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| Becoming Medical-Specialty Specific Savvy |
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by Marcos A. Vargas, MSHA, PA-C - January 3, 2011
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Your job-hunting process is over. You’re excited about your new employer. You’re looking forward for the specialty switch, and can hardly wait to submerge yourself in your newly chosen medical specialty.
So the hard part is over—right? Not quite. In fact, the difficult part is about to begin; that is, mastering the new medical specialty “learning curve”. Changing medical specialties can be understandably stressful, particularly after being employed in a discipline-specific field for several years. It means you have to begin anew. In other words, you have to acquire, develop, refine and master new capabilities, not to mention a new mindset and/or skill set altogether.
But successful specialty practice change is more than just transitioning yourself smoothly from one specialty to another. It’s also about mastering “the learning curve” effortlessly and in much lesser time frame than expected.
Here are seven strategies to assist you in becoming medical-specialty specific savvy during the specialty transitioning process:
Tip # 1: Know Practice (Specialty-specific) Guidelines:
Clearly, learning & knowing the most recent authoritative disease-specific management guidelines is literally half of the battle. As you develop your new base knowledge, this will serve as your foundation in which to build your newly acquired expertise. Become acquainted with them - the sooner the better - and you’re literally halfway there.
Tip # 2: Develop a Specialized Library:
Do you have access to authoritative and/or cutting-edge medical information pertinent to your specialty? Delivering evidence-based medical care greatly depends on having availability to updated medical information. Textbooks can become quickly outdated in the “information age.”
So it behooves you to have access to the most timely and accurate evidence-base information available. These discipline-specific resources are vital for your success in familiarizing yourself with your new medical specialty.
Tip # 3: Create a Folder of Compiled Atypical Case Presentations:
In continuing building your knowledge, be sure to create a repository or a folder to save those subtle case presentations (i.e. EKGs, CXRs, CT reports, etc) that you may have missed initially so you can review the salient points of the cases at a later time in a more relaxed manner; thus, facilitating retention.
Often times, this practice is omitted, which can be detrimental to your learning curve. Basically, the importance of this task is about developing your keen insight on those difficult or atypical presentations so, when encountered again, your clinical recognition & clinical-decision making will be easier.
Tip # 4: Read, read and read some more:
In our working lives, we all have competing priorities. It is natural to be complacent in this regard. Unfortunately, many don’t read about the subject matter as much as they should. Also, much to their detriment, some overlook the “reinforcement” benefits of reading within 72 hours of the new subject/topic encountered at work. It’s all about repetitive facilitated imprinting.
In brief, don’t loose sight of the big benefit of reading for reinforcement too, not just for learning sake.
Tip # 5: Engage in “Cluster Learning” Activities:
Nothing can be more daunting than trying to learn it all at once. It’s best if you break down the discipline in major topics or themes. Then focus your reading on that particular area for one week or month. By concentrating your efforts into smaller chunks of information, you may expedite your learning. Not to mention, it will make it more manageable too. Remember, knowledge recall is about knowing (meaning understanding) not about memorization
Tip # 6: Join Specialty-Specific Association(s):
Be sure to avail yourself as many resources as possible. Being part of a group of peers with the same professional and educational needs and interests as yours is not only helpful in establishing connections, but very resourceful too in your professional development.
Tip # 7: Attend Discipline-specific CME:
This is another venue that should be used to build your new skill-set. Whether it is attending live conferences or specialty-review webinars, you stand to gain the most knowledge by “climbing” another rung of the knowledge ladder.
By implementing these strategies and tips when changing specialties, you’re on your way of mastering the discipline-specific learning curve while also becoming in tune with your newly acquired medical-specialty. Hence mastering that learning curve in a shorter time.
Marcos A. Vargas, MSHA, PA-C is a Boston born and Puerto Rican bred individual who has an extensive healthcare industry background, both industry-related as a Pharmacy Technician during his undergraduate years, and industry-specific as a dually N.C.C.P.A. certified Physician Assistant in Surgery and Primary care after graduating from the University of Alabama—Birmingham Physician/Surgeon’s Assistant Program. He has held clinical positions in Cardiothoracic, General Surgery, & Emergency Medicine over the past twenty years. He holds a Master’s in Science Administration from Central Michigan University and a Healthcare Risk Management graduate certificate. He has been retained and consulted regularly by both plaintiff & defense law firms over the past 14 years. During this time, he has served as both a consulting medical reviewer and a PA expert. Marcos has lectured on Clinical Risk Management (PA) issues throughout the years to various Michigan-based PA Training Programs. He has done the same for lay audiences, covering a wide range of “Wellness” topics. He has been a supporter and associate member of numerous professional clinical and non-clinical organizations. Currently he is employed as an orthopedic PA at HMC.
The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.
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| Marcos A. Vargas, MSHA,PA-C (Flushing, MI ) |
on 13 Feb 2011 at 1:16 pm |
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Your complimentary remarks are greatly appreciated; they definitely fuel my desire to share more insights with such nice acknowledgements such as yours.
Marcos A. Vargas, MSHA,PA-C |
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| Maureen A. Malone, RN, MS,ANP-C (E. Northport New York) |
on 26 Jan 2011 at 9:41 pm |
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The information in this article is critical when looking
for a job in the Health Field today. EXCELLENT!!!! |
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