If I could give student clinicians some words of advice

Hey Health Techies!

Recently I’ve seen so many posts on social media from eager students starting their first years of clinical training in med school, nursing school, pharmacy school and the like. It has me feeling a little nostalgic and thinking about what I would tell my younger self if I were just starting out in my professional school career.

Of course, it’s been many years since I started pharmacy school, but I think many things have stayed the same. With so much time spent studying and worrying about grades, there isn’t much time to think about what it’s all for and how to put all of the building blocks together to build an actual career out of everything that is being taught.

So with that being said, if I were to give advice to the students starting clinical programs this year, it would be this:

🤝 Network

• If you are anything like I was, you may have already figured out what you want to do after graduation, but networking sets you up for success long after the graduation ceremony is over. I wish I had focused on building professional connections, but I just didn’t fully understand the value.

• Whether a student or not, if you’ve been putting off networking because you weren’t sure that it was worth the time and energy, here is your sign. There has never been a better time to attend live or virtual events to meet others with similar interests, not to mention the power of LinkedIn for day to day interactions and connections.

🛣️ Don’t be afraid to explore unique paths

• Don’t listen to the call to conform. Explore unique paths and opportunities available that will allow you to stand out in a competitive job market.

• While I didn’t do this during my pharmacy school career, this has been the biggest driver for success in my career ever since. Taking a nontraditional path has opened up so many doors and has allowed me to acquire a skillset that is uncommon and often highly sought after. My hope is for others to find this for themselves as well.

💡 Put just as much emphasis on building non-clinical skills as clinical ones

• I spent a lot of time undervaluing my nonclinical skills, and they have turned out to be just as important in my career.

• Patients don’t just want a great clinician. They want someone who listens, communicates, and shows empathy.

• Employers also don’t just want a great clinician. They want someone who can bring value in other areas of the business and bring ideas to help the business succeed. Which brings us to the last piece of advice that I have…

📊 Understand that healthcare is a business

• As much as healthcare professionals get into their roles to help people and have a fulfilling, stable career, we must understand that at its core healthcare is a business. Understanding how the business works is important for learning how to thrive in it.

• Seek opportunities to learn about the healthcare system itself and how it works. Study how clinicians and healthcare institutions make money, how insurance companies really work, and understand your part in being able to advocate for improvements.

• Many clinicians find themselves so put off by the business component of healthcare, that it can really impact their love of the job. But recogizing how healthcare companies run early on in your career, can help tremendously in understanding why certain decisions are made and how your performance as a clinician will be measured.

Do you have anything you would add?

Of course my view is skewed by my eventual path into healthcare technology. Had I known that this is the path I would take, I would have taken business classes and maybe even an intro computer science class. But I also know that you can’t squeeze everything into your formal curriculum, and much learning happens after your formal education is over.

My hope for this new class of students entering their programs this year is simply to have an open mind. This is just the beginning. The healthcare industry is changing rapidly, and they’ll be an integral part of how it looks in the future.

📰 Weekly Wrap-up

• Kaiser Permanente adopts Abridge’s clinical documentation technology

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Until next time,

Lauren