I Wish I Had Known

I Wish I Had Known: The Importance of Writing

A Dermatologist’s Foray into Writing My trials and tribulations in writing first began in high school. I wrote a humor article in high school for our school newspaper. The experience was fun as I collected my thoughts, tried to be creative and work on my comedic stylings, and determined whether or not I could make …

5 Things I Wish I Had Known My Last Year of Residency

The last year of residency goes by in the blink of eye.  Don’t get so wrapped up in studying for and passing the board exam that you forget to put some focus on these five things. 5. Savor the Time with Your Fellow Residents Third year flies by. You spend a great deal of your …

Real Advice for Dermatology Career Progression

Here is the best advice we could find to help make the transition from residency to the real world of dermatology a little easier. The dermatology practice has grown more complex since I graduated residency and began practice in 1984.  But it has also become more dynamic. We all have learned to grow and evolve with the …

Pearls of Wisdom From Thought Leaders at ODAC

As a resident thinking about how to move forward with your career, or a new practitioner getting off and running, would you like to know what special pearls of wisdom KOL’s in the industry would share? Our nine Next Steps Correspondents had their ears to the ground at the 2017 ODAC Dermatology Aesthetic and Surgical in …

I Wish I Had Known: How to Find Your Niche in Dermatology

I approached dermatology residency like a Las Vegas buffet. Mesmerized by the wide variety, I dove in head first and filled my plate with everything in sight. My mentors were a bit bemused (or perhaps just exasperated) when at various points I seriously considered applying in pediatrics, procedural, and dermatopathology fellowships. Most residents have a …

I Wish I Had Known: Staying Connected

Residency is an exceedingly busy and exciting time focused on preparing us to enter the workforce and make a meaningful contribution to our patients’ lives and maybe even our specialty overall. Three years go by in an instant, so no surprise that certain integral but understated elements are needed to move out of the protective …

Get Closer to Your Patient With Touch

BENJAMIN BARANKIN, MD, FRCPC, FAAD discusses the importance and impact of appropriate patient touch. What We’re Taught Our teachers warn us not to touch the patient throughout medical school, residency, and clinical practice. Medical societies regularly remind us of the importance of not touching our patients. That is, at least inappropriately. “While telling the patient it …

Doris Day, MD on Becoming a Thought Leader Part 1: My Path

The first time someone called me a thought leader I did a double take. I knew there were thought leaders out there, a host of doctors I respected and looked to for guidance and support. I knew that when they spoke I could count on their words, they loved to teach, were generous with their …

Advice for Graduating Derms – Introductions and Hand Shakes

An Introduction and a Handshake My number one piece of advice for graduating dermatologists is connect with your patients. Connect well. Learn about them, learn a little bit about their personal life, their family and that really helps cement your therapeutic connection. The other thing is, sit down! When you go in a room, sit …

Optimizing Patient Interaction

Part 1 of 2 phra·se·ol·o·gy [frāzēˈäləjē] (noun): a mode of expression, especially one characteristic of a particular speaker or writer. Now that I have been an attending dermatologist for more than five years, I have had the opportunity to reflect upon what I wish I would have known as a resident and as a new …

I Wish I Had Known: Optimizing Your Academic Career

Starting a career in academic medicine can be confusing. Here are some tips for optimizing your career trajectory. 1. Get information about the academic promotions process. Most universities have a set of documentation requirements and it is helpful to collect them early. 2. Seek out a mentor outside of your division. Someone who has reached …

Post-Residency Fellowships in Dermatology: An Increasing Demand

As a resident in dermatology, one has made it through many critical achievements from MCAT scores to the STEP series, completing medical school to striving for that AOA class rank and finally matching into your next three years as a dermatology resident-in-training. Dermatology is a diverse field that requires an understanding of many subspecialties within …

Spotlight On: Elizabeth Grossman, MD, MBA

1. What made you decide to pursue a career in dermatology? I really enjoy talking with my patients. I love to hear about their jobs, families, and their various stories. I also really enjoy procedural work. I find doing procedures a fantastic outlet for my anal tendencies. You get to be as precise and detail-oriented …

I Wish I Had Known: Starting Out in Dermatology

If I could go back and do it all over again, I would do a few things differently. After all, hindsight is 20/20. Nonetheless, I am happy with my career path and I absolutely love my job. Below are some pieces of advice for medical students based on things I learned or wish I’d done …

