Blog

Climbing, Medicine and Career

• July 2012
• Climb Travel

Hi Steph!
My name is Tomas and I’m a medical student down in El Paso. I actually came to medical school here solely based on proximity to Hueco and as well as some other great crags and it surely hasn’t disappointed. I’m entering my 3rd year of school where I’ll have to make a final decision on what branch of medicine I want to specialize in. I know you’ve mentioned a few times your brother is an emergency medicine doc who also climbs. This is a bit of an oddball question, but I wanted to ask your perspective on your brother’s ability to actively engage in climbing (and of course other activities) while still working as an EM physician. I caught the climbing bug in college which dictated where I went to medical school and I imagine will continue to dictate what I specialize in and where I go for residency. (i.e. which field can give me flexibility to pursue a life outside of work)

Thanks for your thoughts!!
Tomás

Dear Tomas, the best answer will come from my brother himself:

Hi Tomas:
Steph asked me to write a bit about your question.

The easy answer is yes. Emergency medicine is pretty flexible as far as schedule goes. As a physician it is one of the fields that allow you to compartmentalize your professional life and personal life to a high degree and pursue your hobbies. Additionally because it primarily involves shift work it is easier than many fields to be off during the week, to take stretches of days off and to take longer vacations to travel, getting you out of the weekend warrior crowd. There are opportunities to do volunteer work that relates to climbing. Finally it lends itself to locum tenems (temporary/fill in/travel work). While these travel positions often are at the least pleasant hospitals/geographic locations they allow intermittent work and high degrees of flexibility at the cost of stability and a stake in the community.

The job works well with climbing and I did quite a bit for many years after residency, while still being a very good physician. Now I don’t climb much, but I am still grateful for my career. I have a great job at an academic hospital and work with fantastic people everyday. I enjoy going to work. I am part of a team that can really change someone’s life when they are seriously ill or injured and part of a system that provides some of the best care in the state. When I don’t work, I have plenty of time to paraglide, mountain bike, ski and basejump. And I am also fortunate to be a ski patrol physician at one of the most challenging resorts in the US.

However now I realize some long-term things I gave up. I never would have believed it either when I was twenty-five, but climbing and other hobbies aren’t all consuming forever. Priorities shift. I think most physicians (hopefully most people) learn that being primarily inwardly focused isn’t really fulfilling, their focus shifts out. As an emergency physician I often feel limited in my ability to change the world of my patients. The work environment is often chaotic and frustrating. Night shifts are inevitable and frequent and hard on the psyche and the body and physical recovery from athletic hobbies. Many days I feel the balance shifting towards assembly line worker rather than healer. I find that it takes a conscious effort to be present to my patients and to find ways to make a positive change in their health and lives.

I’ve had my share of time as a patient with a variety of orthopedic surgeries. Flying nylon things and skiing is hard on the legs. Being a patient is good for a physician. I find I envy the ability to become really adept at some discrete surgeries, and to really change the life of someone injured. I know that without the care I got from a couple of really experienced, focused and caring surgeons I wouldn’t be able to bike, hike or ski. They changed my life in a way that I can never forget. I also know that the love and concern that every member of my health care team gave me when I was ill and injured really helped me when I was hurt and scared. I look for ways to do that for my patients in the ED and it is often challenging. But I find it in providing care and concern for my patients as well as medical care.

Choose what you love for both work and play. But it is wisdom to step outside the moment and look at what will fulfill in the future as well as the present. This is different for everyone, but the field you pick will be what you do for 40 to 45 years. It is unlikely that climbing will be the major/only focus of your life that long. So don’t stress too much about it, choose what excites you. As long as you do that you can’t go wrong. If it’s Emergency Medicine, do it because you love it, not because it affords you days off 😉
Virgil