What It’s Really Like — 3 Days with a Family Doctor

For the first time last summer, an innovative program offered MSU-CHM students an “immersion experience” into the life of a practicing family physician. Three Days with a Family Doctor matched current second year students with a host who invited that student into the fullness of their lives—not only in the clinic, but to share meals, social activities, and family life. The students even slept at the host’s home. For three days, the student went where the host went, did what the host did, and came away with a much clearer perspective on the life of a family physician.

Andrea Wendling, MD, and her husband Mike Harmeling, MD, hosted CHM student Julia Chen last August at their home in Charlevoix and their clinic in Boyne City. The couple works together as family physicians.

Drs. Wendling and Harmeling had moved to Northern Michigan from Grand Rapids in fall of 2003. Prior to moving, she had been a faculty member at the Grand Rapids Family Practice Residency Program. Although Dr. Wendling loves her small town, she misses teaching and being with students. She reports, “When an opportunity arose to work with a student for even a short time, I volunteered.”

Dr. Wendling notes, “It was an interesting opportunity as Julia lived in our home and shadowed our lives for three days (rather than just our practice). We have four small children, who ranged in age from 10 months to 5 years old. During the three days she was here we hosted a going-away party for a partner, and we watched Mike set up to perform with his band downtown. Overall, it was quite a chaotic 72 hours, but we did manage to squeeze a nice dinner in. It was a realistic snapshot of our life.

“During a normal rotation, you can teach the medicine and try to help students understand the patient relationships (although they miss the community interaction which is a big part in a small town). The immersion experience, albeit brief and somewhat chaotic, allowed us to show Julia our whole picture. That is really what we love about being small town family doctors.

When Julia Chen heard about Three Days with a Family Doctor, she saw an opportunity to learn more about day-to-day family practice; and to consider whether it would make sense for her. She says, “I have an ongoing concern about how to balance work and family, so being able to select a couple who were both family physicians and had their own family was a huge incentive.”

In three days, she felt that she had learned a great deal about family medicine, and about its appeal to her as a career choice. She reports, “One of the physicians I shadowed told me that in family medicine you must learn a little about everything vs. learning everything about one subject. Different people are suited to different approaches — for some, not knowing everything about a particular subject would be difficult; while for others not knowing about the patient as a whole person would be more challenging. This helped me better understand whether family medicine would be a good choice for me.”

Chen summarizes, “I am now confident that I will enter family medicine. I think any student with even a remote interest in family medicine should participate in this program. It is a way to gain insight into both the field of family medicine and lives of physicians outside of their practice. Staying with physicians overnight is a unique opportunity that students otherwise will miss out on, unless their parents or relatives are physicians.”

Toby Long spent three days with Dan Hardie, MD, of Marquette. Long also has become an advocate for the experience, saying, “My time with Dr. Hardie and his family far exceeded my expectations. I anticipated three busy days of family doctor business. Instead, I experienced three days with a family doc who is also a family man and caretaker for many in his hometown.”

Long felt warmly welcomed by his host family. Everyone expressed a great deal of warmth and hospitality and did much to include him in their daily routines and activities. In addition to the hours spent shadowing Dr. Hardie, he toured the town with the Hardie family and spent the little free time available sharing meals and late night chats with Dr. Hardie’s wife and children. Long notes, “For me, this time of talking and touring the town was an important part of the program as it allowed me to get a tiny look into what family life is like for a small town family doc. I had the chance to hear about family traditions and family vacations and was able to gain an ‘inside’ perspective on how the family copes with Dr. Hardie’s intense work schedule. Furthermore, I was able to witness how Dr. Hardie juggles the demands of his professional and personal life.”

The fast paced life appealed to Long, “My own experience began an hour after my arrival with a late night trip to the ER that lasted until 2 a.m. The pace hardly slowed as we awoke five hours later (7am) to head back to the hospital to see two patients before his first clinic appointment at 8:30 a.m. The day raced by and before I knew it, we were heading back to his home at 6 p.m. having had one ten-minute lunch break that involved grabbing a bagel and a handful of peanut M&M’s.”

He reflects, “I came to med school fairly certain that family medicine was for me. My time with Dr. Hardie only reinforced this inclination. My interest in the relational aspect of human medicine along with my desire to work with people at all points along the age spectrum – babies, children, adolescents, adults and beyond – make family medicine a very enticing specialty.”

Steve Pollens, MD, is on the faculty of the Family Medicine Residency at Michigan State University/Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies, and is Medical Director of the Bronson Center for Integrative Medicine. He hosted EmmaLeigh Smith last July in Kalamazoo. Dr. Pollens reports that hosting was a “fun, easy thing to do” and he has been encouraging colleagues to offer their services as a host. He notes that it could be a great way to recruit medical students into the residency program. Host physicians receive a $100 stipend to defray the costs of associated with having a house guest.

This summer there are again opportunities for Michigan State University medical students to participate in Three Days with a Family Doctor. For either students or hosts to apply, contact Kay Backus, Educational Program Coordinator, MSU Department of Family Practice, B106 Clinical Center, MSU Campus, (517) 353-3544 ext 454, backus@msu.edu. For questions about the program, call Jodi Holtrop, PhD, Residency Network Director, MSU Department of Family Practice, B107 Clinical Center, MSU Campus, (517) 353-3544 ext 432, jodi.holtrop@hc.msu.edu.