7 Years (A Life In Medicine) 

Tears in my eyes. MS1 here and this gives me hope. Thank you, beautifully done

That was excellent. "Love my patients, hate the system"

Made me cry, final year of residency, tough road. Hope my kids follow.

“I got my colleagues with me we relive Med school glory and those we’ve lost along the way I am sorry” -suicide gets to many of us man 😢

I'm a music therapist working in mental health, and I also work as a psych tech. This video was so touching and a reminder of why I put so much into the work I do, even though our health care system is so frustrating! Thank you for the work you do and all the videos you share- I hope we see some music therapists featured in them soon, too!

Best video and song I've heard from you yet. Very heartfelt.

So many of us are frustrated and burned out with our medical careers. I wonder if this is the case with other professions or is it just because we cared so much because it was a "calling"? Or is it the system?

"I hope my children follow daddy into medicine"...I think few people can appreciate how profound that line is...

The lyric at 2:49 made me cry, when I attended the ACOEP'17 in Denver and ZDoggMD was there singing this song live on stage! My dad passed away when I was a OMS-1, and I promised him one day I'd become a doctor to help others and make him proud. RIP daddy in heavy and thanks for all the sacrifices he made. Thanks ZDoggMD for a great song!

Love this rendition "remember why we live this life to make a better one" 2:52

Working the clinic machine, returning calls, emails, juggling patients with problems bigger than their allotted time, praying therapy is covered, and if not squeezing a little in with each med check, spilling in to admin, after hours, other appointments, time with my children... Get a no show, a breather, extra minutes to catch up on notes, milestones, patient logs, journal entries, and this pops up on RU-vid. Why not, I'll take a minute. All I can say is this was just what I needed, a reminder this is not a job. It's a calling. Jobs fit neatly into circumscribed administrative boxes. Callings don't. We need to make our own boxes to fit our callings. It's frustrating working in the machine with good reason, but it doesn't have to be forever. There is hope, for me and future generations. Beautiful. And damn lucky I have tissues in my office.

love your passion for medicine, i truly went into nursing as a calling. i love helping ppl with compassion and empathy for all. i been in it for 12 years :)

ZDoggMD, I love your message. I'm a nurse, my daughter is a PGY2 int. medicine resident and youngest is a 3rd year nursing student. I've been losing hope in the systems we have in place and feel for my daughters who are just getting started. You are changing things for the better. You're videos are amazing but this one really moved and touched me. Not just a job, but a calling.

Nice. I am going to soon be 60. I have watched Medicine evolve over that time. Thanks rekindling that little spark that got us all started in Healthcare.

of all your renditions this is by far my favorite! My husband is a M.D. Ive been there since med school, residency, and beyond. We have 3 children, and this really touches me ❤

"don't be a pcp do derm please" LOL it's so bittersweet because it's so true. you're so inspirational zdogg thank you so much for this!

I am not in medicine, but the entire family is and this one looks so much my daughter, she has been fighting Covid with everything she has available. She has called my so many nights crying. She's exhausted trying to revive dead patients because it's the law. People dieing with no one but her and her PPE to pray them into the next world. My grandson, the paramedic, has handled it all with the help of his co-workers (all very young) and dark humor. My son, the fireman/medic, actually caught the Delta after being fully immunized, gave it to his wife who has an auto-immune disorder and it took her a long time get completely rid of it. So I understand and appreciate dedication. Mostly, I personally love your songs!!

I watch this when I lose motivation to keep the momentum studying for my Med barriers. It gives me chills every time and brings the bigger picture back in sight. Thank you ZDogg.

I am currently working on my Toxicology major with dreams of going to pharmacy school for a PhamD and a PhD. I want to work in pediatric oncology preferably at St. Jude's and this made me remember why. "It's a calling."

Just heard this sitting in the audience at the NCAFP winter conference...brought tears to my eyes...thanks for capturing our profession

Seriously a tearjerker, and I'm not the bleeding heart type. Just hoping that someday my 4 boys will see why I do the job I do, even if it takes so much of my time! Rehab Charge Nurse!

As a third year MD student, thanks for making these videos. Inspiring and gives some hope going forward.

This evening, I was dancing with my youngest child singing this to her after I'd gotten home from my shift at the hospital. As a med student and mum of three, it's hard to communicate to my kids how I can love being in service to my community so much while it takes so much out of me, but I have hope that things can get better. This captures that feeling. Thank you.

I'm an MS2 and I gotta say I've watching this 5 or 6 times now and shared it with my class. Great work. Thanks for sharing it.

