Dear future successful self,
Hi. My name is Jeremy, I am currently 15 years old, I live in an aristocratic home with my mother and father and two younger sisters. Right now I am watching my mother suffer from the Tuberculosis epidemic that has been spreading around our country like wildfire. She is constantly suffering and people keep coming in to watch her progress and find ways in attempts to treat her. I’ve always wanted to be a doctor; I’ve always thought the body is such an interesting and detailed object that has so many parts and ways to learn about. I stand in the corner every time someone comes to check on my mom that way I can listen to what they have to say about her condition and so that I can hopefully learn from them. I’ve noticed something different about the people who come to treat her; some have certain capabilities while others lack them. Some seem to have more of a right and privilege than others. This interested me so I performed some research by going out and asking around and tried to find answers to my questions. There are two types of doctors, there are apothecaries who have the ability to sell drugs, compound prescriptions, and give medical advice. These types of doctors have served a five- year apprenticeship that includes five months of hospital work. Then there are physicians, who were more prestigious because they were the ones who have had university degrees. Typically after they treat my mother, they stay for dinner, another difference I had taken notice to. Sometimes they eat with us as a family and sometimes they eat with our housekeeper Helen. I asked my father about this and he said “it is the way it is, son” so I inferred that physicians are allowed to eat with the family while apothecaries have their meals with the housekeeper.
A couple weeks ago I heard one of the physicians mention the Medical Act of 1858 that had just been announced. The act established a general medical council to certify medical degrees and establish a list of qualified practitioners. After the first of the new year next year, only the people’s names who made the list would be able to sign death certificates, hold public medical appointments and use the Doctor of Medicine/General Practitioner title. I don’t want to be some fake doctor, I want to be the real thing, the real doctor that people call into their homes and can trust with treatment and who can sit at their dinner table with them. I want to help people like my mom get better. Next time a physician came in, I asked him more questions about this Medical Act and how I can one day be a successful doctor like him. He told me that when I reach 18 in three years, I could enter a training what would be a five-year curriculum of classes and clinical work before I complete a licensing exam.
So to my future self, I hope that when you’re reading this letter a few years down the road that I have taken the right steps to become a known, well-practicing doctor in our time period.
Talk to you later,
Jeremy
Hi. My name is Jeremy, I am currently 15 years old, I live in an aristocratic home with my mother and father and two younger sisters. Right now I am watching my mother suffer from the Tuberculosis epidemic that has been spreading around our country like wildfire. She is constantly suffering and people keep coming in to watch her progress and find ways in attempts to treat her. I’ve always wanted to be a doctor; I’ve always thought the body is such an interesting and detailed object that has so many parts and ways to learn about. I stand in the corner every time someone comes to check on my mom that way I can listen to what they have to say about her condition and so that I can hopefully learn from them. I’ve noticed something different about the people who come to treat her; some have certain capabilities while others lack them. Some seem to have more of a right and privilege than others. This interested me so I performed some research by going out and asking around and tried to find answers to my questions. There are two types of doctors, there are apothecaries who have the ability to sell drugs, compound prescriptions, and give medical advice. These types of doctors have served a five- year apprenticeship that includes five months of hospital work. Then there are physicians, who were more prestigious because they were the ones who have had university degrees. Typically after they treat my mother, they stay for dinner, another difference I had taken notice to. Sometimes they eat with us as a family and sometimes they eat with our housekeeper Helen. I asked my father about this and he said “it is the way it is, son” so I inferred that physicians are allowed to eat with the family while apothecaries have their meals with the housekeeper.
A couple weeks ago I heard one of the physicians mention the Medical Act of 1858 that had just been announced. The act established a general medical council to certify medical degrees and establish a list of qualified practitioners. After the first of the new year next year, only the people’s names who made the list would be able to sign death certificates, hold public medical appointments and use the Doctor of Medicine/General Practitioner title. I don’t want to be some fake doctor, I want to be the real thing, the real doctor that people call into their homes and can trust with treatment and who can sit at their dinner table with them. I want to help people like my mom get better. Next time a physician came in, I asked him more questions about this Medical Act and how I can one day be a successful doctor like him. He told me that when I reach 18 in three years, I could enter a training what would be a five-year curriculum of classes and clinical work before I complete a licensing exam.
So to my future self, I hope that when you’re reading this letter a few years down the road that I have taken the right steps to become a known, well-practicing doctor in our time period.
Talk to you later,
Jeremy