Are anesthesiologists DOCTORS/MDs/PHYSICIANS? …and other frequently Googled questions

Today’s inane image of the day:

During a talk I gave recently to an anesthesia department about social media for use by medical professionals, I used the example of typing into Google: “Are anesthesiologists…” and allowing the predictive text to fill in the rest. The FIRST response on Google is: “Are anesthesiologists doctors?” which I used as a demonstration that we [as anesthesiologists] need to do a better job with letting the public know our role in the surgical team.

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5 reasons NOT to become a doctor/physician

Today’s inane image of the day:

I have dreamed of becoming a doctor since I was a young girl. But nothing prepared me for the realities of the profession [of note, I’m a first-generation college graduate and no one in my family practices medicine]. If you are pre-medical and plan on embarking on the journey to becoming a physician, I ask that you consider these 5 reasons NOT to become one:

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4th year residency match: Prep for internship, studying, getting ready as a medical student

Today’s inane image of the day:

Match day was one of the happiest days of my life. It isn’t that way for everyone, so I think it’s important to respect that and support our colleagues when we can. But for those of you that have matched into a residency program (congratulations!) and now know where you’re going to be for the next few years, this video is for you.

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REGRETS: early college [high school dropout], long distance relationship, throwing away my 20s?

Today’s inane image of the day:

I was inspired by a question I was asked during a medical school interview: “What do you regret most?” At the time [over TEN years ago now… whew, I’m getting old], I answered that I regretted going to an early college. Looking back, there are a couple of things that I may have regretted at one point or another:

1. Going to an early college
2. Being in a long distance relationship
3. Throwing away my 20’s [to become a doctor]

But over time, my perspective on these things has changed. Watch the video to learn more about why! I’d love to hear how you’d respond to this interview question on YouTube!

Day 194: Professionalism

Today’s inane image of the day:

We got to know every nook and cranny of the skull during Neuroscience [this has absolutely nothing to do the entry below, but I thought it was a cool image].

“I really appreciated your demeanor and eye contact,” said my Standardized Patient during the feedback period of our encounter. She continued, “but you were too professional.” I reflexively furrowed my eyebrows as I nodded in response. She made a few more comments, but I was distracted by her observation – how could I have been too professional?

The first time I was exposed to this concept was not a memorable one. However, the term pervaded throughout my engineering education [there was not much emphasis on it while I was in the liberal arts], especially during my involvement in the Society of Women Engineers, where our most popular events were designed around this particular subject. During my three years, an image of professionalism formed in my mind as a respectful, well-prepared, conservatively-dressed individual.

But is professionalism only skin-deep?

My preconceived notions of the concept upon entering medical school seemed to imply that it was a superficial thing. In my mind, “professionalism” always translated into a first-encounter-type-situation. Immediately upon meeting an individual, we naturally generate an idea of a person from posture, attire and introduction. Much of the time, slouching, wrinkled dress shirts and a weak handshake translate into an unfit candidate for most professional positions. Unsurprisingly, many recruiters and interviewers take these characteristics into account in their evaluation of candidates for jobs or an acceptance offer to medical school. Although I still believe that a large component of professionalism are superficial features, I have quickly learned that many regard the term to mean much more.

The dictionary installed in my laptop claims that professionalism is “the competence or skill expected of a professional.” It follows that the expected competence and skills of each professional can differ across industries; the expectations of engineers are not exactly the same as those of physicians. The most concrete example of this are the prerequisites for particular professions – engineers are minimally expected to have taken an entire Calculus sequence along with programming and engineering-specific courses, while premedical students are expected to have a broad range of knowledge with some focus on biology and the sciences. These expectations make sense.

But when a college student transitions into the “real world” [I’m going to call medical school the “real world” for this discussion] and attempts to specialize in a career path, the burden of expectations rises significantly. Turning the focus to medicine, there is a presumption that you will be self-motivated, study everything to gain knowledge and understanding of the human body, learn to communicate with a wide variety of individuals, and essentially devote yourself to the practice of healing. There are many, many, many more expectations, but those were the main ones that came to mind when I was writing this.

Considering all of this, what did my Standardized Patient [SP] mean when she claimed that I was too professional? Prior to answering this, it’s important to recognize that every individual has a different image of a professional in their mind. In this case, my SP was referring to my demeanor; her picture of a medical professional included someone warm and receptive, which I hadn’t effectively conveyed during our session. It makes sense retrospectively because I tend to fall back into the engineering professional role during interviewing sessions – I start with a strong handshake and maintain a serious demeanor throughout. Initially, I was somewhat distraught over the comment, but after some time it became clear that she forced me to see my own habits so that I could work on improving them.

In the end, I do not have a definition of professionalism for you but hope that you will at least consider what it means and what expectations your current role holds.

[As always, comments are welcome!]

Day 28: Final countdown and 9/11 reflections

Today’s inane image of the day:

Thank you S from my TBL group for creating this masterpiece of a brachial plexus, then offering to make color copies for each of us! 

That’s right, I finally mastered the intricacies of the brachial plexus and tucked it away deep in my brain. Although I thought it was a lot to remember, I still don’t understand why Dr. Bee was stressing that we memorize it nearly 3 weeks before the exam… I kind of thought it was something fun and different to focus on after staring at Powerpoint lectures from 8am until midnight last night.

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