In response to the career planning and development needs of medical students and housemen in Hong Kong, students have established the Hong Kong Association of Clinicians in Training. The association aims to assist medical students in exploring various fields of clinical medicine and encourage them to explore different career paths.
As medical students, we often follow a standardised path, i.e. to study hard, pass exams one after another, graduate and become an intern, choose our specialties, and work in the public hospitals to receive specialty training. Rarely do we ask ourselves - is there something we can do beyond the conventional pathway? Is there a passion that starts at the very beginning but gets buried by tons of books and notes? Is there a dream over the highest cloud that we long to discover and embrace?
Most medical students were used to being top scorers in exams and excelling in every aspect. But after entering medical schools, we suddenly become swamped with self-doubt, disappointment, and frustrations. It is therefore a golden opportunity to have our professors and doctors sharing how to face failure, adjust own mentality, and continue pursuing our dreams. From them, we understand the challenges ahead, including but not limited to the huge workload at the hospital and life-and-death issues every day, and realise how we can do the best for our patients, maintain our mental health and work-life balance, and stay dedicated to our passion and values.
