Decisions Decisions
Mike Abrams, Executive Vice President of the Iowa Medical Society
This past week was like looking into the future for me.
On Thursday night I participated in a panel at Des Moines University where a few physicians described life in their specialty, and I discussed why physicians should want to have a medical career in Iowa. It was interesting for me to learn from the physicians why they chose their specialty: Dr. Patricia Hoffmann (current IMS president) talked about anesthesia, Dr. Rob Lee talked about being an independent family physician, Dr. Robert McKinney talked about being a hospitalist in a large group, and Dr. John Kuhnlein talked about occupational medicine as a specialty. In addition, Maureen Lyons and Kathy Lariviere talked about the challenges associated with being in a medical family.
About 80 medical students attended, and it dawned on me while I was sitting there that the decisions they were preparing to make (what residency should I seek?) would set in motion the rest of their lives. That seems so very ominous.
Then on Saturday, my wife, daughter and I went to register our daughter for high school. It seemed impossible, but as we were helping her select classes (Spanish or French? Algebra or geometry?) you could not help but think that the boxes you checked were establishing the trajectory for her entire high school experience. What if we pick wrong?
During the DMU panel, Dr. Hoffmann had some outstanding wisdom. She advised the class to go with their heart. Don't be seduced by the picture as it exists today, because the specialty that is favored today might be out of favor tomorrow. Go with your heart; choose a residency program that you think you can enjoy for your entire career.
Though the program was really for the students, I took a lot of notes myself. It is indeed interesting to listen to mid-career physicians talk about their specialties and how they came to choose them, and what they have learned along the way.
As for our daughter: it's French and algebra.