• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

[INFJ] INFJ physicians around?

Jess11

New member
Joined
Sep 26, 2012
Messages
1
MBTI Type
INFJ
Hi all! I am in nursing school but I wanted to say if you are a physician and interested in the greater good, research might interest you. I did laboratory research for a few years but wanted to go into the healthcare field to, ironically, have a greater impact in the world. I now realize that research has a much bigger impact and always tell my (burnt out) grad school buddies how great they are for continuing to do research. Also, large impacts come with time, eventually you might discover something or have effects on policy making that makes a larger impact.

I completely agree about the extroverts in the medical field thinking that I am too slow all the time. I have decided that floor nursing probably isn't the place for me because of these opinions. Good luck!
 

lostlanguage

New member
Joined
Mar 8, 2012
Messages
34
xNFx here. I work in a hospital and my first impression is that medicine is absolutely a place for INFJs. I have never been so happy in any school, job, or environment, and I have been in many-- both good and completely AWFUL. Like many of the NF type I thought long and hard about what to commit my life (my CORE BEING if you will!) to.. hehe, it was not easy.

But medicine offers several advantages: by the way, this is medical research. I sometimes go work in the hospital proper but it is nothing like the research fields. Medicine is chaotic and stressful.

Medical research is beyond awesome because

1) My colleagues are amazing. Seriously. Individually, they may not be amazing, but as a whole, they are very intelligent, thoughtful individuals. Some of them have altruistic reasons for getting into the field. When I come into the lunch area and see them all cooing to each other like little doves, my heart melts. Step into the clinic, and it's RAWR!! A very different environment.

2) The world of ideas. It's never ending. Medical research can take you down so many avenues, it will take you your whole life to follow them all. And you can easily become more of an expert on something than anyone, ever has been. That's very appealing to me. It's invigorating. Not sure if medicine proper offers this too-- though I'm sure it does.

3) MD PhDs don't have to pay for med school. As part of getting the PhD in biomedical studies, the NIH pays for your med school education. This is a competitive route but ultimately the people who do it are all human. (I think! ;)) May be something to think about as INFJs have a definite bent toward the theoretical.

In the end just DON'T lose hope. I think for me as an NF at least, I have this idea that because I'm sensitive, I can't do certain things. But I know an xNFJ psychiatrist and an oncologist who I am pretty sure is an INFJ and both are amazingly sensitive (and the INFJ is NOT at all sensorily inclined) and both are great doctors and at the top of their fields. You learn how to cope, I think. Mentors may be able to provide help with this.
 
A

A_priori

Guest
Depends a lot on who you are as a person. If you are extremely driven and you have a lot of discipline, then this is a good start. I am an INFJ who works in the hospital system, without self disclosing to much personal information, I realize being a physician wouldn't be the greatest fit for me. I would consider becoming a therapist but other than that i don't have any particular interest. You need to find what makes you happy, if being a physician is just that then I say let nothing stop you. If you want to become a physician just so you can have the label then your reasons for being a physican are all wrong..
 
A

A_priori

Guest
Hi all! I am in nursing school but I wanted to say if you are a physician and interested in the greater good, research might interest you. I did laboratory research for a few years but wanted to go into the healthcare field to, ironically, have a greater impact in the world. I now realize that research has a much bigger impact and always tell my (burnt out) grad school buddies how great they are for continuing to do research. Also, large impacts come with time, eventually you might discover something or have effects on policy making that makes a larger impact.

I completely agree about the extroverts in the medical field thinking that I am too slow all the time. I have decided that floor nursing probably isn't the place for me because of these opinions. Good luck!

I would also suggest you do your homework when it comes to nursing. The 2 INFJ nurses that I know are miserable and the truth is, nursing wil grind the right side of your brain down to a nub. Nursing works well for a lot of ISFJs I know, but seriously INFJs and nursing is like mixing oil and water. In the beginning you will love it because it feels so amazing feeding your FE. As you get further into our career you will most likely soon begin to realize that you are nothing more than a duty fulfiller dictated by doctors orders and a system that is chalk full of politics.

Another thing to note is if you plan on getting into the hospital system, be prepared to have you sleep cycle completely disorientated. I don't know where you live exactly, I'm going to guess the US. Here in Canada nurses work rotating lines where they do 0730 to 1930 and 1930 to 0730. Shifts are typically 12 hours here and seriously going from nights to days is soo unhealthy.

Just my 2 cents
 

jointedlegs

New member
Joined
Mar 7, 2014
Messages
1
MBTI Type
INFJ
I am an INFJ and a physician, just finishing up residency now. I have an interesting story that really reflects how our personality type impacts our learning and working style as well as the specialty that we thrive best in.

At one point after I made the switch, i read the MBTI preferences for certain medical specialties, and it said infj tends to be happiest doing internal medicine or neurology. Anesthesiology apparently is better preferred among sensing types. Makes a lot of sense, in retrospect.

Things to keep in mind, going through the world of medicine as an INFJ:
--you are going to be evaluated by a lot of extroverted sensing types. They will not always understand you, nor will they be interested in trying to understand you. They judge you by whatever you tell them, and they want you to take initiative in telling them what you did, what you thought, etc, selling your ideas. Doing all this is unnatural for the INFJ and REALLY saps our energy trying to. I just came to terms with the fact that some of my evaluators will just underappreciate me and I can live with that, as long as I did justice in caring for my patients and in teaching my interns/medstudents.

