That being said.

It's not for everyone here are the things you need to know before becoming a military doctor dodgeball medical insiders dot com.

Military medicine is widely misunderstood by a civilians.

So here's what a practicing military physician said.

She wishes she knew before taking the plunge.

The first thing to know before becoming a military physician is the importance of flexibility.

There is no such thing as part time military.

During your commitment.

You are the military's business asset.

Your annual physical i dental and mental visits are mandatory and any medical issues must be addressed to keep you fit for the fight.

You will have to keep up with your workout schedule and eat a healthy balanced diet to pass your physical fitness tests.

You'll have to disrupt your schedule to complete mandatory urine drug screenings at the most inconvenient of times.

You'll have to reschedule patients due to last minute deployments, commanders, calls and training exercises essentially the needs of the military will often dictate the if and when of your daily tasks as well as your professional career goals.

If you aren't flexible, you'll quickly become frustrated.

But if you can learn to embrace the suck, the military will make you an incredibly resilient and flexible physician.

You will also have to be flexible with where you live.

So be prepared to travel a lot.

Whether it's a short temporary duty assignment or T.

D.

Y.

A deployment of 4 to 12 months or packing up and moving overseas to practice medicine in another country.

You will become accustomed to traveling often.

That being said traveling as a military physician can actually be quite enjoyable.

It gives you the chance to experience a different standard of care and gain a firsthand perspective of what practicing medicine is actually like in another country.

You can really immerse yourself in the mission of the base and the culture that you are in, but only if you are willing to do so.

Physicians who are rigid and unwilling to break out of their normal routine usually find themselves unhappy with their assignments.

If you can break out of that mindset though and remain flexible, you will gain a wealth of experience that is hard to find anywhere else.

There are many unique challenges that you will face as a military doctor that you won't experience in the civilian setting.

The most apparent differences the additional training you will receive that means extensive trauma training, learning to load and shoot an M.

Nine pistol and training for chemical biological radiological, nuclear and explosive emergencies.

You will practice putting on and taking off mission oriented protective posture or mop gear until you can do it in your sleep and you will complete a variety of drills including active shooter bomb threat, mass casualty and field medicine.

This all may sound like a lot but it's what separates military medicine from regular medicine.

Each military base and its associated hospital also comes with its own protocols, resources and limitations.

Some bases have a high deployment tempo and task physicians with deployments outside their usual capabilities.

Other bases are smaller and give physicians the opportunity to wear multiple hats.

Almost all bases though will require even fellowship trained physicians to maintain all their basic skills so they can use them while deployed.

The culture and the military is also very different from the civilian sector.

So finding a physician mentor and an enlisted mentor early can help you adjust to the nuances of being in the military.

They will help you perfect your military speak and hopefully protect you from making a fool of yourself.

Additionally, taking the time to learn your chain of command and understand the roles is important.

So you can better understand any orders and instructions that are given to you.

Next.

You need to know that there are several career pyramids in the military.

These are career tracks that prepare you to go into different areas of practice as a physician after medical school.

If you have a clear vision of where you want your medical career to go, These career pyramids will help clarify what additional roles you should take on.

The four main career pyramids are the command pyramid, the academic pyramid, the master clinician pyramid and the operational pyramid.

The command pyramid positions you for hospital administration and hospital commander roles.

To position yourself for this career pyramid.

You should take leadership positions in your scientific fraternities or take compositions and medical student and resident councils.

The academic pyramid positions you for a career in research and education, it allows you to enter into assistant professor, assistant program, Director, residency program Director, project director and lab research director roles to position yourself for this career pyramid.

You should participate in research projects and take on roles such as education chief the master clinician pyramid.

Also known as the fellowship track, positions you to become a subject matter expert in your field of interest.

It opens the door to roles like chief of medical staff or consultant for the surgeon general to position yourself for this career pyramid, you should not only pursue research experience and publications, but also take on leadership roles in your anticipated specialties medical student group.

