7 Survival Tips for Medical Students

Here are 7 survival tips I wish I knew as a medical student.

7 Survival Tips for Medical Students
 

Finishing medical school, completing residency training, and becoming a board-certified physician in any specialty will give you the widest range of options to live a high-earning, flexible and balanced life both in and outside full-time clinical medicine.

I am often asked, “I’m a medical student, but what can I do now to set myself up to

Doctor Differently in the future?

Here are 7 survival tips I wish I knew as a medical student.

University of Massachusetts Medical School Class of 2011 Oath Ceremony

1. Study hard and pass. P = M.D. (or D.O.) always.

2. Eat. Sleep. Have Fun. Binge old episodes of “Scrubs” and find balance in a routine that
allows you to stay healthy and rested during these grueling few years. During MS1 and MS2, a few classmates and I had a standing Friday night date at the local Chili’s in Worcester,Massachusetts before spending the rest of the weekend in the library. This is the marathon of all marathons. Schedule regular periods of rest and fun. 

3. Don’t be intimidated by the people around you. You are surrounded by smart and capable people because you are also a smart and capable person. Imposter syndrome has come for us all at some point, but you deserve to be exactly where you are. You are the best you there is and nobody else will ever come close. 

4. Don’t quit your hobbies and interests outside of medicine. They may need to take a temporary backseat to your many responsibilities as a medical student/trainee, but do not think that you have to give them up entirely forever.  An identity outside of medicine gives you freedom within medicine. Keep doing the things that make you feel alive. 

5. Pick a specialty that interests and excites you. Does the medicine, science, and patient
population of a certain specialty fascinate and excite you? Then do that. I was told “Don’t go into pediatrics. You won’t make any money.” My classmates were told, “Don’t go into surgery. You won’t have a balanced family or social life.” Historically, these statements may have held some truth, but today physicians are fighting for their rights to income, autonomy, and flexibility. We can each create the lifestyle, the schedule, and the salary we each want from any specialty—from primary care to surgery. Every physician deserves the career they want to have and they can create it. You can be an autonomous, high-earning physician from
any specialty so pick the one you love.

6. You SHOULD be learning the money and business of medicine right now. There is so much more to this career than treating patients. Medical education is egregiously negligent in teaching medical students about the money and business of medicine—specifically who runs hospitals, how patient care is directly influenced by insurers, and the factors that ultimately control health care. Unfortunately, keeping doctors ignorant about the business of health care keeps us from making actionable changes to protect our labor and delivery of care to patients. This is not our fault. **If you are currently a medical student, consider rallying your classmates, scheduling a meeting with your Dean, and respectfully requesting that your curriculum be expanded to include education about malpractice insurance. Residents can be sued Day 1 of intern year and your medical school curriculum should teach you how you are protected and exposed by your malpractice policy.** 

7. Stay curious. Question convention and don’t accept “that’s just the way it is” as an answer to anything. Just because things have been done one way for generations does not mean it is the best or the only way. We are learning how to Doctor in new and different ways every day because this world and society are changing every day. You are the future of this profession and you deserve freedom, autonomy, and flexibility in your life and career as a physician.