Research and Other Extra-Curriculars

My medical school experience has been characterized by a decent amount of research and a LOT of extra-curriculars. Medical students in general are fairly active people, usually very eager to take on that one extra task, though at some point towards the end of second year or beginning of third year, I realized I had taken on just a little too much. Too many projects on the go and in the rush of clerkship, nowhere near enough time to do them all well.

So, about half-way through clerkship, I started pulling back. I left a few minor projects to fall by the wayside, delayed a few others or worked on them slowly, and wrapped up the ones I could. This helped me get through clerkship without losing my mind to stress, and I still managed to come away with what I think is a reasonable list of accomplishments through my previous 3+ years.

Yet, on one of my electives, I had a preceptor who embodied the concept of going above and beyond as a complete physician. Involved in both social and academic endeavours, he seem as enthralled by the non-clinical aspects of his work as he was by his clinical duties. You could tell that his enthusiasm for one area helped maintain his enthusiasm overall, in addition to keeping him at the forefront of knowledge. Granted, I had some reservations about some of his ideas, as his eagerness for their benefit didn't always match available evidence in my mind, but I can't help but admire that enduring passion.

Now that I'm back in class, with a lighter schedule and ample time to pursue some outside interests, it's been very tempting to stick with a low workload in terms of extra-curriculars. Yet, I pursued those extra-curriculars in the first place because I enjoyed them, because they made medicine itself more fulfilling and meaningful. My elective preceptor seemed to be of the same mindset, that the variety and diversity of projects - even though challenging - helped make medicine enjoyable. So, I've jumped back into a few. Just a few, and mostly at arms' length. I don't have the time to get much deeper into things, with (hopefully) only a few months left in my training. It's a nice balance at the moment.

Residency will put that balancing act to the test. For personal and professional reasons, I would like to be a bit more involved in non-clinical aspects than I was in clerkship. I'm counting on the fact that I'll be more familiar with the whole system and will generally have more stability in my rotations to help facilitate that, but weighed against the added responsibilities and pressures of residency, I'm likely being overly optimistic. Nevertheless, I think having a foot in the different aspects relevant to medicine is worthwhile.

While I do believe medicine should focus on a small set of core competencies, without the implication that physicians should be anything and everything, the advantage of being a true professional is the ability to branch out to satisfy interests and community needs. My elective time with this particular preceptor was a good reminder that this diversity was a major driver for me to enter medicine in the first place.