MPH subsidized through work...would you get the degree?

[Beantown D.O.]

Hey there, I have the option of obtaining a master's degree that will be completely covered through my work. It would be at a CEPH accreditated "lower tier" program.

If you are a MD/DO and have the opportunity to obtain MPH free of cost, would you do it? After residency training, I don't have aspirations of working in the public health sector. However, I believe MPH degree will give me a better scope in epi/biostats/research methods/prev med. Who knows what doors it may open many years from now. A degree that is completely subsidized is hard pass up.

Comments?

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[namazu]

If you think it will give you useful perspective/background, it's free, and you have the time/mental energy to take courses again, then why not?!

 

[Adcadet]

If you have the energy and time, yes. Even if you never officially use it, it will help you look at the world differently. Every time somebody talks about a lab test being a "good test" or "very accurate" you'll wonder if they're talking about sensitivity or specificity and the prevalence in the population, or PPV/NPV. Every time somebody says something is "highly significant" you'll wonder if they mean that it's not only statistically significant but also clinically significant. When people mention the classic "table 1" in a RCT and says that there were no significant differences and therefore the randomization worked you'll scream inside over the abuse of statistical tests and want to beat them over the head with their own shoe while screaming "THERE IS NO TEST FOR CONFOUNDING!" Every time somebody dismisses a study as "just an epidemiologic association" you'll snicker at their ignorance. And you'll fall over when people try to explain an association by citing "bias," as if there was just one kind. In short, the MPH will force you into counseling to deal with all of the less informed people around you who think they look smart by throwing around seemingly straight forward terms that they actually are clueless about. At least that's what it did for me.

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

I did mine before med school....precisely because it was free...and also because I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to med school or law school, so instead of sitting on my ass I just got another degree.