Love this song. I've been an LPN for almost 2 years now. I followed my calling I had since I was a little kid into the medical field. I hope to further myself in this field. Love the doctors and residents I work with. I've grown so much in the past 2 years as a nurse and as a person.

3rd year in MS, actively procrastinating on RU-vid... Then I ran right into this and it made me want to study so hard. I feel like I'll be coming back to this video now and then for inspiration & motivation.

I'm an EMT and listen to this at least 3 times a week before and after my shift. Thank you for this song and representing everyone in healthcare.

Thanks for re-inspiring me, Z. I need it in my 50's.

Every so often I listen to this song because it reminds me why I'm doing this. Especially with late nights in the middle of flu season. It's so easy to get caught up in the monotony of primary life. Thanks Z

I'm crying now... I'm a patient and I hope your daughter will follow your path! The doctor who save peoples live are awesome!

As a med student I always come to listen to this song from time to time it is so touching want to be a great doctor one day💖

Being part of the health system is frustrating, exhausted, and sometimes you feel that you want to quit... but things like this make you see why we become professionals.... Yelitza RN

The girls are great. They must be glad to have you in their lives more. Seeing this made me cry with the years lost with my own children. I haven't seen them since homelessness in 2002.

This actually made me cry. Thank you.

Such a great video and song! I AM 60 years old, and a 3rd year resident....long path to primary care but truly it is a calling :)

"We've touched thousands of lives and we're still learning" hits me "in the feels" as a high school teacher too

I keep coming back to this video every time I ask my self why i'm still in healthcare. Thank you Zdog from the bottom of my heart for being the voice to us who have been run down over time the the unstoppable machine

Thank you so very much for this, Z. I am a 4th year US medical student currently in the process of applying for a family medicine residency. Tonight is the night our match "rank lists" are due, so I have been watching your videos for the past hour with the hope of finding some relief from the unbelievable stress this process brings with it. Your father was right, it truly can be a lonely path to becoming a doctor sometimes. Even this early in my career, I feel that I have too often encountered negative reactions to my desire to pursue primary care from my medical school peers, some attending physicians, and family members in medicine. While I do my best not to let these negative reactions influence my feelings about the field, it is very encouraging to hear about your positive (albeit challenging at times) personal experiences with primary care. I thank you very much for giving me some reassurance, especially on this super freaking scary day!!!!

Inspirational. Each time I visit a hospital in North America I am astonished at how many of my communication products are in use by the clinical staff. It's what keeps me building these products.

brought tears to my eyes.. this is our story. thanks

Thank you for fighting to keep the patients first. As a nurse, I can feel the change in my patients attitude when I have to look at the computer screen more than making eye contact with them. It's like a knife through my heart! :'( I wish we could go back to the way it was. Patients matter!

I’ve been listening to this song for years. Every time medicine gets hard, I’ll listen to this and it will help reset my mentality. I’m an APP and I currently practice internal medicine, but I’m tired. I’m tired of trying to squeeze in an impossible amount of work in 1 day. I’m tired of administration’s lack of understanding the complexity of patient populations and the amount of time and resources these individuals require. I’m tired of missing time with family and friends as I work late to clear inbox and complete patient care notes. I’m tired of living in the space between grit and hope. It’s taken awhile for me to realize that I don’t have to embrace the suck, and it’s ok to put my oxygen mask on first as the plane of healthcare is going down. Our current health care system is broken. I’m finally broken. I hate giving up this facet of medicine that I love so much, but I’m switching to specialty as a means to survive. I hope others working primary care have a more supportive and constructive hospital group than I do. I hope your sacrifices are still worth it.

Just started crying after watching this. Off the heals of watching/listening to the 2+ hrs talk with Peter Attia(his dr evil is hillariois). Recently left residency after almost 3 years and now trying to find my path. Y’all are my tribe and I hope to have the privilege to meet you both one day.

Your Dad was right after being in derm for 35 years I still enjoy it, I love your passion for medicine but you need to put yourself and your family first.

What a great song... captures the essence of Health 3.0. As I am approaching my 62d birthday this June, and am immersed in my studies to the Doctorate in Health Administration, it speaks to me. At this stage in my life, I am ready to take my clinical training and experience in the Lab, combine it with my leadership experience from the Army and the Lab and become the kind of Hospital Administrator who is more a Leader and Advocate than a "Suit". For "Once I was 7 years old" too... J-Diddy

I have no idea what song you're parodying here, and it still touched me. Thanks for fighting the good fight.

ZDoggMD. I'm a Navy Corpsman and have applications in for PA school. Even though your video is about doctors...it speaks volumes for me.

