Being a resident training in both internal medicine and pediatrics, I often feel like I am behind my categorical colleagues. Throughout my first year-and-change as a doctor I have had about half the amount of direct clinical time spent with adults as the internal medicine residents, and the same can be said on the pediatrics side. And it certainly does not help that I spend the majority of my time working along side categorical residents who are all so brilliant and quick, making void that I perceive to exist between us even greater.
I recently watched a TedEd video based on a Ted Talk about how most people become “good” at something. The speaker David Epstein argues that there are multiple paths to mastery and in many cases it can involve a meandering journey and a breadth of seemingly unrelated/ indirectly related experiences. He brings up this concept of frogs, who spend their time down in the mud seeing things in great details and birds, who may not see all the minute details but integrate a wider point-of-view into a cohesive picture.
As someone who has always had a wide variety of interests (and sometimes a short attention span), this resonated with me, especially as the world feels like it is becoming increasingly focused on specialization, with medicine being far from an exception to this.
I went into Med+Peds because I love to learn. I wanted to continue learning the art and practice of medicine for both kids and adults. Because I like tying together disparate ideas and experiences together and to think of problems from various perspectives. So on days like this when I’m feeling particularly inept, it just a good reminder that my journey is my own.
nANIMOv 