Physician, know thyself
BMJ 2005; 331 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7531.1529 (Published 22 December 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;331:1529- Boris Veysman, resident, Yale School of Medicine (boris.veysman{at}med.nyu.edu)
As a resident physician working in a large academic medical centre, I am in frequent contact with medical students, many of whom feel apprehensive about choosing their future medical specialty. Students complain that they need balanced career guidance extending beyond “my specialty is the best” expressed by many doctors. Inspired by my interactions with residents training in all major specialties, I have created an algorithm to guide students' choice of specialty on the basis of their personality characteristics. The algorithm has been well received at my institution by students and residents alike, many of whom exclaim: “That is so true.”
I provide the algorithm in the hope that it will be equally useful to the journal's readers.