There are the things that I wish the dean had mentioned on that fateful day that we all sat, goggle-eyed, in anticipation of the rest of our lives. Really, there should have been some sort of warning so that we could all cry in realisation and quit before we figured out what we'd gotten into. But, as things stand, they tell me that there is apprently some sort of doctor shortage, and so this would be a counterintuitive move.

Here are the reasons why I wouldn't want to be a doctor:

1. The paperwork. No one told me I'd have to function as a glorified secretary for the first couple of years out of med school, on call all hours of the day and night. And then you move on to even more paperwork. My consultant's IN tray is stacked to the hilt.

2. Pontificating public. If you think that you can make an ED run better, lets see you try. I am sorry that you had to wait 2 hours to be seen, clearly there are people sicker than you in there. So crying to the media about it is just going to make us dislike you.

3. Patients who believe that everything they read on the internet is true. Do you SERIOUSLY not want to vaccinate your children against polio because some silly people went to court about it AND LOST? And, no, IV vitamin C is unlikely to cure your cancer.

4. The lack of family/social life. You thought that you didn't have a social life in med school? Check out your social life as a junior doctor. Apparently the solution to this is to dump your other friends and only hang out with people from work. This is also the reason I use to repeatedly explain to my very-asian mother why I am in long-term relationships now. No, I am not too young, and in a couple of years I won't have the time to meet people and I don't want to end up like some of my registrars - married to my job and alone.

5. The health system - it needs more funding, and sensible people to regulate it. It is depressing to go to work every day and see all the ways in which it is dismally deficient.

6. Dealing with the invisible people in society - clearly they need help. They are the drunk, homeless, the nameless. Everyone else ignores them. We can't. Even if they're throwing up on themselves and smell bad, we still have to stitch them up. And sometimes, there is nothing that you can do, and that is sometimes the saddest, most frustrating thing of all.

Of course there are heaps more reasons. These are my main ones.

But I'm still going to do it. The reward far outweighs the cost. And seriously? It's still a pretty awesome job.