Career and Life Planning Guidebook for Medical Residents

R E A D : The Mentality Shift There are several mentalities doctors in trainingmust learn to navigate. One day, you’re a recent college graduate or working in a “regular” job…the next you’re in a classroom learning the intricacies of everything you didn’t realize you didn’t know about the human body. As much as medical school is a structured path with defined start and stop paths, residency is a less structured but still well-defined process. It’s like asking a runner to shift from a 400-meter sprint to a mud run: there’s still a start and finish line, but the path between the two are vastly different. At the end of that muddy journey (residency), you are now faced with an even more daunting task: making the shift from resident to attending. Though residency is a far less structured environment than medical school, post-training life is a wide-open space with multiple routes available. The following are some examples of the mental gear shifts you’ll need to grind through to make the transition successfully: FROM a structured environment TO choosing frommultiple paths As noted, you are now writing your own path. You’ve spent years meeting requirements, passing standardized tests, and jumping through hoops that felt like they were on fire. You are now the captain of your ship and will be tasked with choosing the right path forward. As you read this guidebook, take time to review and practice the skills presented here to help you define what your needs and values are to choose the right course for you. FROM No Business TO Knowing Business As a resident, it’s not unusual to be shielded from the nitty gritty of the business aspect of medicine. Use the resources here to familiarize yourself with this necessary but often overwhelming underside of the healthcare industry. FROM Bread Eater TO Breadwinner You’ve spent years scraping by while friends outside the field are living their life. While you deserve to celebrate the end of this era, youwant to set yourself up for success, not piling on more debt. You will find multiple resources in this guidebook to help you work smarter, not harder, and set yourself up for long-term financial stability. FROM Chaos TOWork/Life Balance Burnout is an insidious disease that has become almost synonymous with medical education and physician life. If you haven’t already, invest the same energy, drive, and time in caring for yourself that you did in learning all the information you needed to care for your patients. If you don’t put gas in your tank, your car won’t run! Designing Your Life and Career in Medicine 13 WWW.PHYSICIANCAREERPLANNING.COM