Ryan, The title of your request and the body of the request are really 2 different questions in my mind. I have thinking about the title question "Graduating Residents: any words of advice" more than the advice to new and rising residents.
Let me focus on the Graduating Residents and what may lie before you. I have had some great advice from my mentors that I think is worth sharing. I know I have been given some valuable guideposts.
The first question is where should I practice? To me that is a critical question for each of you to make with the significant others in your lives. My best advice is what I was taught by my dentist...go where you want to live. You will make a living wherever you go. In some places you may make more money, in some places less. Going to the lure of dollars and not where you want to live will leave you unfulfilled and less than happy. Living where you and your family want to be will help find balance in your lives, personally and professionally. Watching a number of my colleauges in various disciplines and at every ecomomic level leave after a number of years has borne this out. You can say you will send your wife or family to where they want to go for trips, but it is just not the same. I love life in South Florida, but it is not for everyone, just like life in the Midwest or the South or the NorthWest is not for everyone. Do some soul searching, go where you want to live.
The next "pearl" for the new practioner. You have made a quantum leap, you are not a student, you are not an intern, you are not a resident, YOU ARE the Doctor. This perception changes everything. How you act, how you dress (polish your shoes regularly), where you go, what you say all counts, all contributes to how you build your practice and your livelihood. Dress, act, speak and comfort yourself the way you would like your doctor to treat your family, your wife or husband, your child or your parent. Always try to do the right thing, tell your patients what you can do and what you can't do, get help when you need it and don't try to build yourself up by diminishing anyone else.
Start saving for your retirement from your first paycheck or draw. You will need everything new...new house, new car, new clothes, new TV, new stereo, new computers, .... Don't let that get you in over your head or beyond your means. From the start, put away for taxes and for yourself. In what seems like a blink of an eye,a long time has come and gone. You are no longer the new best trained generation of Podiatrists ever, you're the older guy out 20 years writing to the next newest best trained generation of Podiatrists ever. We are colleagues on the same professional path, just at different stages.
From the get go, have your business cards with you ALL THE TIME. Tell people who you are, what you do and make yourself available. A story, I tell a lot of stories.. When my new accoutant for my new practice told me he wanted me to get a certain kind of checkbook, I was sent to a business supply store in our town. As I introduced myself to the sales woman, I handed her a card with my now regular way of saying, "Hi I'm Andy Levy I am a Podiatrist unabashedly trying to build my practice. If there is anything I can do for you, your family or your friends I would appreciate the opportunity." That lead to a conversation about her Mother's heel pain, ...could I see her? Certainly, I would be glad to. Oh Good, she is in Germany and will fly over ( Dad was a Pilot for Pan Am) When she did come over was when the Berlin Wall was being knocked down. She brought me a piece of it that she hammered off herself. I still have that hanging on my wall, and I went to the wedding of our sales lady! I still have patients come to me that I met years ago. Always have cards!
I think that's enough for this response. I'll think about what to tell the new residents, but that is probably best answered from you that have just finishied.
Fraternally, Andy Levy
