New Feature Bloggers
I am going to add a feature to my blog posts that pulls in perspectives from a young doctor and his spouse—my son John, and his wife Cheyenne.
No matter where you are on your career journey, I think you will find these fresh expressions will provide you insight into the interior of our professional lives—and likely you will resonate with their reflections.
Walking In Your Shoes
It will be called “Walking In Your Shoes”—and that is because it will be written by my son John as he describes his own journey of mirroring my choice to become a rural family physician. Indeed, I find it humbling to know that my passion and love for family medicine has rubbed off on him. John will be “walking in my shoes”—but his personalized and unique version of family medicine is likely to look different than mine has over the past 30 years. I hope it does because adaptive professional & business skills are needed for every family doctor to thrive in today’s corporatized version of medicine.
In fact, my entire motivation for writing my recently released best-selling book “Doctor Incorporated: Stop The Insanity of Traditional Employment and Preserve Your Professional Autonomy” was to provide him with practical professional tips for how to thrive as a modern doctor. As I began to write down my thoughts-it evolved into a manuscript that I eventually recognized could benefit our entire tribe of doctors. The early feedback from physician readers affirms my premise— 100% say something like “every doctor should read this book”. I agree, so grab a copy off Amazon!
About John and Cheyenne
John is determined to form his own professional micro-corporation during residency and use it moonlighting—and then will use it as the foundation for his professional life. I believe you as readers will enjoy hearing about his journey into this progressive space.
Here is a brief introduction to John and Cheyenne:
They have been married for nearly 5 years and they have no children yet—but they do have a dog—that they treat like a kid:). John is just finishing up his first year of family medicine training at JPS in Fort Worth, Texas. Cheyenne is an accountant and has worked for a few firms during John’s medical school at Indiana University and during his training in Texas. Like a lot of medical spouses-she has adapted to the nomadic medical training journey.
Both John and Cheyenne come from families who have operated successful small businesses and that exposure has already led to adding side businesses to their primary jobs. John owns and operates a cryptocurrency fund called Ascension Capital and Cheyenne has a few side hustles with her artwork at Chey Stillson Studio, a baking business called “little white apron” and she is regularly flipping/reselling items on Facebook Market Place. Since she comes from a long line of auctioneers and re-sellers, this is no surprise.
I think you will find their small business mindset interesting and inspiring—especially as you follow along on their journey to building John’s professional micro-corporation—all while they navigate through the trials and tribulations of residency training.
So let’s begin with the first post from John. You will hear from Cheyenne next week.
Written by John Stillson MD
Intern Year
Intern year is a beast, no way around it.
The First 3 Months
Starting July 1st, it does not matter where you went to medical school or what you know. You are in the same position as every other intern in every other program. On day one patient care responsibilities are dropped into your lap. It’s a big task and can be very intimidating.
For the first three months you trying to care for patients when you don’t even know how to get from one side of the hospital to the other. Nurses and other ancillary staff are looking to you for direction when you don’t even know whether you can order Tylenol for the patient in front of you. There is not much more emblematic of intern year than not knowing whether you can order Tylenol and having to ask an upper-level resident.
The Next 3 Months
The next three months things are starting to look up as you get your feet under you. You have done a few rotations and have gained a small bit of confidence. You still have no clue what you are doing half the time but at least you know how to order Tylenol and how to get around the hospital.
You start to realize that expectations are low and there is a significant safety net to protect you and your patients. In the third quarter of the intern year you start to operate with more confidence. You have seen some things and take care of sick patients now. In our program you do several months of internal medicine and ICU.
Confidence Grows As You Mature
Working in the ICU is what turns you “from being a boy into a man” in the medical world in my opinion. After that rotation you start to breathe easier as you now know how to identify “sick” patients and what to do about them.
The First-Year Finish Line
The end of the year brings excitement and anticipation as the finish line is in sight and you are gearing up for the extra responsibility of the second year. For some people it is exciting, others scary, while others are just looking forward to getting one step closer to the end of residency. Ultimately for me, I am excited for the opportunity to take on more responsibility in my patient care, manage new interns, and teach medical students. And as all residents know, learn to manage the attendings as well.
Planning Ahead
However, I also planned ahead and completed Step 3 this year so that come July 1st I can apply for my full medical license. Why? After all these years of hard work and debt I want to take my skills outside our residency and get paid well for the care I provide. The extra money I make will help me to pay down my debt and go on more adventures with my wife prior to having children.
Independence DURING Residency-Getting a License & Starting A Micro-PC
In anticipation of getting my license and moonlighting I plan to create a business entity to run all that moonlighting money through. I want to tap into the benefits that the government provides for small businesses and physicians as professional entities. Learning that process now will reap significant rewards in the future. For those of you just starting residency, have fun and take it day by day. But for those of you who are getting your second, third, or fourth + year of residency under your belt you need to be thinking about what your future holds and what goals you have. I highly recommend considering starting a micro-PC as part of your future so that you can retain more of what you earn and live the life that you have always wanted.
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