Yesterday was a big day in the Internal Medicine world. Unbeknownst to any of you, an entirely new crop of doctors that will provide care for patients with heart disease, cancer, kidney disease, GI illnesses, arthritis, and lung problems was selected yesterday (amongst many others). In case you were wondering, that pretty much covers everyone in the entire world at some point in their life. Yesterday was subspecialty Match Day.
Match Day for medical students gets a lot more press than the subspecialty version. I've seen national news reports showing medical students opening their letters on a stage telling them where they will be doing residency. For medicine residents doing subspecialties, it is not nearly that dramatic. Most of them simply opened their emails at noon yesterday to find out their fate. All adults will probably see one of these folks at some point in your life. Your newly minted cardiologist is probably walking around a hospital right now proudly telling their colleagues where they are going for their training.
You might ask why I'm broadcasting this. Why should you care? There's no way for you to know which one will be your doctor one day. My point is fairly simple. Residency is hard. Those who have never done it can't understand the accomplishment that comes with finishing and moving on to the next challenge that awaits. For third year residents, Match Day yesterday signaled more than the start of the next phase. It meant nearing the completion of a very large step in their lives.
So if you know a resident that matched yesterday, join me in congratulating them. They have worked many long hours to get there. HumorMD Jr has already given out a congratulatory present or two as a matter of fact. I'll let you figure out which end it came from...
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