying. Yup, I could totally relate with that. Been there, know it. I found myself still to be indecisive even months after I got my SPM results, though I did my researched about many of the possible careers that I could choose from, but still...the voice in the my head constantly telling that I might make the wrong decision.

So what did I do years ago?

 By the end of one day, after being fed up with my own shilly-shallying, I asked my the wisest person in the household... AKA my dad. We had a long talk. After listening to my problems, he told me that there a few things which I need to consider before I make my choice. This is a summary of what he had told me:

 1) Your passion- You need to know what is your WHO . Your WHO comes from core, your personality ,beliefs and your experiences. What makes you yourself. Your passion does not just sprout out within you in just one day, it was nurture for years ever since you are born.

 2) Your interest- It may be subjects in school that you like or your hobbies. Choosing a career based on you likes will make you enjoy your work more in the future.

 3) Your goals- Try to envision your own future life. Ask yourself 'What do you want to see in yourself after five years?' It may be anything, from having a stable life to having a company of your own. As long as you are clear on your own life goals you might have an idea about what you wanted for your career path.

After the hearty conversation, I remembered some memories which is about my visits to Hospital Lam Wah Ee in Penang when I was young. Instead of being intimidated ,I found myself liking the hospital environment. The orderliness, the bustling doctors and nurses and most of all, the professionalism portrayed by the everyone in the hospital amazed me. With that in mind I had decided to choose doctor as my career path. 

If you still doubt yourself whether you should consider doctor as your career, I suggest you should visit Dr.Pagalavan Letchumann's Blog . His blog describes about the challenges and current issues of doctors' employment in Malaysia as well as providing information of the reality of situation. I admit that the path to become a doctor isn't easy, but don't let that discourage you!

Here are some experience by some Aimsters about how they end up as medical students*Pseudonames are used instead of real names*:

It is not like to be a doctor is my ambition since small or what....erm is just that I don't like maths and physics so I rather not touch engineering, business, accounting and all that....and maybe because both of my sis are in medical fields. They somehow influenced me. I visited one educational fair with my mum after the spm result are out and I saw Aimst logo....and further asking about the Aimst and everything and yes I ended up here in AIMST.

- Salmon (23,4th year MBBS student)