Medical school, including clinicals and putting in your required hours, can take anywhere from 8-10 years (or longer). So, it’s understandable that once you graduate, you’re ready to be done with school.
However, the career you chose not only has ongoing continuing education requirements, but you may also want to be a lifelong learner in your field. This term refers to those who engage in the ongoing and voluntary pursuit of knowledge, usually spiritual or professional.
Lifelong learning is self-motivated. It’s the information you seek on top of the continuing ed credits required to keep your license. Since you’re in the medical field, there are opportunities to learn almost everywhere, from seminars to local mentorships.
Why is lifelong learning such a vital part of your career? Here, we’ll discuss the importance of actively learning throughout your professional life.
1. You’ll Stay Relevant and In-Demand in Your Career
The world is constantly evolving, especially in industries like healthcare. Imagine a patient presenting with flu-like symptoms to a doctor who never heard of the coronavirus. Or consider how long it takes you to do your notes now and envision a practice where you treat the same number of patients, but everything is done by hand.
Staying relevant in your career means keeping up with the changes. You’ll need to know how to be flexible and open to using new software if it means it might be more efficient or secure for your patients.
As a lifelong learner, you’ll know the advancements in your field faster than other practitioners. This knowledge will help you treat your patients with the latest therapies and medications, improving your reputation and making you more marketable should you look into a job change or pay raise.
(Side note: Any time you consider signing or updating your contract, always use a contract lawyer like Physicians Thrive to ensure you’re covering all your legal bases and getting the optimal benefits you deserve, like a signing bonus.)
2. You’ll Grow Your Network
Although it may seem as if working in healthcare is inherently social, the reality is that most doctors rarely communicate with their peers. They stay behind the treating room door or in their office, catching up with paperwork.
If that sounds like you, then lifelong learning is vital for your mental health, too. When you reach out and actively try to engage with others, you blend the work/life balance, keeping yourself off the path to burnout.
Sure, finding ways to engage in lifelong learning can be virtual and behind the scenes. However, if you’re trying to expand your name in your professional community and socialize, look for in-person events such as medical conferences, classes, and networking groups.
You never know who you’ll meet at a gathering that could propel your career forward or give you an integral nugget of information that will help you treat a patient later.
3. It Could Save Someone’s Life — Literally
Many people stay stuck in the past and the way things “used to be” done. This is okay in certain industries. But if you’re a healthcare professional who is always reverting back to what you learned in grad school, you might end up missing out on crucial knowledge that could save your patient’s life.
Just in the 20th century alone, the changes in healthcare have revolutionized how we treat various conditions. Diseases that were once deadly have been all but eradicated.
As you grow your knowledge, skills, and abilities through continued learning, you stay on top of the latest trends. This will permit you to offer alternative options to your patients that other physicians might not be aware exist.
For example, an oncologist who has been keeping up with clinical trials will recognize when a patient comes to them who meets the requirements for a new medication or treatment. They can suggest the clinical trial to the patient and let them decide if they want to undergo the therapy.
What patients want and need changes as society and technology evolve. When you’re a healthcare practitioner engaged in lifelong learning, you begin to recognize these advances when — if not before — they occur. With the wisdom and knowledge at your disposal, you can care for patients on demand with the best quality healthcare possible.
Conclusion
Healthcare is one of the oldest professions in history, and over the millennia, it has changed significantly. Combining the tried-and-true knowledge with innovations in technology and medicine has worked for thousands of years. The one constant link between physicians of the past and those of today is that the best doctors’ quest for knowledge is a lifelong journey.