I Wish I Had Known: Learn to Code Early

Residency is your golden opportunity. While stressful and demanding, it offers the chance to learn everything you can about dermatology before stepping into the real world (which you haven’t seen since before medical school). While I did much to prepare for my dermatology career, there are few things I should have paid more attention to …

I Wish I Had Known: Financial Planning

Two factors in retrospect that I wish I would’ve had greater insight into both revolve around financial planning. It’s difficult to know upon entering residency, and then transitioning into practice, how some very basic decisions will impact your financial well-being 10, 20, 30, and 40 years down the road as one looks to retire. First, …

I Wish I Had Known: How to Make the Most During Residency

Hi! Good morning, I’m Naomi Dolly and I’m currently the fellow in Advanced Medical Dermatology at NYU Medical Center. I would like to talk to you today a little bit about your journey as a resident and some things that I [feel] that you should probably do or know while doing your residency. First of …

I Wish I Had Known: 4 Tips for Utilizing Technology in Your Derm Practice

1. Focus on technologies that have a high likelihood of success in common conditions. 2. Have one room where you focus on many devices in the same space so that you can deliver the full buffet of services without moving the patient. 3. Steer people away from procedures that offer little benefit, even if they’ve …

I Wish I Had Known: Studying for the Boards

Studying for the boards can be an incredibly stressful and daunting time. The Board exam is really a culmination of three years of intense dermatology training. You have been preparing for this exam throughout your entire residency. The weeks or months before the exam should be used as final preparation to review concepts or areas …

I Wish I Had Known: The Importance of Life Outside of Residency

Life for much of my residency, I struggled to find the right balance between the formidable amount of reading expected of derm residents, and maintaining a healthy life outside of residency. In fact, this was the greatest source of stress for me as a resident. I wish I had known that derm residency is a …

I Wish I Had Known: Residency

In dermatology residency, my focus was, appropriately, on learning all that I could about dermatology so that I would pass my board exams and provide great care to my patients, in that order. These were necessary and important priorities, but retrospectively, I wish I had known: 1. Patients care that I care. First and foremost, …

I Wish I Had Known: Questions to Ask Yourself

I wish I had more seriously considered what mattered to me most in a job: Would it be a flexible schedule? Ability to do procedures? High pay? Working with excellent colleagues? Hiring my own staff? Having a relationship to a highly respected hospital or higher institution? I also wish I had known that when finally …

I Wish I Had Known: Starting a Solo Dermatology Practice

I can speak only for myself on the topic of starting a solo dermatology practice. As an aside, I initially had no interest in starting and running a small medical business. My post-training strengths, or at least my comfortable level of competencies, did not include marketing myself, choosing the right business location, buying all the …

I Wish I Had Known: Residency Tips

In the midst of residency, it seemed like the training, endless consults, biopsies, lectures and oversight would never end. Afterwards, I longed for the second opinion, the grand rounds discussions and the fabulous mentors. Cherish the unique approach each attending takes for both common and uncommon dermatologic conditions. What may seem like an unusual treatment …

I Wish I Had Known: Finding the Right Fit Post-Training

As someone currently immersed in this process, I have learned a few lessons along the way — some old made new again and others understood for the first time. Each of us has a unique way of sorting through information and making decisions, and for many of us a constant inner dialogue develops inside our …

I Wish I Had Known: Connecting with the Patient

There is one particular “pearl” I’ve learned throughout my career, which in my opinion is one of the most important elements of the doctor/patient relationship: the human touch. Sometimes, this can include the physical “laying of hands” onto a patient as part of an encounter. But in all cases, it means connecting with the patient …

I Wish I Had Known – Food for Thought: Two Ideas to Contemplate at the End of Residency

Graduating from residency is super exciting, but is also anxiety-provoking as you need to find your first “real” job. The first aspect to think about when tackling this overwhelming idea is the type of environment in which you’d like to work. At first glance, it seems like a relatively straightforward decision: academics or private practice. …

I Wish I Had Known: How to Survive After Residency

The completion of a residency program represents the culmination of well more than a decade of arduous and even tortuous intellectual, physical and emotional effort. You have finally earned and can safely experience that long-awaited sigh of relief. You made it. The demands, commands, obstacles, grades, ratings, competency logs and grandiose attending physicians are behind …

