So I was recently in beautiful Miami for the ASCP Leadership Forum as the resident representative on their Commission on Science, Technology, and Policy (CSTP). While I can’t talk about the specific details of our work, I’d like to take this time to elaborate on some benefits of working within organized medicine for residents and on the realizations that it has brought me concerning the importance of time management.
As residents, it’s difficult to see the “big picture” sometimes because residency training feels like a journey with multiple landmarks we must pass in order to reach a destination far into the future. But I’ve found that my work in organized medicine has always expanded my peripheral vision. In these roles, I have increased my exposure by meeting residents and attendings from other programs – I’ve been able to hear how training differs between their experiences and mine. And this provides me with a context in which to view both the strengths and weaknesses of my previous and current training. And as a chief resident, these experiences have provided me with invaluable insight that allows me to come up with creative solutions to improve both myself and my program. Of course, organized medicine also has provided me with a myriad of benefits from networking.
But participating in extracurricular activities, and in particular, organized medicine efforts as well as union efforts (as one of my hospital’s five CIR/SEIU delegates), takes a lot of time and as expected, time management. In terms of long term time management, I would say that the many leadership positions I have held have helped me to plan out tasks and to meet deadlines. And so as a first year resident, after my first three months or surgical pathology, I was surprised to see “needs to improve time management skills” on my evaluation. And even though I improved on subsequent rotations, I think it has taken me until now as a third year and as a chief to truly understand what that comment meant.
My time management is fine when planning long term goals and overseeing the tasks of those I supervise – skills I honed while participating in organized medicine for many years. But what my first evaluation as a resident was pointing out was that I had trouble initially managing my time in terms of my DAILY service duties (ie – very short term goals). Despite rotating in pathology as a medical student, as a neophyte first year, I didn’t truly understood the scope of what pathologists really did day in and day out, and more importantly, the workflow to achieve these goals. And each year, my skills have improved and shaped my outlook about what is required to be a good, patient and public health centered pathologist. But as a chief now, my view has again been further refined in this regard.
When I interviewed for fellowships, the #1 attribute that programs mentioned as important in a fellow was great time management skills. #2 was being a good team player. My yearly residency training and leadership roles in organized medicine have both hopefully nurtured those two desirable characteristics. But I guess we’ll see when I start my first fellowship in July 2016. Don’t forget to include in your planning time to relax, eat and exercise, sleep well, and set aside one day each weekend to do some casual training-related work such as reading on your current rotation topic.
-Betty Chung, DO, MPH, MA is a third year resident physician at Rutgers – Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ.
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