“All in!” was the rallying cry throughout Northeast Ohio this spring as the Cleveland Cavaliers came oh-so-close to clinching the NBA championship.
Cavs star forward LeBron James has played most of his career wearing his signature headband, but he shed it for part of the playoff season. According to an interview with the Northeast Ohio Media Group, James explained by saying he wanted to feel like a part of the team.
Medicine is fast becoming a team sport like basketball. Today’s patients aren’t saved by one superstar, but by an entire team. The doctor no longer gets all the credit for the success. Nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, social workers and others play active roles that help patients succeed.
[Learn to write a successful primary medical school essay.]
If you’re not yet involved in a team activity, choose a team whose mission you can embrace. You want to select a team that behaves with integrity and does the right thing. Even as an undergraduate, you can find teams with missions and behaviors you can support. Avoid teams that do not behave honorably.
For example, in the world of medicine, you would not want to choose the team that simply wants to perform the most surgeries, despite what’s in the best interest of patients.
Once you find your place, go out and have fun with your team. Be inspired, and be inspiring. Being an active member of a team will make you a better doctor and a better person.
As a future medical school applicant, the time to be a team player is now. Your participation in team activities will help you better function in the small group sessions and group projects that are prevalent in most medical school programs and help you build crucial attributes that medical schools are looking for. Here are a few of the skills that teamwork promotes.
1. An ability to share when playing with others: What matters in medicine today is being “all in,” and helping each other to be the best. Physicians don’t work in “The House of God,” in which author Samuel Shem described doctors as cowboys who often didn’t work together in the best interests of the patients. Times have changed since the book was published in the 1970s, and medicine demands teamwork.
When completing their applications, students should be sure to demonstrate how team activities have encouraged a willingness to share. If you played a sport, for example, think about highlighting a time when you thought about the good of your team and the ultimate outcome of the game rather than your individual statistics or performance. This will show medical schools that you have an ability to be humble and won’t have trouble accepting help or the opinions of others.
2. The ability to follow coaching instructions: When you are medical student, you’ll be taking instruction from basic science teachers, practicing physicians and many others. To get you through four years of school, you must learn to listen.
The number one reason I see students fail in medical school is that they think they know better than the teachers and advisers who are trying to help them. Following coaching instruction doesn’t mean you’re not intelligent. On the contrary, it means that you can learn from others.
A medical school interview is a good chance to talk about these coaching experiences. You might consider getting a letter of recommendation from a coach, a team leader or the head of the lab where you work, who can speak to your ability to take direction and follow through with instruction.
[Understand the factors behind medical school admissions.]
3. Good time management skills: When there are multiple things do at once and many responsibilities, how will you manage them? When you have to select between free time and team obligations, which do you prioritize?
If that decision isn’t crystal clear, you won’t be on the team for long. Every team member has to make sacrifices for the team, and this is certainly true in terms of time if not in other ways.
Medical school interviews are good opportunities to talk about time management skills. You can reiterate that you understand that medical school and medicine requires juggling many responsibilities, and that you’ve experienced that choice before in your team. You can also talk about how you are prepared to use your team experience when it comes time to sacrifice personally for the good of the medical team.
4. Having discipline to put in the extra effort: Discipline goes beyond time management. To be disciplined means to devote time to preparation. For example, your band may practice only once or twice a week, but if you are to truly contribute, you will likely practice your own part every day.
Discipline also involves focus — and maybe courage. The team may need something particular from you, and you need to deliver, even if you are a little anxious.
[Take a look at the evolution of medical school education.]
5. Being able to adapt to change and contribute, even during hard times: If you are a member of a committed team for years — and I hope you have that opportunity — you will see change after change. The other players, the coach, the strategy and the competitors may change.
During all of this, you can rely on the team family to weather these transitions and make them easier. You soon begin to look at failures and losses and plan how to cope with them. You will build on your strengths, alter your strategy and move ahead. Developing this ability is excellent preparation for lifelong learning.
More from U.S. News
4 Attributes to Demonstrate on Your Primary Medical School Essay
Address Mistakes, Weaknesses in Medical School Applications
Avoid Common Mistakes on the Medical School Personal Statement
Use Team Activities to Build Medical School Skills originally appeared on usnews.com
