How did you pick your field?
Neurology, for me, was a combination of personal likes and dislikes. I found it interesting, but also learned I didn’t enjoy most other branches of medicine.
Like other medical students, I went through a series of rotations, gradually crossing things off my list. Eventually, I found that internal medicine fit my personality best, but I didn’t like having to know something about everything. Neurology was a good fit for the way my mind and temperament work. Now, after 16 years in practice, I have no regrets. I still like the job, in spite of having to deal with insurance companies, excessive paperwork, and hospital administrators.
I’m not an adrenaline junkie, living to run in and save lives at the drop of a hat. Nor am I someone who enjoys procedures. I’m the thinking type, and happy to spend my days sitting behind a desk and trying to look smart. I’d have to say I nailed it, my atypical wardrobe notwithstanding.
Medical fields, like cars and music, are incredibly diverse. There’s something out there for every personality type. And that’s excluding all the subspecialties a field gets further broken down to. (In my world there’s movement disorder docs, epileptologists, and stroke-ologists, to name a few.)
When I was in training, an adviser told me that one’s choice of field is as much success as failure. By becoming a neurologist, I’m admitting that I’ve failed to understand pretty much everything else in medicine. On the opposite side, an internist has conceded failure to understand any given organ system in depth.
Most importantly, you don’t care that you’ve failed the rest. This frees you to focus only on what you enjoy and what interests you, and to not worry about anything else.
Using this argument, the best care is from someone who failed everything else. Or, in a better light, who only does one thing, but does it well. No matter how you play it, it’s what works out best for all involved – especially our patients.
Dr. Block has a solo neurology practice in Scottsdale, Ariz.