Rubina Ahad

I definitely have to say my parents always encouraged me to do my best and aim high. They wanted me to set amazing goals for myself, so I really have to say a lot of family values played a huge role. They were very supportive but also pushed me to excel. If I got a 99, they would ask why I didn't get 100. I think what they aspired for me, where they wanted me to aim high and do what I was good at, really shaped my success.

The best advice I've received, and I give the same advice too, is to do what you love. It's really important because I remember when I went into the medical field, I asked myself what could I do that would make me feel good about what I do, where could I be happy. In medical school during third year rotations, you go through different subspecialties like OB, dermatology, and all these different things. I just thought pediatrics was the most rewarding, the most fun, and the most exciting. It's the most interactive with young parents and families. I tell my kids the same thing - you have to do what you like, because your mom, dad, husband, wife, sister, brother, no one's gonna go with you to work. You're gonna be going yourself, and you have to enjoy what you're doing. The joy you get from doing something you like is so different than feeling like you're going and doing something you don't like. Even when it comes to hobbies, we all like to do things we like, whether it's travel or trying new recipes or whatever. You have to kind of enjoy that. If that's not something you enjoy, then it becomes a chore.

I would tell them that it's really, really important to shadow and spend some time to see what that career path entails. We hear about all these different careers and we idealize what they're gonna be, but it's important to get a real taste of what it's like. For example, the medical profession often requires working Saturdays, and there are just different things that other career paths don't have. Even within medicine, if you want to go into OB, it's so different delivering babies and the schedule that obstetricians have versus what a pediatrician has. You need to understand what the responsibilities are and what it takes, because not everybody is comfortable with doing everything. When you shadow, you really get a taste of what it's like to be in a workday with somebody and understand what their responsibilities are and what the day looks like, and if you feel that's something you do want to do for the rest of your life. I know of kids that were like, oh, I definitely want to do this all along, and when they shadowed somebody or found out about exactly what it entails, they realized they couldn't do it. And that's okay, it's just not their thing. The last thing you want is to find out much later when you've put in all the hard work and gone through a lot of years of your life. People have career changes all the time, but you're putting in some of the best years of your life for something you want to do, so you want to spend it in the right direction.

One of the biggest challenges is patient volume at some places. You always want to give your best self, and when there's a lot of patients, you don't want to be tired. When I've looked for positions, I always talk about patient volume - 25, 26 patients is when I can give my best self to them and I think I'm being fair. I think patient volume is always something they're trying to increase. Another challenge is the way healthcare is changing. Sometimes I feel like it loses its personal touch - you don't want it to be like a business, you really want it to be a relationship with your patients. But sometimes it feels like that, even when I go in for myself, they're like your time's up. I think it's become harder for practices to survive and sustain themselves the way the world is now. Costs are increasing, and reimbursements may not be as much as they used to be. The healthcare industry is changing and it feels very challenging to be in healthcare still. There are also a lot of different kinds of providers now - PAs and nurse practitioners - and the industry has really changed. Sometimes the role for doctors is no longer just seeing your own patients and taking care of them, it's like supervising other people. I wasn't really trained to supervise every single person while also doing my own work and managing patients. As for opportunities, after COVID there's a lot of telehealth, which is interesting and has changed how some jobs work. There are also supervising roles where you manage your own patients as well as being a supervising physician. There are opportunities at medical schools to teach, give lectures, and be part of curriculum. Some people write for medical journals. There are different avenues you can take in healthcare.

I think that work-life balance is really important. You need to be able to take care of yourself, and once you're able to take care of yourself, you're able to do a lot for everybody else, like your families. That's a really key value I've always lived by - having a good work-life balance. Everybody's definition of that is a little different, but I feel that the work part, that mental stimulation, is very important. It really gives you a sense of purpose and belonging. However, in medicine I see a lot of people, like my colleagues, who just tend to work a lot. That's great if they can manage that and if that's what makes them happy, but I sometimes think that when there's a balance, there's a lot more benefit. They talk about physician burnout so much because it's a real thing. You have to take care of yourself to be able to take care of other people. When you have a better work-life balance, you're always bringing your best self in and you're happier to be there. I've seen jobs where they ask you to work so much and people are just not putting their best in it. When you have some more breaks or work a 4-day work week, you just put your best foot forward that way. I feel like we get the best part of you when there's more of a balance.