Career and Life Planning Guidebook for Medical Residents

R E A D : Validating Your Mission, Vision and Values At this point, you have laid out a road map (stage 1) to secure the right opportunity—having a better understanding of all the elements in a job search. You’ve studied and learned how today’s landscape is changing and how physician practices and hospitalsoperate.You’veassessedyourprofessional competencies (stage 2), gauged how physicians within your specialty get paid by market (stage 3), and evaluated your Mission, Vision and Values to align your purpose with your work (stage 4). Prior to embarking on the “Search” phase, we recommendaskingyourself the followingquestions: How would I articulate my mission, my vision and my core values for my life and my work? What type of employer can help me grow professionally based on my professional competencies? What type of community do I want to live and practice in? Do the compensation packages within that territory meet my criteria? Do I have a broad understanding of how hospitals/groups operate? Can I define the types of practice settings where I would best thrive? Do I understand the pros and cons of each type of practice setting? Am I prepared to make concessions when choosing a position and if so, what would those concessions be? Don’t Worry, Be Happy If you can’t answer all these questions specifically, don’t worry—you’re not alone. After all, you have dedicated over a decade of your life to becoming a physician. Now, after many years, you emerge with all that training and you’re required to make some choices about where your career will go from here. Remember that there is a big difference between acing your exams and applying the information you’ve learned into diagnosing your first few patients or performing surgery on your first few cases. The difference is that you’ve had teachers, professors, and seasoned physicians to help guide SECTION II: T MINUS TWO YEARS CAREER AND LIFE PLANNING GUIDEBOOK FOR MEDICAL RESIDENTS 154