--as a corollary to the above, I have tended to sacrifice efficiency/quickness for the sake of spending time listening to the patient, making sure I thought thoroughly through my patient's complaints and what might be going on with them, and making sure I addressed as much as I could for them. It just made my job more meaningful to me, to do so. I think this was the INFJ in me. The side effects of this are as follows:

a) your hours will be MUCH longer than those of your non-INFJ peers, because the workload is geared for superficiality and lack of caring. I was ok with the longer hours because I hated being rushed and I wanted my work to be meaningful for me. However, towards the end of residency I am feeling quite burnt out and needing a few years of "me time" to recharge. I also ended up gaining quite a few pounds because on most of my harder months I would really have no time to work out, and when i did have a day off, I would need it to recharge from the energy sapping ES world of medicine.


So in summary, yes INFJs are doctors. Sure there are challenges in getting through the ES world of medicine and medical training, but ultimately i think it's easier for us to persevere despite those challenges because we dont care so much about "fitting in" and impressing our evaluators. We do this for a purpose, to add meaning to our lives through good patient care. And as long as we do justice to this purpose, we are happy. Just be careful about picking an appropriate medical specialty for yourself.

Hi just wanna say thanks so much for sharing your experience.

i'm a med student, and i recently just googled INFJ doctor specialty just to see what experiences any doctor who has an INFJ personality have. The tests I'm done show I'm a borderline INFJ/ISFJ. But I lean a bit more towards the INFJ, and a lot of stuff about INFJs apply to me as well.

I just wanna say that it's not being an INFJ in medical school. I'm already in my 4th year, almost at the end of my journey, ready to graduate.

Being an INFJ - I am a sensitive person. There, I said it. Haha. But with medical school, there is no such thing as NO CRITICISM. Out of 100 corrections, you get 1 compliment/praise. Yup, there's the ratio. And every day of my clerkship, I have to endure correction. Correction on my presentation, on my physical examination, on my clerking, on my dearth of knowledge, so on and so forth. It has not been easy dealing with correction, as I tend to take it personally, (even though I know in my head it's not,) and imagine facing that every single day. (Disclaimer: My grades are (fortunately) relatively good, so I am not saying this because of my individual performance, but that I want to state a point that correction is part and parcel of one's medical education, and even the culture of medicine itself.)

You are expected to perform (as in, literally, perform) in medical school. Tutors grade you based on their impression on you - how well you present your cases, how smooth your clerking is, how well you (pretend to) treat your patient and communicate, and show empathy etc etc. It's all a song-and-dance. And how well you show off your knowledge in the end. For the extroverts, I think they thrive in this. An introvert, it is highly uncomfortable, and I have to practise a lot harder than my extroverted peers in terms of presentation. It is not natural, and difficult to adapt to.

In medical school, it is extremely competitive and cut-throat. I don't like to fight with others. I like to see others happy. But I realise that I can't keep on putting other people's needs in front of mine. I need to clerk my own patients. I need to fight for myself, if not, no one else will. And that is something extremely uncomfortable as well, but is something one has to face in medical practice with your colleagues.

One thing that is awesome about being an INFJ is that I find i read people's intentions easily. But I find myself not trusting others that easily. In medical school, everyone is competing against each other. And it is a sort of protection against people's bad intentions.

But I find in med school, there are many "STs". These "STs" are cold. They just want to get things done, and they do. I find myself admiring them for it, but yet, I long for some warmth in my interactions with them, some kind of deeper intimacy, than just a proximity-based or utility-based relationship.

So for those who want to enter med school and do medicine, think twice, thrice, because it is not an easy place. Fulfilling? Without a doubt. I can't imagine myself in any other profession, but I do think back during the hard times sometimes, if it were better had I taken an alternative route.

Anyone with me here? Let me know.
 

Ene

Active member
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Messages
3,574
MBTI Type
iNfj
Enneagram
5w4
In response to the OP, becoming a doctor was a strong possibility I considered early on in my career at the urging of a radiologist who thought I had a natural bent for the line of work, but I didn't want the tight schedule and the ER calls, so I opted to become a teacher instead. I think INFJs have a lot of potential in the medical field. There is not enough money in this world to pay me to be a nurse. I worked in a hospital's xray department for a while and discovered that I didn't have the temperament for nursing, but I really did consider med school for a while.
 

catmom

New member
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
1
MBTI Type
INFJ
Thanks Jointedlegs, and also to all the others who posted about being an INFJ in the medical field. It's nice to know what to look out for and also to know that this personality type could end up enhancing my practice (Workaholicsanon). I'm an MS1 now and feel like I'm surrounded by cold people as well, or that I'm being too sensitive, or both! I hadn't thought about it as a protection against bad intentions before.

Right now I'm thinking hard about specialty choices. I spent a lot of time working in hospitals and clinics before school, and thought I wanted to do something more procedure-oriented - I enjoyed even the repetitive procedures I was trained to do as a research assistant, and I liked the idea of treating patients directly as (e.g. anesthesiology) opposed to writing orders for nurses to carry out. But it seems like most of my classmates who are interested in these fields are not "my people", and the faculty, while pretty nice to us, aren't that interested in their patients as people.

Anyone have any advice on how to find my niche?
 
Top