I Wish I Had Known: Business Management

We go through many, many years of training and hard work to become physicians and to specialize in the field of our choice. When I graduated from residency, I gave a lot of thought to the kind of practice I wanted to have or in which I wanted to participate. I decided to open my …

I Wish I Had Known: Staff-Related Issues

When I first started my practice I had no idea how diplomatic I would have to be when working with staff issues. Initially, I made many mistakes that translated to ruffled feathers. And a few staff members who left earlier than they should have. While I can’t say that I always say or do the …

I Wish I Had Known: Patient Experience

I wish I had known that cosmetic patients and Mohs patients are like oil and water sitting in the same waiting room They do not mix well at all. In general, well-heeled, cosmetic-oriented people (mostly women) wish to wait with others who they can identify with. Often, Mohs patients are quite elderly with bandages on …

I Wish I Had Known: Fellowship Opportunities

The fellowship opportunities in dermatology (before and after residency) are endless and one of a kind. Before beginning my residency at the University of Maryland, I was lucky to have landed a clinical fellowship focusing on dermatologic and laser surgery at the Mohs and Laser Unit at the University of Miami. To this day, it …

I Wish I Had Known: Cosmetic Dermatology

My name is Dr. Elliot Battle, I am a cosmetic dermatologist in Washington DC. My advice to every resident and every future dermatologist is to take as much time as you did when you chose medical schools and residency programs to choose the right venue for your future. A lot of my colleagues choose the …

I Wish I Had Known: Residency Study Advice

Dermatology residency is a marathon, not a sprint, you have three years to learn the material and though it is quite a large volume, it is do-able. As a first year dermatology resident, you will be completely overwhelmed with the pure volume of material you need to know. First year, read Bolognia, it is long …

I Wish I Had Known: Pay Attention To Staff During Residency

One of the most important skills that I strive to develop in order to run an efficient, pleasant practice is to effectively manage my staff. Throughout residency I was so focused on learning dermatology to the best of my ability that I never considered the other skills that would benefit me in practice. My behavior …

I Wish I Had Known: The Value of Collaborating with Physicians in Other Specialties

Dermatology is a relatively small and incredibly unique discipline within medicine. With the typical medical school curriculum dedicating at most a few weeks to our specialties. And yet provides insights into the overall well-being of patients that are often priceless. Early in one’s career, it is easy to become so engrossed in mastering the rich …

I Wish I Had Known: Planning Ahead

Plan for at least six months to a year ahead of time. You want to find your location and get all of your things together—your insurance, supplies, and office gear—well ahead of time because it’s going to take you much longer than you think to set all of those things up. Study demographics. Look for …

I Wish I Had Known: Finding the Right Balance

Life post-residency is wonderful. As a dermatologist, there are so many cool and exciting things we can do with our day. I’ve found that life in academic dermatology as a physician-scientist is especially rewarding. There are some challenges, especially when establishing your foundation. For me, finding the right personal balance at work between clinical and …

I Wish I Had Known: Starting Your Career in Academics

“Surround yourself with people who have a genuine interest in your dermatology career.” Looking Back Recently I was promoted in my career to full Professor. In the process, I was forced to look back at the path that led me to academic medicine. I would like to say that I put a lot of planning …

I Wish I Had Known: Practice Management

I wish I had known the most difficult matter for the newly-trained dermatologist is practice management. A huge part of practice management is personnel. It requires many years to develop and train a stable, capable support staff. There are many unsuccessful “try-outs.” Some individuals may not have the necessary personal and professional skills, work ethic, …

The People Factor

“The one thing to emphasize more than anything-beyond productivity, sales, and what we do-is not forgetting the people factor. Your staff need to feel empowered and appreciated…” Leadership “Leadership is not a position or a title, it is action and example.” “People don’t leave bad practices, they leave bad leaders.” Employee Retention “A great employee …

I Wish I Had Known: Finance

I Wish I Had Known: Finance When I first started looking for a position after residency, I wish I had known that the most lucrative financial offer was not necessarily the best offer. Fortunately for myself, I did not make my decision based on financial parameters alone. But I did spend a lot of time …