Choosing Palliative Care as a Medical Specialty

by Sylvia Lane (@sylv_lane)

There are few things more introspective than deciding on a specialty in medicine. The decision forces you to analyze what interests and values you hold but also who you are as a person. How do you solve problems? How do you work with others? What brings you joy? As a third-year medical student, I was able to try on many specialties. Rotating through various fields allowed me to soak up knowledge from almost every type of healthcare professional. But this experience comes with a heavy burden of choosing a future career path.

From the beginning, I knew that I was not like most of my fellow medical students. Of course, we all share a special bond dealing with the shared stress of progressing through medical education. But I never felt like my perception of medicine was the same as theirs. I always felt sidelined in discussions, scoffed at as the bleeding-heart empath. As I stepped into my third year of medical school, I was filled with enthusiasm to find people who felt like me. People who view medicine in the way that I do. They must exist, right?

Unfortunately, this was far from my experience. Though each clerkship was a valuable learning opportunity, I continually found something to be missing. Every physician I met was focused on medicine as a cure, while I regularly found myself asking about the impact on the patient’s quality of life and relationships. What will this surgery mean for the patient and their loved ones? How does this treatment impact the patient’s life goals? For me, being a doctor was never about finding a cure. To me, medicine spans not only a patient’s symptoms, diseases, and therapies, but also their family, employment, hobbies, and future. Separating the symptoms from the patient as a human seems impossible to me.

I came to realize that palliative care was the field I had been looking for. I scoured the internet for all the resources I could find. With bright eyes I started to tell everyone: I found my specialty! However, it was not met with the enthusiasm I was expecting. Every time my friends spoke about their specialty of choice, they were received with positivity, warmth, and excitement. But when I started saying, “I want to do palliative care,” I got a different response. Even through their masked faces, I could see shock and discomfort. Most people responded with one word, “oh,” as they completely changed the subject. I was thrilled to find a specialty that seemed exciting to me, but these encounters made me feel like I was somehow wrong.

For weeks, I questioned my choice. Was I missing something? Every person I spoke to seemed to be distressed by my decision. Some teachers I respected told me I was wasting my potential or would ultimately change my mind. Discouraged by the sentiments of those around, I turned to Twitter for support from my medical community near and far. The replies I got were nothing like the responses I had received in person. More than 500 people responded with excitement, positivity, and support. Deciding to pursue a career in palliative care had felt good, but in that exact moment I knew it was right. Finding a community of people like me gave me the courage and strength to stay true to myself. And for that, I will be a better physician.

For more Pallimed posts about (and/or written by) medical students, residents and other learners, click here
For more Pallimed posts by Sylvia Lane, click here. This is her first post, but someday there may be more!
For some ideas on fostering student interest in palliative care see this Pallimed post.

Sylvia Lane is a fourth year medical student at the University of Vermont. Between clinical rotations she spends her time perfecting her baking skills, watching new films, and learning how not to kill all her houseplants.