Why Choose Medicine as a Career

Careers in Medicine Overview

A structured, four-phase/four-year career planning program Provides students with a strategy for: Understanding themselves and the world of work

Choosing a specialty and residency program

Making career and life decisions

Theoretical Foundations
Careers in Medicine activities: help educate students on career options; help improve their medical specialty literacy; and teach decision-making skills.

Careers in Medicine Model

Career/Specialty Exploration

SelfAssessment

Decisionmaking

Implementation

Residency in Chosen Specialty

Phase 1: Self-Assessment
Gathering information about self: Who Am I? What past experiences influenced my career decisions?

What do I like to do?

What is important to me? What are my greatest strengths? What are my work environment preferences?

Phase 1: Self-Assessment
Personal Review Interests

Values
Environmental Factors and Practice Needs Personality Skills Financial Situation Educational Experiences

Interests
Things you enjoy doing Three options: Option A Medical Specialty Preference Inventory (MSPI), 2nd Edition Option B Party Game/Self-appraisal

Option C - Self-Directed Search

Values
Life principles that influence you and the decisions you make Three options: Option A - Physician Values in Practice Scale (PVIPS) Option B - Values Checklist Indicate degree of importance for each value in the list Select most important and rank Option C - Values Card Sort Experiential, hands-on activity

Environmental Factors and Practice Needs

Measures preferences for Practice types Size and location of practice Working environment Results are likely to change over time depending on experience Especially useful for residency program selection

Personality
Who you are and how you relate with others Two options:

Option A - The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Option B - The Keirsey Temperament Sorter

Skills
What you do well Two options:

A - Informal Skills Assessment

B - Skills Assessment with Feedback Focus is on cross functional, or transferable skills

Phase 1: Putting It All TogetherThe Personal Profile

A personal record of the results of their selfassessment activities
Provides direction for the student in the search for compatible specialties

Confidential only the student can access their

personal profile

Phase 2: Career Exploration

Gathering information about career options What specialties exist, what do they do, & what are the people like in that specialty? What practice settings are open to me? What non-traditional/non practitioner options are available? How do my personal characteristics match with the specialties I am exploring?

Types of Career Information

Duties, tasks, responsibilities Knowledge, skills and abilities

Work environment / conditions

Earnings Workforce information Future of the specialty Preparation Methods of entry Industries/employers/practice environments

The Process of Career Exploration

During this phase, students must understand the world of work by gathering information about options available

Start with high level exploration (All options, general information)

Narrow down to three to five options

Getting Personal: Conduct more indepth, personal research on remaining specialties & career options

Beginning Career Exploration

Conduct library research

Conduct online research

CiM Specialty Pages (112 specialties covered) AMA FREIDA
Specialty Statistics & Physician Workforce Data

Specialty organizations

Attend school-organized specialty seminars and programs

School programs (brown bag presentations, panels)

Specialty Interest Groups

Career Exploration: Getting Personal

Use information gathered to narrow down to 3-5 options for more indepth research Contact medical societies, alumni groups, and specialty associations

Review Publications journals/newsletters Student membership Local chapter or activities

Participate in preceptorships

Career Exploration: Getting Personal (cont.)

Conduct informational interviews

To learn about specialty areas To articulate career objectives. To learn about new developments To build a network

Explore clinical clerkships

Phase 3: Decision-making
How do I go about weighing the information Ive learned about who I am and the knowledge Ive gained about career options? What are my best matches? How do I evaluate my decision? How do I select residencies that will fit my needs and preferences?

Phase 3: Decision-making
Decision 1: Specialty Choice Select most important self-assessment information Compare with top specialties Determine which is the best fit Decision 2: Selecting Residency Programs Retake Environmental Factors assessment Identify top factors Compare to residency programs under consideration

Phase 4: Implementation
Re-evaluation and follow-up Clinical clerkships and electives Applying for residency The Match(s) Moving on

Student Evaluation of Careers in Medicine Website

6
GRADING SCALE 6 = Extremely helpful 5 = Quite helpful 4 = Helpful 3 = Somewhat helpful 2 = Not very helpful 1 = Useless

5 4 3 2 1

4.56

4.2

4.5

4.22 3.63

Exploring options

Understanding self

Choose specialty

Get into residency

Useful

Studies Abroad Couns

Sakshi Education Consulting & Training (P) Limited, 34/1, K.S.Arunachalam Road, K.K.Pudur, Coimbatore-641038. Tamil Nadu, India. Telephone: (+91) 0422-4559900 Fax No: (+91)-422-4559914 E-mail: info@axuedu.com

Studies Abroad