I MADE FRIENDS AT THE MORGUE TO MAKE THE BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE

This month is the MIR residency placement selection.

The most important decision in a doctor's life. And I say that without batting an eyelid.

Because what you choose will define who you are for the next 40 years. Or more, since retirement is becoming science fiction.

I racked my brain a lot. Although the first thing you have to clarify is not the specialty. It's something deeper.

Are you a physician or a surgeon?

And no, if you say “medical-surgical” it's most likely that you want to be a physician.

Because surgeons know it. It's in our blood. Throughout my degree, I pursued dissections. I became close with the forensic pathologists. All to be closer to anatomy. To see it firsthand. To escape the formaldehyde and hold it in my hands, fresh.

That's not chosen. You simply know it.

Trauma seemed wonderful to me.

My patients are men, women, children, the elderly, athletes. It's impossible to get bored. You have broad surgery like hips or tumor surgery. Delicate surgery like microsurgery and spine. Polytrauma for adrenaline. Arthroscopies, the cleanest surgery in the world. Even if operating turns out not to be your thing, you can work with millions of implant designs.

The shifts? Bad. The gratitude? Scarce.

I'm not going to spout the cliché of “choose what you'd do for free.” No one in their right mind would do a 24-hour shift for free. That's why they are mandatory.

But I have experienced nothing more satisfying than seeing a patient enter limping and leave walking. Very few specialties offer that ability to improve someone's life in such a way.