It’s natural for new doctor just beginning his or her medical career to wonder – and perhaps even worry a bit – about how they’ll be perceived by their long-established peers. To find out just what the “Old Guard” thinks of its up-and-coming young colleagues, MedScape, a leading online publication for those in the medical field, recently published a Q&A article that asked established physicians to weigh in on the perceived characteristics, unique challenges and potential impact of the next generation of medical professionals.
If you’re a medical student or recent graduate, take heart. Here are five things your soon-to-be colleagues think of you”
- You’re smart: Says David A. Johnson, MD, “They are so incredibly smart. I don’t recall, when I was a medical student, coming into medical school with so many intellectual talents as I see in the current generation of medical students. They’re not only smart, they’re also motivated. They’re very inquisitive and very dynamic, and trying to look for opportunities beyond just their medical core curriculum.”
- You’re committed: “The party line is that the new generation is less committed and more focused on family and their personal lives, and has a shorter attention span,” says Aaron B. Holley, MD. He disagrees. “Although they’re cognizant of work-hour rules and aren’t afraid to let you know when they’ve been working too much, I’m not sure they’re any less committed. Anecdotally, I’ve interacted with several students over the past 12 months who I’d rank among the best I’ve seen. They’re knowledge is outstanding, they have an excellent work ethic, and they’re quite committed.”
- You’re informed: Matthew Sparks, MD, believes that growing up in the Information Age gives today’s young doctors an edge. “The Internet and social medial era created much of the differences in availability of information. No doubt, people have many more opinions and options than ever before,” he says. “There has also been a proliferation of journals and an emphasis on faculty productivity that has at the same time resulted in the publication of incremental research instead of larger studies . . . The new generation will help to solve many of the problems we are currently facing. Because they are growing up in this new information age, they will be exposed to new ways to filter and vet information.”
- You’re empathetic: “The patient was the center of everyone’s thinking and everyone’s attention back when I was a medical student in the early 1970s,” says Mark E. Williams, MD. “I think that (an insight from one of my mentors) medicine needs more poetry and less mathematics. I’m optimistic too. We will see more and more physicians migrate not toward financially resourceful fields, such as anesthesia and orthopedic surgery and dermatology, but toward underserved populations and helping a large number of sick people who are in distress. When I see underserved people really getting care in difficult areas, whether in rural or the middle of urban areas or in places such as Africa, I’ll know that that ethic has taken hold.”
- They’re rooting for you: “I think they’ll have a huge impact,” Holley says. “If they can shed some of the traditional constructs they’re still being taught in medicine, they can use their comfort with technology to change the way we deliver care. They can focus less on rote memorization and long, tedious histories and more on what’s important for optimizing outcomes. I actually believe they’re in a good place to implement needed change.”
We here at WOLFPACC are rooting for you, too. That’s why we designed a revolutionary approach to the study and practice of medicine that eschews those traditional, memorization-based constructs in favor of a deeper, more practical understanding of the body’s primary systems and the ways they work together. Find out how we can help boost your chances of success in your medical studies and career by calling 904-209-3140 and talking with an enrollment specialist today.
