₦airaland Forum

Vitaglyde:
Its really important in nigeria especially as they play more roles in the country than elsewhere since we have few ophtalmologists

chikahenry:
Ma guy though it takes time buh it's very lucrative

martincbarton:
You are asking relevant questions after you made your choice.

Pukka36:
Hmm,never knew this thread is on,thought it will start after the Jamb exams.

Majestic72:
Uniben still remains d best in Nigeria in terms of merit admissions. My utme frnds here, just wona let u knw u've made d best choice by opting in for Uniben, all u need do now is to work hard, d lord is ur power. I still represent faculty of pharmacy

rheether:
6years is a very Long time to do what you dnt love..

lomaxx:
1) Let me start by telling why I didn't choose medicine. I didn't choose medicine for the money: I knew doctors were well paid alright but that wasn't a motivation. I didn't choose medicine for the perceived 'respect'- I always told myself that no matter the field I find myself, I would be distinctly different by making a name for myself no matter how small. I didn't choose medicine because I wanted to be a 'doctor'. While we grew up as kids, a whole lot of us wanted to be doctors. Same here. But that wasn't why I made the choice. If studying medicine would have landed me a non-doctor title/tag, I still would have studied it anyway.

I choosed medicine because it was challenging - from the onset. It was like a course reserved for the creme de la creme of excellent students. Getting in was challenging- you had to score very high to get in. Staying in is challenging- I heard how medical students are sent off to other depts if they fail their examinations. So that was the first motivation. I am a very adventurous person. I like to try different things - and I don't give up easily. So my journey into medicine was more like an adventure- a well calculated move.

I wanted to study medicine in Ife. That was my plan. My parents had a different plan. My mom felt I was too young to study medicine- she preferred I studied Anatomy first and after that I go to MBBS. That's being too choosy with words. She didn't want me to study medicine. My father wanted his first son to be an engineer. I still have an innate love for engineering though. I was perfect in Mathematics and the Sciences. I had all distinctions. According to him, such mental finesse shouldn't go to waste. So I had a big fight with satisfying both parents. In fact, that was the major reason I did A levels- to buy more time.

Secondly, my parents didn't want me to study outside Akwa Ibom State. It wasn't too long since my brother was murdered- so they couldn't bear the thought of their son leaving their reach. Whatever I had to do, had to be within Akwa Ibom State. Well, I filled Medicine in my UME form- without my parents knowing. It wasn't until Post-UME that they knew what I was up to. By then it was too late for anyone to do anything.

So I didn't even choose Medicine because my parents wanted me to. I choose medicine because it was what I wanted. Have you ever been in love you don't know why? Yeah that is what I mean!

The choice I made was based on the conviction I had - at the time the choice was made. And to me hat conviction, is very important.

2) If I had a chance to start all over again, I may not choose medicine. That is a fact. This does not in any way mean I have regrets. The part of Medicine I am not very convenient with is not being able to do so much outside your field. Medicine is indeed a calling- and once you're in, you're in. I still love Biomedical Engineering- I was considering it for postgraduate studies, but the market in Nigerian isn't ripe for such expertise. We're still struggling with Primary Health Care.

So asides that, if I were to choose another course, I'll study Applied Mathematics without looking twice.

I am of the belief that when it comes to career choice, any choice is fine. Provided you know what you are doing , you are comfortable with it, you are sure it's the right thing and you're ready to put in your best.

lomaxx:
When it comes to the issue of making a choice between two healthcare courses, I am always of the opinion that the individual making the choice should know what he/she wants. In as much as the patient would be the beneficiary of all the expertise that would be brought to bay from different fields, being relevant to the patient is not as important as you doing what you desire. And while you make your choices, please make no assumptions. Don't be carried away by what you read on the Internet or what you feel should be the norm. In the hospital, there are clearly defined roles and responsibilities stated out- and no matter how much knowledge you wield, you are not expected to act except it is within your statutorily defined role.

Health practice has left the era of "we are here to help the patient by all means we can no matter what". The human body is not a 100% predictable machine. It's a spectrum of continuous designs and processes which are inter-related and ultimately affect each other. If you go out of your "way" to help and something goes wrong, you are very on your own. These days patients are becoming 'wiser'- looking for who to blame on their perennial woes. Their relations have lawyers standby should anything happen. The era of studying a healthcare course to be relevant to a patient by all means is gradually fading out. So please let's put things in perspective.

