Medicine is a field dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases and conditions that affect individuals and communities. It encompasses a range of health care practices aiming to restore and maintain health.
The History of Medicine
Thousands of years ago, people believed that diseases came about due to supernatural or divine causes. That was until the ancient Egyptians, and later Hippocrates, came along with the idea that diseases have natural, treatable causes. This was the birth of medicine: the science, art and practice of preserving health. But why study medicine now?
Fast forward a couple of thousand years, and you have the opportunity to study medicine with more accuracy and detail than ever thought possible. The exciting part is that there’s a huge amount of medical knowledge that’s still undiscovered. Perhaps there’s something yet to be discovered that you could ultimately end up working on!
Is Medicine Right for You?
Medicine is renowned for being a long and challenging degree, so deciding to study it is not something many people take lightly. If you’re considering medicine as a career, it’s essential to know your reasons why.
With so much to learn, it’s a good thing that medicine provides plenty of motivation. You’re studying how your own body works, what can go wrong with it and how to fix or prevent it. If you find that fascinating, the majority of the learning will rarely feel like a burden.
Why Study Medicine in the UK?
In the UK, medical school lasts five years. This is typically divided into two years of academic theoretical studies, followed by three years of clinical training in a teaching hospital.
During this training, you’ll get hands-on tuition in the world of patient care and form a better idea of what you want to specialise in after graduation. There are many teaching hospitals throughout the world and four in Oxford alone. The largest of these is the famous John Radcliffe hospital, where students on our Medicine summer school take part in the Mock Clinic Challenge (subject to availability).
Why Pursue a Career in Medicine?
First of all, there are two main paths you can take after medical school: becoming a physician (a doctor who treats people) or going into research. If you’re interested in both, there’s nothing stopping you from combining the two. You could be a physician-scientist, bridging the gap between medicine and science.
If medical research is your ultimate goal, our online Medicine academic internships are an excellent opportunity to learn from an expert mentor and co-author a research paper for publication.
As a doctor, you have the ability to help people and see the impact of your work changing someone’s life. When it comes to job satisfaction, it’s rare to find something more motivational than watching a family embrace their child after you’ve performed a lifesaving operation. Or even hearing that the new drug you’ve been testing is now improving people’s quality of life around the world.
If you want a career where you never stop learning, where you are at the forefront of one of the pillars of modern society, then medicine is for you. As a physician, you’re always updating your knowledge to keep up with the latest discoveries in healthcare, and as a researcher, you could be the one exploring and making the latest discoveries.
So there’s no shortage of reasons to study medicine. However, there is a shortage of doctors around the world. That’s one more advantage of becoming a doctor: a secure career in an ever-expanding sector.
Why Choose Medicine over Nursing?
If medicine requires so much effort, then why do it? A lot of people are tempted to go into nursing instead of medicine, as it has a shorter study period. As opposed to nursing, medicine combines science with patient care, leaving you with the in-depth knowledge you need to take on the responsibility of treating patients.
Caring for patients is rarely glamorous and patients aren’t always obliging or grateful. The decision to become a doctor has to be your own. The best way to know if it’s for you is to get as much experience and insight into the study and profession as possible.
Download our free Ultimate Guide to Studying Medicine for more information on preparing for life as a medical student.
By Oxford Scholastica Academy
The Oxford Scholastica Academy was founded in 2013 by Jamie and Sophie, two former University of Oxford students, who have built a dynamic education company dedicated to empowering young people to chart their path in the world and make it better.
