My style

Watching Trauma: Life in the E.R. today helped me realize that I pretty much really want to be a family practice doctor. The lure of having regular hours, a specific demographic of patients that I have control over, and time to make important decisions seems too good to be true in one career. I have decided that is what I will tell people when I get asked "so what kind of doctor do you want to be" (a question I get a couple of times a week). I am aware that I am making this decision with limited experience, and that a million years lie between me and when I'll actually have to decide what to practice, but it is nice and comforting to have that extra little bit of vision about the future. Another reason for family practice: I am the kind of person that likes to know a little about everything, not someone who likes to know everything about one thing. A brain surgeon KNOWS brains. A family doctor knows how brians work, but he also knows how every system works in the body too. Plus I've always liked to get to know people and I think a Family Practice doc has much better odds of getting to know people for a long time. As a mentor once told me "a surgeon meets a lot of different people, but a family practice doctor gets invited to weddings and baby showers".