This takes us back to prioritizing personal desire over the will to be a proverbial sacrificial lamb. Study a course because you want to- not because you feel it will make you 'better' to a patient than the other person studying a different course. The tides are changing.

Finally, I've observed that a lot of students in the healthcare arena derive their self esteem from the course they are studying. This is a very flawed mental engineering. It shouldn't be so. What you study is not as important as how you feel about yourself. You don't need to study a particular course to be somebody in life. Nobody cares what you are until they know how relevant you can be to their lives. The Nigerians that tell you a particular course is better over the other probably know nothing about your course. They don't know how many hours you spend daily to make an above-average grade. They don't know how many hours you sleep per night just to ensure you are on top of your material. They're in the not-know about so many things. Why make their opinions important?

I will always say no course is better than the next. What is important is who is studying the course - that's where we can talk of who is better and who is not.

I rest my case.

jaymejate:
uniben GEOLOGY is here!

worisj: Is it a crime to do predegree? ....@Futa their is God o..after paying 160 k for school fees after moving around 4rm 1 room to another in cce 4 registration after queuing for long hours to submit yellow and white forms after giving us incomplete questions nd questions with no answers in our mts001 exam after given us calculus integration and differentiation in our mts 002 exam with only 35 mins to answer them after given us a hard theory test in our phy002......though we wrote our exams in June you released our result in August while jambites wrote theirs in July nd you released their result that same day....the painful part is we don't get a chance to change our course unlike the jambites you'll just throw us in any school of your choice...after all the stress for 8 months what we get in return is suspence, hypertension and long waiting...we can't wait any longer....#BRING_BACK _OUR _LIST!!!

Calculux95: Another day of immense disappointment

lomaxx: Sent to all.
Apologies for the delay.

lomaxx: Most respectful cephalo-caudal greetings to my chiefs in the house. Straight to the point, the issue of overseas training for the Nigerian doctor has been heralded by a myriad of questions- most unanswered and unattended to. This has necessitated a compendium of what you must know about overseas training as a doctor. I stumbled on an ebook to that effect and it is in the most bit very comprehensive.

So in my usual spirit of doing-the-little-I-can-for-my-fellow-Nigerian-out-there, I'll like to share with medical doctors and students who want to explore career possibilities outside the shores of Nigeria and hopefully come back one day to make the system better than the quagmire it is right now.

The countries covered are United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.

For those interested, drop your emails and I'll forward it to you.

Best of luck.

lomaxx: Good luck.
What was your UTME score?

lomaxx: Ok this is what I'm gonna do
I'm gonna categorize all thr soft copy links from preclinical to final year
All the books you're gonna need
Both Indian and others. You heard me right- Indian books.
-You can have Vasudevan, Charteajea , Sembulimgam , Harsh Mogan all in clean soft copy.
So drop your mails while I find start work.

May I use this time to say that as a medical student, a tablet is a must-have. You need it. If you have money, buy an iPad, bcause the battery life is flawless. The iPad 4 has a battery capacity of over 11,000 mah. If you're just using it to read without browsing, you could go for 4days without charge.

If you don't have money so much, buy a good tablet with a decent battery life. Tecno pads have decent battery life. Samsung too.

With a tablet you can have so many books at your disposal. Instead of buying one book and being limited, you can have as many as 4. It gives you an advantage over ur peers. And best if all, you can read anywhere.

Good luck guys. I'll get back to y'all.

lomaxx: Balance comes with time. I still know my limits. If you want to find balance, be ready to study anywhere and everywhere. Refuse to have a dedicated/special reading time. Strive to read everywhere you find yourself - on impulse.

I carry my iPad everywhere. In the taxi from point A to point B, I don commot am to read. We're waiting for a lecturer in class, instead of participating in the noise making, my iPad is out to study. Or im cooking beans in my kitchen, instead of waiting lazily for the beans to get soft, commot book stand dia and read.

Read in btw hours and schedules. Charge your brain to remember as you study. Recite to yourself when you study...ask questions and find the answers.

My dear, people spend time doing various things. Some spend it sleeping, partying, doing politics etc etc. I spend mind doing the things I love.

One thing I don't want in the future, is to wake up one morning and realize I have wasted my time.