Lastly, the operational pyramid positions you for careers in the special forces such as aerospace, dive and flight medicine.

To position yourself for this career track, you should pursue extracurriculars with an emphasis on the field that you wish to enter.

Volunteering for humanitarian medical trips can also be helpful in positioning you for this track relationships are complicated.

As a military physician, you are considered an officer and as such, you are prohibited from dating other enlisted personnel.

Doing so can be grounds for disciplinary action.

So unless you are already married to enlisted personnel before you join, you should consider them off limits.

Romantically, that being said, if you and your spouse are both officers, there are some things to consider to begin with.

You should try to stay within the same branch of the military.

If you are in different branches such as the army and the Air Force, then one of you should consider switching to the other service.

This will increase the likelihood that you can be stationed together any joint spouse assignment.

Additionally, if you are both physicians, most medical specialties can find some common basis to be assigned together.

You will have to consider hospital based versus clinic based specialties.

Though if you work in a specialty that is primarily hospital based, then you are limited to only bases that have hospitals by comparison specialties that are clinic base to have more flexibility and can go to any base that has a clinic or a hospital.

This applies to dating between career designations as well.

If you are dating a pilot for instance, there are only about 5 to 10 bases that a pilot can go to.

These bases may or may not have a hospital but will typically have a clinic being aware of these limitations can help you tailor your medical training to increase your chances of being stationed with your spouse.

Regardless if you are in this position, it is best to contact your specialty consultant early to maximize your chances of being assigned together.

You and your spouse will also need to consider whether you want to start a family during your commitment.

If you do, you'll have to set up an emergency plan for your Children in case your child care plan falls through this outlines how your kids will be taken care of if there is a disaster that requires a short notice deployment for both parents.

While much of this might be perceived as negative becoming a military doctor also has a lot of positives that you should consider when deciding if this is the right path for you.

First off, you will be any much better financial position during your training compared to civilians.

The military will pay for your education and provide you with a stipend to cover any additional costs.

If you go the uses route, you will not only get free tuition but also serve as an active duty second lieutenant and be compensated as such.

The rationale is that your medical training is your one and only job.

The military wants you to be able to focus solely on your studies and become the best physician that you can be.

The military education system also gives a solid educational foundation and exposure to some of the most cutting edge experimental technologies and research available.

The patient volume in the military is also lower than in the civilian setting allowing you to spend more time learning and studying if you're worried about not gaining enough experience with the lower patient volume.

There are also combined civilian military residency programs available.

These will provide you with more volume and give you experience with pathologies that are more common in the civilian sector.

The match process in the military also has a few key differences to be aware of.

To begin with the military match starts in december, which is significantly earlier than the civilian match, which starts in february.

There are also additional factors to consider with the military match having prior active duty and service commitments.

For example, grants you additional points towards your overall ranking as a candidate.

You're still able to apply for civilian residencies as a military physician as well.

If you choose to do so, you will have to look at whether they have matched a prior military or use of student in the last six years.

This will give you a better idea of your odds.

If you are planning on applying mainly to civilian residencies, you should still at the very least ranks some military programs as well depending on the military's current needs relative to the number of students in the military match.

For a specific specialty, you could get assigned to a military residency.

It's also in your benefit to do at least one interview over the phone so you can know which program you can tolerate if you do not get civilian sponsored or deferred, huge thanks to Dr Viviana napier for helping me with this video and providing a first hand perspective of what it's like to be a military physician.

Several of our doctors at medical insiders are also current military physicians.

Maybe you need help deciding if military medicine is right for you or you want to ensure you're as successful as possible, given its unique training intricacies, regardless of your situation.

Our close to 200 insiders at medical Insiders are here to serve you with our extensive experience and broad range of expertise, from civilian to military primary care to plastic surgery.

We help students from any background, regardless of their goals.

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Learn more about the medical Insiders difference at medical Insiders dot com.

If you want more military content check out so you want to be a military doctor much love and I'll see you guys there.