1. Is Emergency Medicine Right for Me? Jason Liebzeit, MD Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine Emory University School of Medicine Medical Student Symposium SAEM 2011

2. Disclosures I have no commercial financial relationships to disclose.

3. Disclosures I cannot tell you if Emergency Medicine is right for you.

4. 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

5. What do you 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

6. 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

7. 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

9. Why are you here?

10. Emergency Medicine BenefitsDownsides

11. SWOT Analysis Evaluates Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats –Specify the objective –Identify internal and external factors favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective

12. Objective: A Career in Emergency Medicine Helpful to a long-term successful career in EM Harmful to a long-term successful career in EM Internal factors STRENGTHS I like … I don’t like … I’m good at … WEAKNESSES I like … I don’t like … I’m not good at … External factors OPPORTUNITIES The practice of EM will … THREATS The practice of EM will …

13. Objective: A Career in Emergency Medicine Helpful to a long-term successful career in EM Harmful to a long-term successful career in EM Internal factors STRENGTHS 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 WEAKNESSES 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 External factors OPPORTUNITIES The practice of EM will … allow me time to teach, keep me well-compensated, keep me interested in my patients THREATS The practice of EM will …complicate teaching & attending meetings, interfere with having a “normal” life on weekends & holidays

14. Will you last? 65.4% EPs reported high career satisfaction – 12.4% EPs reported low career satisfaction (n = 515) 1/3 rd of respondents (33% in 1994, 32% in 1999, 31% in 2004) reported that burnout was significant Cydulka & Korte; 2007 – Acad. EMED - Abstract

15. Not impacting satisfaction General uncertainty Difficulty in disclosing uncertainty to patients Admitting errors to other physicians Kuhn et al: Annals EM: Feb 09

16. 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

17. I CAN get satisfaction! Teaching settings Research & publication Leadership positions Belonging to medical organizations/participating in medical politics Cydulka & Korte; 2008 – Acad. EMED – June 2008

18. So… is Emergency Medicine right for you?

19. 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