Question and Answer List

Answering your questions about becoming a doctor Tip: A checkmark will appear in the red box next to an item after you visit that page if you use Internet Explorer or other browsers that correctly render pages (not Chrome or Firefox; the latter's programmers seem to be swallowing stupid pills lately).

What's with all of the hot women and Google ads?

Advice for people who want to become doctors

A motivation tip that could propel you to greatness

How to increase motivation

A quick way to boost motivation

Studying with a pet or other creative ways to make it more enjoyable

My response to a sarcastic doctor

Can nurses replace doctors?

How ER doctors can combat burnout

Doctors leaving medicine & how combating burnout could lessen the desire to drop out

A smart student looking for ways to boost her chance of becoming a doctor

Can intelligence be improved? Yes. Learn from someone who did just that.

Increasing intelligence, memorization, and creativity (Part 2)

Proof that intelligence can be improved

1. Working part-time as an ER doctor
2. Doing the right thing

1. Sleep (& fun) deprivation in medical education: contrary to Maslow's hierarchy of needs
2. Starting an ER group or Urgent Care Center

Contemplating how choice of a medical specialty will impact her personal life and satisfaction in the future; Making an ER career better by blending it with something else

The family life of ER doctors: better than good

The Ultimate Medical Career: One You've Never Heard Of

A lack of self-confidence can hold you back

Think like the rich to become rich

How to find out if becoming an ER doctor is truly what you want to do

Pros and cons of being an ER doctor: Part 1

Pros and cons of being an ER doctor: Part 2

A Novel Look at Physician Income: Why a medical career is the wrong career if money is one of your primary motives

Are doctors arrogant or stuck-up?

1. Attaining all of your capability
2. Why doctors shun candy stripers
3. Is the TV portrayal of ERs accurate?
4. My average day isn't very average
5. How we could innovate our way out of the recession
6. Ridiculing good new ideas—and those who have them

1. The importance of self-confidence for doctors—and the danger of arrogance
2. Accurately assessing your ability
3. How to truly succeed, not just make it

How to make medical school seem easier

Advanced studying tips

Can a deaf person specialize in emergency medicine? Part 1 (Note: I recommend this topic for everyone interested in increasing intelligence and creativity.)

Can a deaf person specialize in emergency medicine? Part 2 (Note: I recommend this topic for everyone interested in increasing intelligence and creativity.)

Why is medicine such a demanding career?
The never-ending stress of being an ER doctor
The joys of being an ER doc

She can get into medical school on her own; should she still read my tips?

Is it worthwhile to become a doctor?
Is medical school too long?

Too young to get into medical school?
How applicants often become discombobulated during the admissions interview

Long-term job prospects for ER doctors
Medical specialties in jeopardy

Read this before you apply to medical school

Physician income versus lifestyle
The surprising income of an ER doc
How ER doctors earn their money
My life: from the ER to (almost) Hollywood
Inaccurate public perceptions
Improving the mind in more ways than one
Life advice worth its weight in gold
A true story that will make your heart race

Alternatives to reading the dictionary

1. “My sex drive is affecting my ability to concentrate.” (Reading this topic might change your career plans from becoming a doctor to becoming a leader.)
2. When will adults grow up, or wise up, regarding sex?

Environmental factors affecting the brainpower and mood of women

Do you have enough practical knowledge to be a good doctor?

1. Increasing intelligence
2. Concerned about NOT getting into medical school?
3. Are prestigious medical schools better?

1. Is she ER doctor material?
2. The futility of worrying
3. What can you do if a 100% effort isn't enough?
4. How to increase intelligence

Should he become an ER doctor?

1. Don't let a medical school rejection letter be your first dose of reality
2. Specialization is for insects . . . what? You'll see.
3. Educators are now doing the exact opposite of what they should be doing, and students are paying the price. Perhaps even you.
4. The single greatest thing any teacher ever did for me.

Why your online postings may end your dream of becoming a doctor

What to do when the medical school Admissions Committee interview heats up

Many questions from the wife of a medical student

What pre-med courses to take besides ones in science

Too old to apply to medical school?

How did I rapidly transform myself from dunce to doctor?

Should she apply to medical school?

Is it too late for her to become a doctor?

Choosing a medical specialty: ophthalmology versus ENT

The pros and cons of specializing in surgery

M.D. degrees don't confer self-confidence

Why geniuses are often so fond of sex (article posted on my blog)

Please don't consult Dr. Pezzi for more information to help you become a doctor—I'm too busy!

Miscellaneous ER topics

Doctors should put themselves in the shoes of their patients

Do women throw themselves at ER doctors?

Patient attracted to her doctor; doc seems interested. Can they date?

Patient attracted to her surgeon

Doctor compliments hot patient; should she pursue him?

