Med/lit/

[Anonymous No.14495356]

Any medics on this board? How do you carve out time to read 30+ pages a day when hours are so abysmal? If you do, what kind of stuff (if any) do you find being a doctor makes you want to read?

>inb4 Foucault

[Anonymous No.14495364]

>>14495356
I know a medic and he hasn't read a page of literature, he's probably the dumbest person I know. Not implying anything about others

[Anonymous No.14495378]

>>14495356
What country are you from? And what do you mean by abysmal hours? I'm not a doctor but I work in emergency medicine and the hours are terrible. Long shifts and being constantly switched between day and night shifts does terrible things to my wellbeing and my routine. It always leaves me feeling groggy and unwilling to read. Few people in emergency medicine actually read. Out of the hundreds of people I know, one technician would read Kierkegaard while babysitting the suicidal patients and I knew one PA who would listen to Dostoevsky audiobooks while exercising at home or whatever.

[Anonymous No.14495385]

Student doctor here, so not as advanced as some other medic colleagues, but I'll share my two cents.

I find seeing the sheer worthlessness of life (sometimes) makes me want to read and understand the human condition better. Why are we here? What is our purpose in life? Are we any more than just simple meat machines? etc.

It all stems from the patients though I feel. Being in the medical field, you see human beings at their most essential of states. Suicidal manic patients who are simultaneously laughing and crying "I'm going to do this again, please help me"; quadriplegic patients who are completely and utterly dependent on others; patients who are in so much pain due to incurable diseases, they'd rather shoot themselves than live; and patients who just have the worst day in their lives and are carrying on by a thread when really, you know they're probably just better off dying.

[Anonymous No.14495400]

>>14495356
Im still studying. Reading Melville and taking notes of the psychological observations he makes currently. I wish i could read more.

[Anonymous No.14495571]

>>14495364
OP here, as a medic I can confirm that the vast majority of others I have met are very uninterested in literature, and they aren’t very engaging either. They’re all very good at learning massive books of information and most are good communicators too.

[Anonymous No.14495576]

>>14495378
I’m from the UK. Wow I’d really like to meet that technician... not sure I can support a Dosto workout tho lol. When was the last time you read?

[Anonymous No.14495590]

>>14495385
You articulate what I’m worried my career might become, as I’ve already started to notice something of an ethical erosion in some of my first thoughts. It’s definitely a fair perspective but I think seeing more damaged people than ‘normal’ people does potentially skew our views, so I do try not to give it too much credibility in my opinions. Where are you studying, and what year?

[Anonymous No.14495596]

>>14495400
Nice, have you read any Dosto yet? I find (and there seems to be some sort of consensus on /lit/) that he really does portray character psychology on an unparalleled level. It’s good to hear you’re taking notes too.

[Anonymous No.14495625]

>>14495596
Yes. I've read some of those big russian authors. To be honest the ones that impacted me the most were Turguenev and Tolstoy not Dostoievski (except the Idiot, that one i loved)

[Anonymous No.14495636]

>>14495356
Do it at night and on breaks and on the weekend. And I always have a book in my cargo pocket.

[Anonymous No.14495687]

>>14495625
I’ve never read Turguenev, but Tolstoy ofc is special as well. The Idiot is my fav Dosto as well, is Turguenev at all similar?

[Anonymous No.14495706]

>>14495636
What kind of stuff are you reading? I find I can’t really focus on non-fiction unless it’s in absolute silence and with a pencil and paper, and people love to force chat during breaks. Commuting takes ages and I find it impossible to read on the train too.

[Anonymous No.14495786]

>>14495687
hard to say. Spring Torrents was the one by Turguenev that i found the most illuminating and from what i read by Dostoievski he didnt focus as much on those themes. just my impression

[Anonymous No.14495821]

Bumping a cool thread

[Anonymous No.14496070]

>>14495590
Don't wanna dox myself but I'm in my senior year in mainland Europe

[Anonymous No.14496125]

>>14495590
Prematurely replied, (I'm >>14496070).

I completely agree, 'ethical erosion' is how I'd put it as well. I find myself these days justifying things I might have not considered in the past due to my ability to explain it away (wished I had more vocabulary to describe what I mean, hope you get it). I'm definitely starting to feel like I'm losing my grounding in philosophy, which is why I've tried to read up more on it, although it's quite possibly a correlation that I just so happen to be at the age (early 20s) where this happens(?) as opposed to the field of medicine causing this.

>>14495571
I can confirm this too. It feels like no one has the interest/time to read literature.

>>14495400
Which author have you found so far to capture the human character best?

>>14495596
Dosto (and other russian authors) I think have the best writing tailored to medicine. Have you read any Chekhov? He wrote a lot on doctors

[Anonymous No.14496136]

>>14496125
Ah fuck, I accidentally deleted my last post. I'm in mainland Europe in my senior years

[Anonymous No.14496584]

>>14496125
Yeah, I definitely get what you mean. It's not just us, there are tonnes of papers showing an overwhelming consensus on this feeling amongst doctors, I don't think it's just an age thing. In terms of philosophers, who would you say actually help you try to maintain your humanity as a doctor? ... I have read some Chekhov, but only a few short stories. I have a bunch of his plays in epub form, I guess I should try them out soon, I remember one introduction I read for his short stories mentioned how caring he could be to his patients.

[Anonymous No.14496595]

>>14496136
I know a guy studying in Bulgaria and he says medicine at his uni is totally scammy - is it any better for you?

[Anonymous No.14496688]

>>14495786
Thanks, I'll add Spring Torrents to my fiction backlog