This made me cry. I love a man in primary practice. He turned 60 this year. To see what it has done to him is sad but he still loves it. But how long can he go on like this??

Wow, my husband is 61 years old and has been a FP for 33 years. This is HIS song!!!!! So true! It made me cry. Stuart is my son by the way, my name is Patty. LOL

Post call after a heart breaking week … saw this for the first time and can finally cry

Beautiful. Third-year med's internal rotation made me rethink just how much of a difference I can make when the system makes it so hard. At a certain point, all I could do was pray with patients and tell them not to lose hope. As long as we don't give up on our patients and persist, we will finally find a way to make the system work for us.

As someone who has been with my PCP for almost 20 years, I've seen things change a lot. I have 2 rare diseases and I've seen things go from her helping me a lot to her having to send me to God knows how many specialist. Government regulations and EHRs seem to be forcing a lot of people into "surviving" (from my personal observations) and not able to have as much love and empathy for patients in primary health care. I LOVE your re-make of this song! Thank you for caring about your patients!

working in healthcare for over 10 years, these videos make my day. I'm glad someone is getting awareness out.

This is so touching. My dad is a doctor 😊

You have an amazing passionate "voice" that captures why many of us and why we went into healthcare. I entered medicine at 17 as a Corpsman at 17 and now as a ER nurse for 25 years. As my body begins to slow it is still today that I love helping patients. I don't know why except to say it's a.....calling. Thank you for capturing that feeling so beautifully.

“That subspecialty glory just always seemed to bore me” Someone had to say it. This video is pure gold.

Saving this song... I'm starting nursing school in 2 days it's crazy how fast time flies

This video makes me cry every time I see it. I'm almost halfway through my career as a Med-Peds doctor, and I'm disillusioned by the dysfunctional environment created by insurance companies, clinic administrators, hospital administrators, politicians, consumer entitlement, and medical sell-outs that is toxic to the doctor-patient relationship and genuine healing which makes up less and less of my day despite being a front-line primary care doctor. I never imagined as I was going through high school, then college, then medical school, then residency, each time working as hard as I could, never taking short-cuts, taking the lessons from my mentors to heart and feeling like I was entering a profession that squared with my ethical ideals, that my skills would be constantly devalued by the system. Now I feel like the only meaning left in my life is to just take care of my family and make sure my kids don't go into medicine. That shot of ZDogg with his kids makes me cry at the thought that my son who looks up to Daddy, as I'm sure Z's daughters to, might try to do what Daddy did, and I don't want them to! I don't want them to feel the pain of disillusionment that I still feel.

I have entrance exam to med school in two days. I've got tears in my eyes, but this gave me the boost and confidence I needed!

Wow... First time I've ever left a RU-vid comment and all I can say is AMAZING. Just simply AMAZING...

I love this. I am a 4th year medical student applying for a family medicine residencies. I want to practice in rural Appalachia. It truly is a calling --

That was so touching. It's truly my life. I love my patients and hate the system. I hope I do inspire my children, and touch the patients I serve. Thank you.

The Dr. Is amazing thank you. The only one who recognizes the truth and says thank you to respirarory therapist. 25 yrs lots of intubated and saved patients. Never a thank you from a pulmonologist I've worked with.

Once I was 7 years old in 1968 and I read a book and I knew there were 207 bones in the body. I wanted to be an MD but I knew that wouldn't happen. Then I was 20 years old I became an firefighterEMT which was passion but I wanted to be in the health field. Then I went to school to be a radiographer, but I liked radiation therapy. So I've been doing that for 32 years! In just 4 years I'll be 60 years old, I want to be done with it, Obama and politics make me feel like a machine not like a caregiver! Sorry for the rant sing it too your song, your my NEW HERO! Paul Udulutch RTT!

Family med attending fresh out of residency starting my first real job in primary care tomorrow. I appreciate what you do! Kept fighting the good fight! :-)

You probably won't remember me but I messaged you once or twice before and you responded. And i just keep coming back to this song. Thank you for this! Inspires me a lot 👍🏻

Still so damn relevant. A modern classic. I feel this deep in my soul.

FABulous! You inspire me and keep us thinking and feeling. Thank you ZDogg! I've been in medicine for 40 years and I still feel this way. Love, love, love your stuff

I am an MBBS student & I am feeling so inspired after seeing this video! Just Awesome! 💜

Tight. The use of the term "calling" flips it into a far more esoteric and spiritual quest. Love it.

