On the road to academic medicine, there is always a “next step” to achieve.
Even once you get that coveted first big-shot attending job, there is always the next paper, the next grant, the next promotion.
I’ve learned it’s ok to get off the careerism stairmaster & just be!
As a new class of senior residents enters the job search, I also want to make a plug for us “simple clinical docs” in academic medicine.
We don’t write big randomized trials, we don’t pull in millions in grant funding, we don’t publish in the NEJM. So what to we contribute?
Same as my goals for the upcoming year:
1.) take exceptional care of my patients & love them fiercely
2.) teach the next generation of trainees a thing or two
3.) notice opportunities for improvement & contribute in my own small way to making care better for future patients