Ru-Chien Chi, M.D.
Dear Fellows,
It gives me great pleasure to represent you as the upcoming Fellows-in-Training chair. Before beginning my term May 2003, I thought I'd share some thoughts with you and invite you to reflect with me. When I think of personal values that are important to me, and how my professional and personal life fit these values, I find myself even more satisfied with my career choice. Service, for instance, has always been at the top of my list. Without knowing all of you individually, I suspect that many of you share similar values, having chosen this very special profession.
As we undergo fellowship training, we experience first hand outside forces that may challenge our values-expectations to provide quality care to medically and socially complex patients in truncated visits and ever diminishing reimbursement for providing such care. We ask ourselves, how can we successfully sustain a fulfilling career in geriatrics, whether in practice or academics or some other avenue, in a manner consistent with our values? Fellowship training is a time to prepare us for what's ahead. It is beyond achieving clinical competence and passing the boards. It's about knowing who we are, what we strive to achieve for both our patients and ourselves, and about acquiring skills to make that happen. Much like caring for elderly patients, geriatrics training may require a big picture approach, that is, learning to provide care in the context of social science, business, and politics, among other disciplines. As budding geriatricians, how do you define your professional identity and what are your visions for the future?
It is a wonderfully exciting time to be practicing geriatric medicine. There are many innovations that affect geriatric patient care, from telemedicine and ACE units to increasing biomedical research involving elderly subjects. As many sub-specialties become more heavily dependent on technologies and procedures, we can pride ourselves for being experts grounded on basics of doing a good history, physical exam, and providing hands-on care. Our careers will coincide with the "explosion" in geriatric-aged patients. We have a unique opportunity to help shape the future of our field and of medicine.
The AGS Fellows Section is here to represent your interests and to implement programs to support your needs. I invite you to share your thoughts with me. I look forward to seeing you in Baltimore, May 14-17, 2003.
Ru-Chien Chi, MD
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