Medicine

med sisters series: Fran, OMS3

Anum16 Comments

The Med Sisters Series is a series of interviews of women in various stages of their careers in medicine: pre-med, medical school, residency, fellowship and attending physicians. As women, I believe we face unique challenges within any field, medicine included. As I’ve moved along on this journey, I truly believe one of the biggest support systems we have is each other. Society works so hard to pit women against each other in every situation you can think of but, as feminists, I think it’s so important to combat that urge to try to ‘beat each other out.’ There’s room for all of us on the other side of the glass ceiling. The goal of this series is to shed light on the challenges women face in the field of medicine and how they achieve a work-life balance that works for them. This blog has always been a place for me to share the realities of this journey, both the highs and lows. I thought of this series as a way to share the perspectives of the other extraordinary women on this journey too.

Franziska is a third year medical student and aspiring obstetrician who lives with her boyfriend and adorable dogs and cat! You can follow her journey and learn about her wonderful sense of style on her blog and Instagram.

Q: Why did you decide to pursue medicine as a career? How do you stay motivated on the difficult days? 
A: I have always really enjoyed science – one of the only presents I can remember from my childhood is a chemistry set. I wasn’t always sure I was going to actually become one, but I eventually found my way back to this path. I pursued medicine because it combined my fascination with science with the ability to actually change someone’s life. I stay motivated by thinking of my future patients, and how I can possibly be the best doctor possible for them. That’s what I would want my doctor to do, so that’s what I want to do too.

Q: How do you balance being in a relationship and medical school?
A: I find that dating another medical student is really wonderful – we completely understand what the other is going through. The first thing when we get home is just talk for a while – it’s a great way to stay connected, and know what’s going on during each other’s days. We also try to go to bed at the same time, which I think is important (though not always possible when one person has to be at the hospital at 5, and the other at 8!)

Q: What has been the most emotionally difficult aspect of your career thus far? How have you coped?
A: Personally, so far it was second semester of second year when we were board studying. Our school did not give us time off to study for boards, so we had to spend every single day of second semester studying. Not having a single evening or day off for six months was hard!

Q: If you could go back and be a premed student again, what would you do differently?
A: I would try to find an anatomy class to take (my school didn’t allow anyone but nursing students to take anatomy), and I would try a little harder in physics (my LEAST favorite class of all time).

Q: What is your favorite part about medical school thus far? 
A: Getting closer to actually being a doctor! I love walking into a room and knowing that I have the skills to get the information I need to help make the right diagnosis. I love when a patient tells me that I made them feel better.

Q: You have such a great sense of style that you share with us on your blog! How do you make time for putting out great content so regularly? 
A: It takes work, and lots of time management! I do most of my blogging on the weekend, and then do the finishing touches on the week nights. I’ve been doing this for so long that it is just a part of my routine now.

Q: Who is a woman in medicine you look up to and why?
A: Laura from A Little Bit of Lacquer – she’s a new doctor, a wife, a mother, and a blogger. I have no idea how she does it.

Q: As a woman in medicine have you faced any discrimination (either blatant or more subtle)? What advice do you have for women who go through similar challenges?
A: I’ve had several male doctors refer to the fact that I’ll be a mother some day, and won’t want to work as many hours because of it. The women’s locker room says both women’s locker room and nurse’s locker room, while the men’s says doctor’s locker room. Honestly, I ignore it. We’ll show them with our actions 😉

Thank you, Fran, for sharing your insight with us! It’s so wonderful to hear from other women in medicine who are truly pursuing their dreams. If you have any suggestions on women in medicine who should be interviewed as a part of this series, please leave a comment!

Past Interviews:

16 thoughts on “med sisters series: Fran, OMS3”

  1. One time I followed my male resident into the men’s locker room accidentally. We were going to change out of scrubs and I didn’t realize that the men’s locker room was connected to the physicians’ lounge whereas the women’s locker room was down the hall.

    Like

    Reply

  3. This is a really big eye opener about women in medicine, especially the last part. I really hope that during our medical education we can change some of the major discriminators that we see in the workplace, even if others don’t.

    Like

    Reply

  4. This is a really big eye opener about women in medicine, especially the last part. I really hope that during our medical education we can change some of the major discriminators that we see in the workplace, even if others don’t.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment