Did You Go Into Medical Shool Thinking You Would Specialize In One Field And Then Change Your Mind?

Did you go into medical school thinking you would specialize in one field and then change your mind at some point? What made you change your mind?



This question was originally posted on Quora.com and was answered by Christopher Yerington, Founder - Physicians Income Protection at Physicians Income Protection (2017-present)

I wanted to be a cardiac surgeon for all of my second and most of my third year of medical school. That first year of med school, I was leaning towards procedural but it did not ‘come to me’ until I observed a cardiac surgeon save someone stabbed in the heart by a knife. It was unbelievable. The patient had been walking home. He was attacked from behind. The attacker reached over and plunged the knife in the man’s chest. It got ‘caught’ in the ribs but the blade’s tip had pierced the man’s heart.

The patient was in the operating room less than 20 minutes after the stabbing which is amazing in itself! I stood still on an elevated platform and watch intently as they opened, cracked the chest, revealed the wound and then I saw the most amazing thing. The cardiac surgeon’s hand and the patient’s heart beat and moved as one. It was as awesome as it was beautiful. I wanted to be him.

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Almost to my fourth year, I still had the cardiac surgery ‘bug’ and spent spare time during my surgery rotation literally hanging out and trolling for cases to observe. I got to meet a few cardiac surgeons. I’ve known about 100 heart surgeons in my life and these first few I met were not indicative of the group but they were not happy people. One case I was at the top of the table, watching and the anesthesia person tapped me. I thought I needed to move but he motioned me closer. “I need an extra hand.” He stated. Okay.

“Sure.” I whispered. He directed me and my hands to do what needed to be done and he went in and under the table multiple times. With the anesthetist on the floor and me standing, the surgeons communicated. I followed the exchange like pieces of a foreign language spoken too quickly to perfectly interpret. I followed instructions. I remember the guy moving around me, sometimes placing hands on both my shoulders to directly me to stand in a new place to a moment.

I stayed there and slowly it dawned on me that what the anesthesiologist was doing was… well... interesting. I looked up on the surgical field and really saw myself for the first time standing still, for hours, working on a little piece of human anatomy and that picture in my mind just didn’t work for me. I stepped back, quite literally, and the anesthesiologist directly me expertly away from the table and his set-up. I think he thought I was going to pass out.

I remember staring for the longest time. I saw everything at the top of the table for the first time in that case and I wanted to know more, much more. For the remainder of that rotation, I found myself at the top of the table asking questions. One anesthesiologist directed me to take the ‘anesthesia rotation’ and I did. I was hooked completely.

We, doctors, do not all arrive at what we do professionally the same way. For me it was ‘being there’ in the place I wanted to be, the operating room, and fully understanding one career over another.

Happy New Year!

~Chris

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