The Lonely Doctor

The unspoken rules of doctor-patient relationships

Patient attracted to a doc who kissed her

Is it safe to date her PA?

1. The ethics of doctor-patient relationships and friendships
2. Hospitals buying awards they don't deserve

What should a male doctor do when he is groped by a female patient?

The ultimate temptation for an ER doctor; a lesson for Michael Jackson's physicians?

Dr. Pezzi goes from ER doctor to ER patient—almost—and sees our healthcare system from the other side. It wasn't a pretty sight, except for that gorgeous nurse with a big heart.

1. Do doctors become aroused during pelvic exams?
2. The VIP syndrome and its relevance to treating beautiful patients

Doctor concerned about her physician partner regarding pelvic exams

The personality traits of ER docs

Paying for college and medical school

Can a poor student become an ER doctor?

Several questions from a student with aspirations of a medical career

How to profit now from high SAT scores

Working as an ER doctor

What is the scope of an ER doctor's responsibility?

1. Thinking of leaving his ER residency
2. Every doctor could be a superb doctor
3. How PAs and nurse practitioners could outperform doctors

Cranky doctors: A myth? A fact?

Doctors jumping to diagnoses and sticking to them

1. Distractions and interruptions causing nurses and doctors to make errors
2. Noisy sleeping rooms make sleeping while on-call difficult

1. Physician shortage
2. Inequitable physician/surgeon reimbursement
3. What's easier: diagnosis or procedures?
4. Emergency department distractions and interruptions
5. Dealing with hardheaded hospital administrators and nurses

Doctors, judges, and time pressure

Is sleep less important for doctors than truck drivers and pilots?

Medical jobs that don't require long shifts?

Can ER doctors avoid mood triggers?

Lazy doctors kill and get away with it

Women in Medicine

Can women "have it all?" That is, can they be good mothers, wives, daughters, friends, neighbors, and still be good doctors? Are women as competent as men? Are women achieving their potential? What can women do to achieve more? (While this topic seemingly pertains only to women, much of what I say is also applicable to men. This information can help everyone have better, happier, and more fulfilling lives.)

Women in Medicine: Part 1

Women in Medicine: Part 2

Women in Medicine: Part 3

Women in Medicine: Part 4

Women in Medicine: Part 5

Women in Medicine: Part 6

Women in Medicine: Part 7

Women in Medicine: Part 8

Women in Medicine: Part 9

Women in Medicine: Part 10

Women in Medicine: Part 11: The surprising conclusion to this topic

Part 12: Comments about this topic: A female reader changed my viewpoint by raising some great points

Many Top U.S. Scientists Wish They Had More Children

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”
— Henry David Thoreau
Comment: The financial cost of a medical education is high yet trivial compared with the years it takes: years that should be the best of your lives.

Nurses and nursing

One of the benefits of being an ER doctor

An ICU nurse attacks Dr. Pezzi; Dr. Pezzi responds

Another nurse who objects when I say that medicine is potentially more rewarding than nursing

An ER nurse willing to answer questions pertaining to nursing, because she disagrees with my portrayal of it

Young nurse hated by the old ER nurses; how to cope with their alienation

Are nurses paid as much as they deserve?

1. More proof that I am not "anti-nurse" 2. Doctors' dining rooms: the ultimate in exclusivity

A cardiac nurse describes a typical day at the hospital

1. Questions about becoming a nurse practitioner
2. How to make studying (or other boring things) fun (everyone should read this)

Thinking of becoming an ER nurse rather than an ER doctor: which job is easier and less stressful?

1. Do the traits of black nurses differ from white ones?
2. A nurse beats up her boss.

Nurses: From empty-headed ones to mass murderers

The malpractice crisis

A proposal to help shield doctors from unjust malpractice lawsuits

Another Frivolous Lawsuit Attempt

Miscellaneous medical topics

Things to remember once you become a doctor: Financial matters

Things to remember once you become a doctor: Dating advice

Do physicians in the US receive governmental retirement benefits?

Doctor competition: Medical outsourcing and fringe practitioners

Want to save money on hospitalizations whether or not you’re insured?

Increasing brainpower

Arguing both sides of an issue

Brain teasers

Want to become smarter? Try solving these challenges.

ER stories

ER patient arrested

1. Racially motivated murder by paramedics
2. Paramedics raping patients

Another patient raped by a paramedic?

Strange but true 911 calls

Bizarre ER stories

The Malpractice Lottery

Audio excerpts of my ER stories and health tips

My www.podcastdoc.com site features MP3 audio files that you can download and transfer to your iPod (or other MP3 player). Don't have an iPod? No problem! Your computer can play the files, too—just click the file to listen to it!