Pity the student who makes the wrong career decision
CMAJ 1997;157:246-7
From a recent Pulse column by Lynda Buske entitled "Are medical students ready to make career choices?" (CMAJ 1997;156:1248 [full text / text complet]), I learned that nearly two-thirds of medical students interviewed in 1996 felt well prepared to make a career choice. This is gratifying, but it would also be very interesting to know how many 1993 graduates still feel they made the right career decision and how many 1996 graduates are to be interviewed in 1999.
It is encouraging to know that today's medical students are so confident about their career choices, because many pathologists and anesthetists of my generation and acquaintance were not as confident at a comparable stage of development. Most of us entered our specialty after time spent in medicine, surgery, pediatrics, family practice or other specialties.
For many students the resident-matching process begins when there are still several new rotations to be experienced. When I was interviewing potential candidates for pathology at McMaster University, students often told me they really did not know what choice to make, since their decisions had to be based on incomplete exposure. I know that some changes are possible at a later stage of the matching process but, as many specialists in pathology or anesthesia can attest, the need for change may become apparent much later. Any educational system should make allowances for this, yet the new system does not. It would be interesting to hear what others think.
Derek J. De Sa, MB, DPhil
(Former Director
Anatomical Pathology Resident Education
McMaster University)
British Columbia's Children's Hospital
Vancouver, BC
 |
Send a letter to the editor responding to this letter
Envoyez une lettre à la rédaction au sujet de cette lettre |
Letters