A call for inspiration

Abstract

What inspires you? What was the moment that turned your mind to medicine? Whose influence cast a spell that set your future course? Perhaps it's hard to pinpoint an event or an experience that galvanized you? Medicine is a career of variety and unexpected paths, and this month I'll be speaking to sixth form and GCSE students in the hope of offering some inspiration as they consider a life of doctoring. JRSM readers with children of that age will know that preparations begin early in these competitive times. Gone are the days of a last minute impulse on a university application form. Today's students mount a four-year campaign to gain a place at medical school, armed with entry criteria, exam preparation, interview training, and work experience. When sixth form principals advise sagely on the difficulties of students winning an Oxbridge place, their one consolation is: “It could be worse, you could be applying for medical school.” What most medical students don't realise is that they are entering a career of infinity possibilities. Medicine's multi-specialty nature means that there is a medical career to suit all personalities. Your degree is merely the key to an Aladdin's cave of opportunity, a blessing that is hard to appreciate on a thankless night on call or in the middle of a disastrous ward round. Many doctors are fortunate to experience a variety of specialities as they find the one that they were destined for. Nor is variety confined to medicine. The broad experiences of a doctor's life help many people turn to second careers as managers, business people, writers, performers, politicians, and revolutionaries. Add in foreign travel and the international nature of many specialties, and medical school becomes more than a passport to a career. But how can you know that when you fill in your university application? How do you know what it takes to be a cardiologist, an orthopaedic surgeon, a microbiologist, a clinical director, or even a journal editor? How do you know that medicine, a career that might seem glamorous from the way the media portrays doctors, is the right career for you? For amid the myriad of exciting opportunities lie as many avenues of misery, hurt, and disillusionment. Imagine you are sitting in front of a hall full of sixth form students or young doctors on graduation day. What would you say to them about what inspires you? What was the moment that transformed your career? Share that inspiration and that moment with JRSM readers by sending in a submission for our Podium section. In these days of demoralization, a little inspiration is a welcome pleasure.