“I believe I am an optimist, but my advice to young doctors is this: Don’t believe you can do it all,” says Dr. Kettering. “You need to make careful, considered decisions along the way, understanding you do have control over your choices. But there’s no question that you’ll have to give up many things if you choose medicine as a career.”
The biggest recommendation Dr. Kettering offers for future hospitalists is to make career choices based on a passion for the work—not on the flexible hours. Then consider how to make the job work in terms of schedules and the other nuts and bolts of practice, being aware of the varied opportunities that exist.
Although hospital medicine is sometimes described as a young person’s game, Dr. Kettering believes that if it is practiced correctly, with a sustainable work schedule, it doesn’t have to lead to burnout or exhaustion. “My practice is [composed] exclusively of doctors who have chosen hospital medicine as a life’s work—not a stopgap between residency and fellowship,” she says. “We also have a wonderful group of physicians, and there has not been a time when somebody had a family emergency that somebody else didn’t step up to cover.” TH
Larry Beresford is a frequent contributor to The Hospitalist.
Reference
- Compensation by Employment Model, Society of Hospital Medicine Benchmark Survey, 2003.