Favorite Quotes
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." - HL Mencken
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"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." - Confucius
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"The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease" - Sir William Osler
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" The best test of a person's character is how he or she treats those with less power." - Bob Sutton
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"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them - well, I have others." - Groucho Marx
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"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
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"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them" - Friedrich Nietzsche
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"Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple." - Charles Mingus
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"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." - Albert Einstein
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"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesman and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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"This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no fooling around." - Talking Heads, Life During Wartime
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"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. This is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary. Go and learn it." - Hillel, Talmud, Shabbath 31a
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"You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing." - Thomas Sowell
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"An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup." - HL Mencken
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"If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail." - Abraham Maslow
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"A great teacher is one who realizes that he himself is also a student and whose goal is not to dictate the answers, but to stimulate his students creativity enough so that they go out and find the answers themselves." - Herbie Hancock
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"There are no facts, only interpretations." - Nietzsche
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"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't." - Anatole France
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"In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ====
Nov - 15
Dec - 19
Jan - 21
Feb - 8
Mar -
Advice for 3rd year students and interns
19 Jun2009
Taking Time for the Self on the Path to Becoming a Doctor
While in training, I always had 3 priorities for my off time. I played basketball most every off day – even post call. As an addicted basketball player during that time, I knew that i need the sweat.
I always read fiction. For some reason I did not feel guilty that I did not just read medicine.
I always listened to music. Music made me happy then, and makes me happy now.
And my major priority was my wife, and during residency my daughter.
For some reason, I always kept things in balance. For many years I have give students and residents this advice. During clinical training I believe hobbies are very important. Many benefit from exercise, others benefit from singing, or playing an instrument. The key point is that you cannot let medicine be your entire life. Medicine should be an important part of your life, but too much medicine does lead to burnout.
According to a study from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, I am far from the only doctor who has behaved this way. The researchers interviewed residents, or doctors in training, from seven different specialties and found that they set themselves up for burnout by accepting, even embracing, what they believed would be a temporary imbalance between the personal and professional aspects of their lives. While the young doctors interviewed defined well-being as a balance between all those parts, many felt that their medical training was so central to their ultimate sense of fulfillment that they were willing to live with whatever personal sacrifice was required, even if it meant a temporary loss of a sense of self.
This study should be remembered throughout our professional lives. I still try to maintain good balance. Tomorrow morning I will play golf. Tonight before bed I will read my current novel for 10-15 minutes.
I worked hard on a paper today. I’ve learned to work very hard when I work, but to try not to overwork. Hobbies help you stay balanced. Time to read a bedtime story to my grandson.
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2 Responses to Advice for 3rd year students and interns
Advice for 3rd year students and interns
June 19th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
[...] News Sources wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptTaking Time for the Self on the Path to Becoming a Doctor While in training, I always had 3 priorities for my off time. I played basketball most every off day – even post call. As an addicted basketball player during that time, I knew that i need the sweat. I always read fiction. For some reason I did not feel guilty that I did not just read medicine. I always listened to music. Music made me happy then, and makes me happy now. And my major priority was my wife, and during res [...]
Simon Prince
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:36 am
Well said… and I completely agree.
You need to maintain a good, healthy balance.
Best wishes