Oh God, do I have the deepest empathy, love, and respect for all of you in struggle. I was once a EMT student with the higest scores and in Pharmacology as well... But after a childhood full of trauma, I panicked and balked in front of my peers. I overused my ventolin inhaler. Felt my chest closing in panic in observation by my peers for my clinics... Same as Surgical Technology. They were shooting at us in the hood as we were just there trying to save them. We were instructed to buy our own bulletproof vests... 800$ at the time, more for a flap plate. I wanted to help my community. My people. I still do Sick. I tried. Love snd respect A sick grandma now. Trying.

Going through nursing school rn, heard this first as an EMT at drop. Now this hits harder having my own kids and living this song.

My name is Leonardo, I'm a Brazilian interventional cardiologist. It was incredible to discover that more people think the same way. The system is sick. Welcome health 3.0

Thank u for making this song it's actually my motivation song to work hard I hope next year I'd be in med school I'll do my best and work harder

7 years a life in medicine - just watched it. Right now I am 14 years in medicine - found this touching. I'm not always sure how to balance the honor of helping people during their most vulnerable times in the ED/ICU and the medical system/process that makes feel vulnerable and frustrated. In the end, I love what I do at the bedside more than the process that interferes with it. I think your video captures that - thank you.

This is still my favorite song you've made. 💕

I may not be a doc, but as a medic so much of this rings true

Yes it is a lonely path but u give happiness to the lives u touch...

I’m a hospice nurse. People say all the time they don’t know how I do it. Dude I’m doing the best job on the planet.

I m not gonna cry... shut too late awe #ZdoggMd hit right in the feels again ouchies much love and respect keep it moving health care system heroes.

ZDoggMD nails it again. Quite possibly best one yet. Gah, made me cry! Thanks for being a voice for change... And those of us who are fallen brothers.

Beyond powerful, truthful and inspiring. Thank you for this masterpiece.

i can not find any word to describe it, all what i can say is (this song really touched me, i almost cry at the end) this song made me more proud than i was about my job in medical field...thank you so much

Why doesn't this have a million views yet?

This is what medstudents like me need right about now when every system there is is so messed up that you start to question if you even want this line of work. I do :) I really do!

Thank you for reminding me of why I went into medicine. I always turn to this video when I'm depressed in my board studying zone.

Makes me cry every time.

I've been feeling really pressurized with med school but this made me realize why I was so desperate to come here in the first place. Hopefully I'll become a good doctor and a good human

Work in EMS (and volunteer in clinical settings wherever I can). Trying to get to be a doctor. Most of my patients love me, some of my partners hate me because I take the job very seriously (don't cut corners) and see Medicine as a calling (rather than just another job). But I wouldn't choose a different field than Medicine for the world, and every time I see an MD I instantly watch their every move like a hawk to see what they're doing and if I can learn anything... Have saved 4 lives in my lifetime (2 with my medical skills as an EMT, 2 with my suicide-prevention training as a peer consoler)- I so much want to enter into medicine and touch countless more...

I joined my father on a house call at age 7. No copayments in 1966, just a man with chest pain who wanted our help. Yes, a special calling.

Looking forward to watching you on FB. I'm a RN who has in the last 10 years decided to leave nursing altogether. I've been around a long time anyway and had started in the late 1970s anyway. So glad that this generation of doctors and nurses have someone like you to change this crappy system. It has gotten worse since the dirty politicians in the government, big pharma, Medicaid, Medicare been dictating to patients what they should be doing with their health.

💗💗4th year med student i keep returning here from time to time 💗💗🥰

Thank you Dr. Z. I'm an RN in south central Kentucky. Your videos inspire me. They remind me of why I chose this career. I would never change my choice to become a nurse, but there are times when it is hard to remember why that choice was made. Your voice helps me to refocus in those hard times. Again, thank you.

This song is so beautiful

The health sector is my big motivation. It's burning in fire🔥, I'm a proud health care giver ❤️❤️

This one is really touching. I wish the American System of medicine wasn't so broken.

Proud student nurse here 🥰👏🙏 I love this song so much!

I am currently on a med school parody songs marathon.... and this one's really nice. Thank you. I think this video helps us to appreciate doctors more- which is imporant especially during these hard times. My parents are both doctors and even though I don't follow their footsteps in career, I hope that I can successfully uphold their values.

Your so talented Dr. ZoggMD & have a beautiful voice. I really love this song. It’s really sweet to see your gorgeous, amazing children are so sweet

I wish there was nurse one of these. My mom told me to not be a nurse and now I'm in nursing school but I definitely see why she advised something else as my first prof said, healthcare is the hardest job you'll ever love. I can only imagine going to med school!