Very interesting...and convincing arguments. Thanks.
Despite a life long interest in medicine, and despite being able to tuck into my dinner while watching complex surgery, I could never have become a doctor. First and foremost, I can't spell: that bit of my brain is quite simply missing. My patients would have been likely to be prescribed almost any random treatment or drug, if I had to commit instructions to paper. Probably the only talent that I have that would have been appropriate, is to think laterally. So, this alone answers...and defeats, my suggestion about broad spectrum knowledge taking up too much learning time.
In fact, if I were to suddenly find myself young, and starting out again, I would be at a loss to know what I could do.
In aviation, there used to be the potential to put natural ability to good use. Not any more. There now seems to be so little interest in a pilot's natural ability to fly, and yes, the reliance on simulators is to my mind-set, frightening. I spent years flying London to Spain, at night, without radar. I know what it's like to feel mind-bending terror, repeatedly, but still have to maintain a calm professional facade. I imagine it's a bit like being a young doctor in a hospital, when the product of a train wreck is wheeled in.
We trained on a shiny new air-plane, not that long after the deep-stall killed the 1-11 test crew. I can't imagine how crews can sit behind all that glass and let computers do everything; a totally different world. Some of these youngsters have never had anything significant happen at all. Hard to believe, having come from a world that once gave me three serious emergencies in one week. To me, it seems like qualifying as a doctor, never having seen blood.
What puzzles me is the extent to which the medical system has become overloaded in the UK. Years ago I recall an American on T/V describing our national health service as the ‘jewel in the crown.' I also recall spending a week in the 50s, in an immaculate ward, my car parked [free] outside by beautifully maintained gardens. My op? Tonsillectomy.
Why, when the population has increased only to a ratio of 4.6 : 6 in my lifetime, can we be so much worse off than folk in this new technological world?
If you read other threads, you will know my feelings about totally unbelievable population figures. But that's another rant.