A career in medicine will not only provide you with a highly rewarding job which will see you help in the treatment and life saving actions for patients, it will also give you a stable and well paid career for life. Those who are looking to work in medicine either as a nurse, a surgeon or a doctor like Jonathan Lauter MD, one of the finest medical professionals in New York, must have a core set of skills in order to successfully have a career in this field.

I often speak to people on Facebook and Twitter who are looking for a career in medicine but don’t want to put the work in so I must tell them that they are fooling themselves with their ambitions. In fact just last week I had a girl email me to ask about the skills needed to work in this field. I told her that the good news is that the skills required are often easy to possess but they do require some hard work along the way. Let’s take a look then at what skills you’ll need to be a medical professional.

Hard Work Ethic

At the very root of anyone who works within medicine is a great work ethic and without this you will not even be able to gain a career in medicine, let alone survive once you get there. The hard work starts at high school level and doesn’t end throughout your career.

Communications Skills

Whether a paramedic, a doctor or a nurse, communication is vital to work in this field and you must be able to communicate with clarity and confidence. It is not just the communication between colleagues that you will need to excel in, but also with patients and their families.

Empathy

Whilst you cannot afford to let your emotions get in the way when you are treating a patient as this will affect your ability to do the job, you must have a strong level of empathy for the people who you are dealing with. Patients and their families can often be scared and confused when in hospital and you are responsible to help them feel better.

Perfectionist

As a medical professional you must always strive for the very best outcome for your patients and ensure that you are paying attention to every minute detail in order to achieve it. Whether changing a dressing, administering CPR or removing an appendix, you must ensure that you are always looking for perfection.

Team Working

No patient is treated by any individual and so you must ensure that you can play your party within a team dynamic to ensure that you are giving the best possible care for your patient. This means putting egos to one side and working in sync with the medical team around you.

Medical professionals play a vital role within our society and it makes for a fantastic career choice.