After a grueling 1st year of medical school, sitting in a classroom 6 hours a day, Monday thru Thursday, was the absolute last way I imagined myself enjoying my summer break. However, I did just that, and I am proud of it. I strongly believe the business Bootcamp has given me a new insight on my career, one I probably wouldn’t have gained for years, if ever at all. I used to believe, “Ok, I am going to become a doctor, make money, live in a nice house, and enjoy life. End of Story.” Oh how naïve.
Now, post-bootcamp, I firmly believe every budding physician should be required to have some sort of business training, formal or informal. I feel as though many of the problems the healthcare industry is facing today have direct correlations to the lack thereof with current physicians. Physicians were never required to learn about economics, finance, marketing, or IT systems; rather many learned by trial and error and were self-taught. Therefore, arising problems were swept under the mat, and ignored until the mat couldn’t lay flat. In a sense, the healthcare industry was placing Band-Aids on infected wounds, turning their backs, and allowing the patient to become septic. I feel as though my business background, though confined to an 8-week period during the summer of medical school, will allow me to become a more competent doctor in the healthcare industry today. I now know enough about the healthcare industry to not only identify potential healthcare problems during my career, but to implement a plan of action to fix the problems right away.
Furthermore, not only was the material of the bootcamp necessary, but the sheer volume of the material presented and the time requirements was, in my opinion, absolutely critical. It was a love-hate relationship, the bootcamp and I had. Waking up, morning after morning, going to the same classroom, thinking to myself “Hey! This is my summer! I deserve a break!.” But then again, I did sign myself up to do this. I committed to class 6 hours a day, 4 days a week; to working on multiple projects at the same time; to staying up until midnight collaborating with teams to finish those projects with class the next morning. And you know what? I don’t regret any of it. As hard as it was at times to “keep on keepin’ on”, it was that much more beneficial to me in the end. The business skills I learned were crucial and the discipline, invaluable.
