Choosing Palliative Care as a Medical Specialty

by Sylvia Lane (@sylv_lane)There are few things more introspective than deciding on a specialty in medicine. The decision forces you to analyze what interests and values you hold but also who you are as a person. How do you solve problems? How do you work with others? What brings you joy? As a third-year medical student, I was able to try on many specialties. Rotating through various fields allowed me to soak up knowledge from almost every type of healthcare professional. But this experience comes with a heavy burden of choosing a future career path.From the beginning, I knew that I was not like most of my fellow medical students. Of course, we all share a special bond dealing with the shared stress of progressing through medical education. But I never felt like my perception of medicine was the same as theirs. I always felt sidelined in discussions, scoffed at as the bleeding-heart empath. As I stepped into my third year of medical school, I was filled with enthusiasm to find people who felt like me. People who view medicine in the way that I do. They must exist, right?Unfortunately, this was far from my experience. Though each clerkship was a valuable learning opportunity, I continually found something to be missing. Every physician I met was focused on medicine as a cure, while I regularly found myself asking about the impact on the patient ’s quality of life and relationships. What will this surgery mean for the patient and their loved ones? How does this treatment impa...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - Category: Palliative Care Tags: lane learner medical school medical student residency The profession Source Type: blogs