It's interesting that we begin to become more child-like as we get older. For the doctor, it means that whether you do paeds or geri, you'll have to interact with the patient's family, who may make significant decisions for the patient. In geri, the 'parents' may also be angsty, or they may be trying to get rid of their 'kid' because he/she's too much trouble.

Choosing a specialization is hard. You have to balance and weigh so many things.

Guys have to provide for their wives and future kids, so a higher-paying spec is preferred. (Assuming you want to have a wife and kids, which I do. I assume someone will have to take care of the kids more, which means the other person will have to earn more money.)

You should preferably choose something you like, so that you'll be happy doing it. A happy worker is a productive worker! You'll be able to contribute more if you're happy.

I'd like to give back to society. Do something that doesn't just make money, but that is in demand, and helps people who really need it. Ortho recon really helps people. It's great to see people able to walk around again after your surgery. It's a dramatic difference. On the other hand, there are other, less dramatic changes, that still benefit people, but aren't as glamorous or high-paying. I guess geri is one of those.

It's a lot of hard work, optimizing patients' medication, treating their medical conditions, dealing with their social issues etc etc. To be really good, you have to hold the whole intricate web of medical-drugs-social-functional in your mind and see the delicate interconnections and structure. Then you have to make changes, without making the web collapse. Which isn't easy, because everything is connected to everything else.

As medical students, we have a responsibility to help people and give back to society. I remember being young and idealistic in M1. I wanted to help people. I wasn't thinking of the pay. Somewhere along the way, reality came knocking, and I realized that pay is important too. I still want to help people, but I think I'd like to help me too.

It's easy to forget why we came to medicine, and focus on our careers as a bright future with many possibilities stretches ahead. To get caught up in residency, and the rat race.

We have an obligation to help people. Some specs do more good than others. They're not often the cushy specializations, and they're seldom glamorous, but I'm sure if you chose one of those, many of the patients who wished you well along the way would nod approvingly.

written at 11:56 p.m.