Year 2 HCP-Med student Mike Potts tells us about his long and winding path towards a career in medicine
I am currently a second year HCP-Med student and hope (fingers crossed, touching wood and lucky rabbit’s foot) to be a third year student in September. This will mean starting my last ‘part-time’ year of the five year MBChB for Healthcare Professionals (HCP-Med) programme at Edinburgh.
None of us on the programme are your ‘typical’ medical students: my year of 26 students is made up of people from a wide range of ages and specialties, including nurses, pharmacists, paramedics, a physio, an audiologist, a podiatrist, a physician’s assistant and myself, a dietitian.
How did I get into this?
This is a question I have frequently asked myself over the last 18-20 months. As one of the older members on the course, it’s been a long and winding path. I was set on medicine as a teenager but was told by my career’s advisor: “don’t bother: you’re not clever enough” and, while this sounds a bit harsh and unsupportive, he was right. At the time, I might have been reasonably bright but I lacked focus and maturity and I just wouldn’t have been a good fit.
So, I did an engineering degree and worked in communications for nearly 18 years. The work was interesting and diverse, including a lot of worldwide travel, often working in challenging conditions, and I also managed to get an engineering master’s degree along the way. By my late 30s, though, I really needed a radical change of direction and ended up at Glasgow Caledonian University on a dietetics degree, graduating in 2013 and starting with Greater Glasgow & Clyde as a naive Band 5 the same year.
Subsequently, I worked in medical, surgical and oncology specialisations until landing in my current job in neuroscience, which includes neurosurgery, neurology, critical care, spinal injuries and neuro rehab. I enjoy the work: I love working with patients at various stages of their health journey, and I get immense satisfaction out of helping improve the quality of life of those with neurodegenerative diseases.
Following a teenage dream
Soooooo… why did I choose to drop my hours, earn less money, lose some evenings and weekends, and go through the stress of revising for and sitting exams again? All in middle age when I should be buying a sports car and thinking of retiring.
The first thing I should say is that it was not out of a ‘dislike’ or ‘disrespect’ for dietetics: I could have stayed in the profession, taken my prescriber’s course, qualified as an advanced practitioner, etc. But instead, I have chosen to follow my teenage dream, take what I have learned over the last 11 years in dietetics and stretch myself in studying for a medical degree. I will be starting at the bottom of the ladder again as an FY1 and aim to become a general practitioner within another five to six years.
Taking responsibility
Part of my decision was perhaps a frustration of not being able to care holistically for patients and I really wanted to be responsible for more of the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment path as a whole. I don’t see it as a rejection of my current career, more an extension of skills and professionalism, pushing myself to achieve the next level, and I think most of my HCP-Med colleagues feel likewise. You don’t undertake decisions like this lightly and, from my experiences of the last year-and-a-half, you need to really, really, really want to do this!
Interestingly, I have found that what I have been learning on the course has translated directly into improving my working practice as a dietitian. I would argue that I understand more of the clinical issues and details, enabling me to make more informed decisions.
Life isn’t a rehearsal
As I look back on my journey from a dietitian to becoming a doctor so far, I am truly grateful for the amazing opportunities and support I have received along the way. I am so thankful for my incredibly supportive partner and my fantastic fellow course-mates who have been with me every step of the way. I am constantly learning and growing, and I am excited to see where this path takes me. One of my old mates at school used to have the catchphrase, “life’s not a rehearsal! Aaarrgghhh!” (Which he would usually say before jumping out of a window or something). But, in hindsight, he was right. I never in a million years thought I’d be doing this: it’s such an incredible opportunity and I am deeply appreciative of being on this unique course and working towards becoming a doctor.
It’s just come about 30 years later than I originally intended…
