Every year doctors use social media we talk about the July start for new doctors. And every year we offer our advice to medical students.
Every year new graduates repeat their screams of condemnation. And every year we stand by telling them everything will be fine. Tips and tricks for surviving the unsurvivable are almost too numerous to follow on Twitter.
But the reality few of us are happy to reveal is that change is really difficult.
This year’s move to a residence will be just one of many big changes this generation is facing. Our field will develop faster in the coming decades than ever before in history. The disruption of the fundamental elements of how we shape diseases and therapeutics will happen from year to year rather than century to year. And the ability to adapt to a rapidly changing environment will be a defining trait of this medical generation.
Medical life within this generation will be a series of real-time upgrades. Doctors will all be endless newbies.
Tip for medical professionals: be flexible
There are predictable basics of drinking more water and being nice to the nurses. But there are few among us who can help these young doctors really plan for the future. Because we really don’t know.
When Eric Topol delivered the inaugural speech to the senior year of Baylor College of Medicine in 2015, he was asked what would mark a key trait in a medical student today.
His forward-looking answer: flexibility.
Change and transition is difficult. But we could look beyond survival and see the unique opportunity we have at this point in our professional history.
Congratulations and welcome to the medical generation of endless newbies.
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Photo by Sasha Freemind on Unsplash
