Transition to Life—A Sendoff to the Real World for Graduating Medical Students

Abstract

Graduating medical students will enter the workforce, often for the first time. Many have spent the past 20 years as students, receiving financial support from parents, and have not managed real-life issues such as financial planning, real estate, balancing well-being with employment, and integrating into a new community with stressful working conditions. To address a perceived need, we designed an intervention to introduce graduating medical students to financial planning, real estate choices, physician wellness during relocation/internship, and traits of efficient interns. The objectives of this study are to (a) assess baseline experience, knowledge, and comfort of seniors about “real-life” experiences, and (b) assess the efficacy of a 4-hr educational intervention on perceptions of understanding financial planning, real estate choices, intern preparedness, and physician wellness. Acute Care College seniors (classes of 2009 and 2010) attended the intervention after match day and completed a survey to gather demographic data and assess preexisting knowledge and a postintervention survey (1–7 Likert scale). Forty-nine students (45% male; M age = 25.5 years) participated. Prior experiences: 43% no break in education, 51% no full-time job, 38% never signed a rental lease and 94% had not purchased real estate, 90% did not have (or were not aware of having) disability insurance, and 82% had educational debt exceeding $50,000. Following the workshop, students felt more confident in their understanding of life skills topics (real estate, 83%; financial planning, 94%; well-being, 86%). Our workshop assisted in preparing for life after medical school for 98% of the participants. Graduating medical students can gain knowledge about real-life responsibilities and confidence during an educational session prior to starting residency.

Acknowledgments

We thank Gabriel R. Ramos, who provided administrative assistance in conducting the study. We also thank the speakers who participated in the seminar: Robert Kaplan, C.F.P., Richard Kissel, B.A., Rachelle Sohren, M.D., and Margaret Stuber, M.D.