{"id":417,"date":"2011-03-15T12:51:44","date_gmt":"2011-03-15T16:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogstemp2.wpengine.com\/?p=417"},"modified":"2011-03-15T12:51:44","modified_gmt":"2011-03-15T16:51:44","slug":"match-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2011\/03\/match-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Match Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"match<\/a>I was talking to the third-year medical student who was rotating on my Medicine service the other day about what type of medicine he thought he might end up practicing and, astutely, he said, “Family\/Internal Medicine.”\u00a0I raised my eyebrows. Shortly thereafter, he conceded with a chuckle that he wasn’t sure.<\/p>\n

“I hope I figure it out soon,” he said. “It is really nerve racking.” I told him not to sweat it. I also told him that things would work\u00a0out like they are supposed to and that one day he would wake up and just know.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When\u00a0I went to medical school, I had no doubt in my mind that I was going to be an orthopedic surgeon and work with elite athletes. Coming off of a collegiate sports career myself, that’s all I knew. So for my first 3 years of medical school, I did everything I could to make sure that this would be my reality. I joined the orthopedic interest group and served as an officer; I did research; I schmoozed with the faculty to assure quality letters of recommendation; and I surrounded myself with orthopedic friends. I did everything I could be become a member of the fraternity.<\/p>\n

But when I did my orthopedics rotation as a third year, I found that I enjoyed<\/em> it, but I didn’t love<\/em> it. I tolerated<\/em> the operating room and the surgeries, but I never found myself getting excited about scrubbing in\u00a0like I thought I would. Initially, I chalked it up to being a MS-III and not really being able to participate \u2014 other than to retract\u00a0\u2014 and possibly to not having the best residents and faculty on my team to introduce me to the specialty. But as time went on and the ERAS application began to stare me in the face, I felt just like my medical student does now\u00a0\u2014 scared about my future.<\/p>\n

Daily, I would try to convince myself that things would be different in residency and out in practice; that I could learn to love the operating room; or that orthopedics was still what I was supposed to do. Then, one morning in late May of my third year, out of the blue, I awoke and saw things differently. As if I had decided in my sleep, my worries were gone and my mind was clear. I realized that I was not going to pursue orthopedics, but rather Family Medicine.<\/p>\n

What!!?!?! Family Medicine??\u00a0Out of nowhere, I jumped ship from the specialty for which I\u00a0had been\u00a0grooming myself to primary care??\u00a0<\/p>\n

My only experience with Family Medicine was a 6-week rotation at the very beginning of my third year. Sure, I loved it, but I figured that was because it was my first rotation, and I was finally out of the lecture hall. Heck, I probably would have loved basket weaving at that time!\u00a0When I\u00a0analyzed my decision, a determining factor was\u00a0the ability to have more consistent time with my family.\u00a0With Family Medicine, I could coach little league, go to the school plays, and take my kids camping \u2014\u00a0things I couldn’t do if I was tied to the operating room. Plus, I could envision myself seeing patients in a clinic at age 50, but I couldn’t see myself in the OR at that stage of my life.<\/p>\n

This week is “Match Week” for the 4th-year medical students. By Friday, these young physicians will be learning their professional fate.\u00a0Whether they’re ready\u00a0or not, they will open envelopes that will tell them where they will be spending the next 3 to 5 years of their life. And, if they are like I was, the anxiety of this moment\u00a0is killing them because the future they were so scared of as\u00a0third-year students will soon be\u00a0reality. Their fear and anxiety now\u00a0likely isn’t about making the right choice, but\u00a0rather is about not getting into their number one choice, ending up living in the middle of nowhere,\u00a0or of not matching at all.<\/p>\n

\u00a0However, on my Match Day, my fear and anxiety was<\/em> centered around\u00a0whether I had\u00a0made the right choice by not pursuing orthopedics.\u00a0Now, though,\u00a03 years later, I am about to graduate from JPS as\u00a0a Family Medicine physician, and I am happier than I could have ever imagined.\u00a0And I can say without a doubt that\u00a0I absolutely<\/em>made the right decision.\u00a0Family Medicine has afforded me every opportunity that I want out of medicine. I think critically about medicine patients; I perform procedures ranging from colonoscopies to skin biopsies to joint injections to delivering babies; I\u00a0develop relationships\u00a0with my patients; and I get to see my family. I get to live the life that I always dreamed of!<\/p>\n

So if\u00a0I could talk to this year’s graduates, I would tell them what I told my third-year medical student, “Don’t\u00a0sweat it. That things will work out like they are supposed to.”<\/p>\n

Believe it or not, dreams do come true. Mine did.\u00a0\u00a0Happy Match Day!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was talking to the third-year medical student who was rotating on my Medicine service the other day about what type of medicine he thought he might end up practicing and, astutely, he said, “Family\/Internal Medicine.”\u00a0I raised my eyebrows. 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