Opthamology!

Last Week we had Dr. Scott Sykes, M.D. talk to us. He spoke about the things that influence a persons choice to go into medicine as well as the ophthalmology specialty. His talk was very informative and provided some great incites for aspiring doctors about whether medicine is the right choice or not.

His main message about deciding whether medicine is for you or not is to do the research and actually experience what it would be like to practice medicine. He said that shadowing was very helpful for him and I know from experience that it was helpful for me as well. No one knows exactly what it will be like to be a practicing physician until they are in that place in their lives where they are actually practicing, but shadowing a doctor or two (or three) is probably the best way to see what it is like for students like us. I highly recommend it and so did Dr. Sykes.

He next talked about ophthalmology and specialties in general. He had some great advice about choosing your specialty and the though process behind it. I know that I myself do not really know what I wasn't to specialize in, and Dr. Sykes helped me feel better about this position. He mentioned that it is not necessarily in your best interest to choose what you want to do before you go to med school. In fact, a lot of people think they know what they want to specialize in until they get into their third and fourth year in med school and experience all the different areas of medicine that they were not exposed to until that time. The message was to be open minded and to look at all aspects of each specialty and how the lifestyle for each specialty would best fit you.

We want to thank Dr. Sykes for speaking to us. Also, next week we will have Dr. Peter Clemens, D.O. come and speak to us. See you all there!