Is Emergency Medicine Right for
Me?
Jason Liebzeit, MD
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
Emory University School of Medicine
Medical Student Symposium
SAEM 2011
Disclosures
I have no commercial financial relationships to disclose.
Disclosures
I cannot tell you if Emergency
Medicine is right for you.
Objectives
1. Describe your career goals
2. Appraise your unique personal characteristics
3. Analyze how those characteristics interplay with
the unique aspects of EM practice
4. Develop a plan to maximize long-term career
satisfaction
What do you want?
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Schedule flexibility
Earning potential
Social prestige
Time with family
Scholarship
Independence
Organizational power
Academic vs.
community practice
• Procedural expertise
• Constant stimulation
• Challenging clinical
environment
• Problem solving
• Wide spectrum of
illness & injury
• Serve the public
• Treat social ills
What did I want?
 Schedule flexibility
 Earning potential
 Social prestige
• Time with family
• Scholarship
• Independence
• Organizational power
 Academic vs.
community practice
 Procedural expertise
 Constant stimulation
 Challenging clinical
environment
 Problem solving
 Wide spectrum of
illness & injury
 Serve the public
 Treat social ills
What do I want now?
Schedule flexibility
 Earning potential
• Social prestige
 Time with family
 Scholarship
• Independence
 Organizational power
 Academic vs.
community practice
• Procedural expertise
• Constant stimulation
• Challenging clinical
environment
 Problem solving
 Wide spectrum of
illness & injury
• Serve the public
 Treat social ills
Why are you here?
Emergency Medicine
Benefits
Downsides
SWOT Analysis
• Evaluates Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats
– Specify the objective
– Identify internal and external factors
favorable and unfavorable to achieving that
objective
Objective:
A Career in Emergency Medicine
Internal factors
External factors
Helpful to a long-term
successful career in EM
Harmful to a long-term
successful career in EM
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
I like …
I don’t like …
I’m good at …
I like …
I don’t like …
I’m not good at …
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
The practice of EM will …
The practice of EM will …
Objective:
A Career in Emergency Medicine
Internal factors
External factors
Helpful to a long-term
successful career in EM
Harmful to a long-term
successful career in EM
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
I like …Critical care, quick
encounters, the team in the ED
I don’t like …primary care, long-term
follow-up, the same
disease/organ/process over and over
I’m good at … establishing trust
quickly, procedures, being thorough
but speedy
I like … spending time with friends
on weekends; sleeping at night;
being an expert
I don’t like…conflict, constant
interruption
I’m not good at …hiding what I’m
thinking, deadlines, doing anything
after a night shift
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
The practice of EM will
…allow me time to teach, keep me
well-compensated, keep me
interested in my patients
The practice of EM will …complicate
teaching & attending meetings,
interfere with having a “normal” life
on weekends & holidays
Will you last?
• 65.4% EPs reported high career satisfaction
– 12.4% EPs reported low career satisfaction (n =
515)
• 1/3rd of respondents (33% in 1994, 32% in
1999, 31% in 2004) reported that burnout was
significant
Cydulka & Korte; 2007 – Acad. EMED - Abstract
Not impacting satisfaction
• General uncertainty
• Difficulty in disclosing uncertainty to patients
• Admitting errors to other physicians
Kuhn et al: Annals EM: Feb 09
So what does impact satisfaction?
High anxiety caused by concern for
bad outcomes (odds ratio=6.35) was the
strongest predictor of burnout
Kuhn et al: Annals EM: Feb 09
I CAN get satisfaction!
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Teaching settings
Research & publication
Leadership positions
Belonging to medical
organizations/participating in medical politics
Cydulka & Korte; 2008 – Acad. EMED – June 2008
So…
is Emergency Medicine right for you?
Final Thoughts
• Think about what you want
• The perfect partner doesn’t exist, but you
should wake up happy every morning
• Satisfaction doesn’t occur by chance
jliebze@emory.edu