FP Work Options Appeal to Women

By Sherry Boschert
San Francisco Bureau

Family physicians have more freedom than ever before to avoid workaholism and potential burnout. And the rising acceptance of options such as working part time or taking time off during residency has paralleled a surge in women entering family practice.

Clearly, the growing ranks of women are changing the face of the profession, but are they forcing a shift in the FP work ethic? Opinions vary on that score, but it does appear that more women than men are taking advantage of the new work options.

Article Source: Boschert, Sherry. (December 1, 1999 Vol. 29 No. 23). FP Work Options Appeal to Women.Family Practice News, (p. 1)

Guidelines for Writing Personal Statements

by Dr. Melanie Mintzer

The following guidelines were developed by Dr. Melanie Mintzer who has been advising students for several years. These key points will help you in developing a coherent and well-organized personal statement.

Introductory Paragraph: This is the most re-read paragraph in the essay and therefore should contain the following points: Who you are as an applicant, what is most important to you and why you chose family medicine. The paragraph should reveal to the reader something that you wish the reader to remember about you. Often, the most effective comments are those which reflect commitment to the discipline, or those which reflect your focus in life. For example:

"I love working with and caring for patients and I love the team dynamics of working with other health care workers. This is the most important contribution I have to offer this residency program. I also have a strong inner drive to learn exceptional clinical judgment. I love to learn, always ave."

"I took a long time to become a doctor. Along the way, I gained many unique experiences that developed my interest in primary care medicine and showed me the importance of prevention in avoiding many of our modern illnesses. I also realized the importance of viewing the patient as a whole person, including the context of the family and culture. I have chosen a career in family medicine because it best matches my beliefs about the practice of medicine."

Second and Third Paragraphs: They should be used to develop the ideas in the first paragraph or support interests or education experiences or life experiences that are mentioned on the C.V. Use these paragraphs to reveal your development as a physician, and your special interests in the practice of medicine. For example, you can choose to talk about foreign travel and/or educational experiences which motivated you to choose a program with certain strengths, such as OB.

"The experience of doing an OB clerkship in Scotland as part of the NHS reinforced one of the issues that will shape my professional future. The lack in the US of basic preventive medicine such as prenatal care has become an important issue for me."

"Medical school experiences reinforced my vision of how I wish to practice medicine. I became involved with many service-oriented activities at UNC. I felt these experiences enhanced my knowledge in areas that are missing from the curriculum here, such as the SHAC clinic, providing care to the indigent and the Student Rural Health Coalition which taught me a lot about rural health care needs."

Fourth Paragraph: This should reflect statements about personal interests outside or medicine or those that reveal the breadth of your personality; i.e. interest in jazz, gardening, sailing, teaching illiterate adults to read, etc. Many students mention their family situations, children, spouses, or personal requirements for a residency locale such as a small town, rural, community needs, i.e. mountains or urban qualities.

Fifth Paragraph: This is used to address the congruence between individual program's strengths and your needs. For example:

"I chose UNC because I want to train in an academic setting as I aspire to a career in academic medicine after I gain some practice experience."

"I have always wanted to be a small town family practitioner and want to be trained to make most medical decisions on my own with less reliance on consultants. The Lancaster program will help to train me to be independent and decisive."

"I am looking for a residency that encourages physicians to treat the whole person. Community-based residencies seem best equipped to teach doctors to be the kind of healer I want to be. I want a residency that cares about the community, the patients and its residents in a similar fashion."

"Your program (Charlotte AHEC) combines the best of what an academic and community program can offer. I want good academic exposure without having to go to a university program and suffer the political issues that overrun family medicine in a tertiary care setting."

The Closing Paragraph: This should start short and sweet, and leave the reader with an upbeat sense of you. Mention what you have to offer a residency program, i.e. your maturity, sense of humor, ability to work well with patients and colleagues. This paragraph is also usually re-read by the committees and should be tightly constructed, not rambling.

"Medicine provides me with the opportunity to continue teaching patients and medical students. Healing and growth are the common threads that connect my past and future professions. I look forward to the future and further weaving together of my intellect and my interpersonal skills as a family physician."

"Learning about human nature is the most fascinating aspects of medicine for me. This fascination addresses my personal aspirations, which are to grow in wisdom and in my ability to understand the variety of human experience and the capacity to love."

Dr Mintzer offers the following suggestions:

"Overall, the student must feel comfortable writing about him/herself. I give the student this essay construction after reading the first draft after I get a sense of what is important to him/her and after I get a sense of who they are as people. Often, all of these things are contained in their essay, in a different way and the essay is practically complete even though there is no organizing format. Some students are good creative writers and the essays seem less businesslike but have an overall organization. This type of essay often leads itself to a reorganization of paragraphs with some new joining sentences.

If a student has had a difficult time in medical school, he/she needs to mention this in the Personal Statement and underline the improvements/remediations which occurred during the course of the four years. Often a student who has decelerated uses the extra time to refocus, develop personally, get professional help, deal with difficult family issues. Bringing these issues into the essay and turning a negative academic experience into a positive one is something that the residency will want to know about. I feel it is better if the student brings this up in writing rather than being asked about it during the interview."

Guidelines for Ranking Residency Programs

1. Rank your first choice first, even if you feel your chances of matching are low.
2. List at least five to seven programs, even if you are confident of your top three. If your academic record is uneven, you may want to list more than seven.
3. Consider having a "safety" program ranked at the bottom. Not much matching is problematic, even though are usually good programs which do not fill.
4. DO NOT rank a program that you really do not want to go to. It is illegal to not attend a program you ranked, and foolish to go there if you'd be very unhappy. You'd probably be better off NOT matching and then scrambling for a spot.