The doctor is almost in

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Spring Meissner, 26, is in her fourth year of medical school through the Upper Peninsula Health Education Corporation's campus. An MSU student, she came to the U.P. for the Rural Physician Program and has been receiving training at Marquette General Hospital, the Peninsula Medical Center and other locations in the U.P. (Journal photo by Julia Woehrer)

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"It's kind of emotionally draining, because you relate to your patients and it's just really hard to see them suffering. But then they get better too and then that's encouraging."

- Spring Meissner, MSU medical student

MARQUETTE - Spring Meissner, 26, is just weeks away from earning the title of medical doctor from Michigan State University and has already experienced delivering babies, assisting in surgery and working in the field of sports medicine.

As a medical student, the hours she spends in the hospital are unpaid and are part of her fourth year at Michigan State University. Some days she works at the Peninsula Medical Center, seeing up to 40 patients per day in a clinic setting. Other days are spent doing rounds at Marquette General Hospital.

Her average day at the hospital begins at 7 a.m. when she puts on her scrubs and meets with staff to learn about any changes that may have occurred overnight with the patients. At 7:30 a.m. she goes on morning rounds and meets with five or six patients.

"You basically kind of establish where everyone is at the beginning of the day," she said.

She goes in first and meets with each patient on her own, then the attending physician joins her to go over things.

"(They make sure) that we've covered all the bases and thought about all the strange possibilities that could be a little less common and things like that," she said.

At about noon it is lunchtime for Meissner and the other medical students. They eat while they listen to a lecture given by a doctor.

Following lunch, Meissner goes back to work, making afternoon rounds to see the patients she met with in the morning. Once again, the doctor joins her with each patient. Afternoon rounds are finished around 4 p.m. Afterwards, she might spend the remainder of her day studying patient cases or assisting with a procedure such as surgery. Her day is usually completed between 5:30 and 7 p.m.

Meissner graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and philosophy in 2006 from Wheaton College in Illinois. She then began her graduate studies at MSU in the fall of 2006.

Meissner is one of 10 students in her class at the Upper Peninsula Health Education Corporation's campus through the MSU College of Human Medicine. There are six other campuses in the state, but the U.P. campus is unique, because it offers the Rural Physician Program -the program that drew Meissner to this campus.

Medical students spend their third and fourth years of school at one of these campuses where they are sent through rotations that usually last one to two months to involve them in various areas of medicine. During her third year Meissner's rotations included surgery, internal medicine, gynecology, pediatrics and family medicine. Her fourth year has included more internal medicine and surgery, dermatology, sports medicine and an international elective which she completed in Tibet.

Her rural physician training has also taken her to other parts of the U.P., including Escanaba, Calumet and Laurium.

Of her rotations, sports medicine was her favorite.

"It was a fabulous experience. I got to work at Rangers hockey games and girls' high school basketball games," Meissner said.

The most challenging rotation for Meissner was internal medicine. During that time she was working nearly 12 hours a day at the hospital, almost seven days a week.

In addition to being exhausted from the long days, it was also hard to see people who were very sick, but their recoveries made it all worth it, she said.

"It's kind of emotionally draining, because you relate to your patients and it's just really hard to see them suffering," Meissner said. "But then they get better too and then that's encouraging."

Following her graduation from medical school she will officially be a medical doctor. She will have a five- week break and will continue working in the area as she begins her three-year residency with the Marquette Family Medicine Residency Program.

"I think that also family values are a big part of life here, and I think that's neat for someone who wants to go into family medicine is you can see that people care about their relatives, they're involved in their lives," Meissner said.

During her first year of residency she will complete her third and final board exam and will also begin to pay off her $220,000 debt that has accumulated from school.

To keep her head above water with long hours, hard work days and assisting patients, Meissner has developed a coping mechanism that has worked for her so far .

"I call it 'balance,' is what I try and tell myself. Balance so that you're investing in your work but at the same time remembering that your own well-being needs to be first and foremost, otherwise you're never going to be able to help other people," she said.

For young people who are thinking about becoming a doctor, Meissner offers a piece of advice: "I would encourage young people to do the things that they love and to pursue with their whole heart and they'll make it."