KEEPING IT REAL WITH . . .
You Deserve a Career You Love
Learn how this busy surgeon stays fresh and grounded.

For some, making the transition to practice is easier than for others — sometimes because of good luck, sometimes because of purposeful planning. The more purposeful you can make the transition, the more likely you'll be to build a career that you love, cherish and feel good about.

It's really important to set yourself up to avoid being burnt out by a daily routine. If you can do that up front, you're likely to have less stress later on. You can start now.

Spend Time With Role Models

While you're still in training, you should try to imagine what you want your practice to look like in 10 or 15 years. If you're a fellow or doing residency, it's worthwhile spending some time with someone in practice. Certainly, look at the practice focus, the diversity of pathology and the patient base. Look at the environment, the office setting, the area in which the doctors live, and consider their satisfaction with their practice and career.

If you take everything into account, you may find that instead of making a decision based on money — "in my first year I'll make X amount of dollars and see X amount of patients" — you'll consider your own quality of life.

How will you find the time? During your residency or fellowship, spend time with someone who has a successful practice. How will you find a practice? Make a phone call, write a letter, or ask someone in your residency or fellowship training program to suggest a practice in the geographic area. Consider it a vital part of your education.

See the Patients Behind the Eyes

In order to have a healthy, vibrant practice, you need to develop patient relationship skills. Your patients have needs that go way beyond treating conjunctivitis or removing a cataract. And the only way you'll learn about those needs is to find out who your patients are, where they come from, their past experience and what impact their eye pathology has on their lifestyle.

Some doctors have an easy manner and a certain charisma, so getting to know their patients comes naturally. But I believe expressing a caring attitude can be learned. Practice during your residency and fellowship. Make an effort to greet your patients and ask about what's important to them when using their vision. You'll learn that Mary Smith isn't just another optic neuritis case. She's a single mom with optic neuritis who can't drive her kids to school anymore.

Learning how to connect with your patients will take some time, and you may have some missteps. After all, up until now, you've been communicating mostly with your professors and your peers. Now, you'll need to find a way to reach farmers, engineers and writers, men and women, young and old. They'll all relate to you a little differently. So you'll need to be prepared to adapt.

For instance, I've learned some of my patients — particularly the elderly — react best to nonthreatening questions. I'll ask, "Does that make sense to you?" or "Does that sound like a reasonable plan?" instead of "Do you understand?" which many could interpret as an assumption that they don't understand.

What are the benefits of forging relationships with your patients? They'll be more compliant. They'll trust you more. They'll feel good about their experience with your practice, and they'll want to come back.

Be Aggressive About Continuing Your Education

The first few years I went to meetings — at least before I actually went to the meeting — my attitude was, "I just finished my residency. How can there be more to learn?"I soon realized there is a lot to learn. Even though you don't need a lot of CE credits to keep your license, you should keep up with your continuing education throughout your career. Be aggessive about this. Continue to learn about ophthalmology outside your practice focus. If you're an anterior segment specialist, keep up with retina, and vice versa.

Don't be a Homebody

Especially during your first several years in practice, network with other ophthalmologists, eyecare providers and physicians within your area. Go to your hospital staff meetings. Eat lunch in the doctor's lounge so you can meet and talk to all the people you'll be working with in your career. Not only are these people you can share ideas with, but they also may be potential referral sources and future consults.