First in the series
Five Mindset Lessons for Beginning Interventional Radiology
You have earned your MD in Radiology. You have studied for years, cleared difficult examinations and worked hard to reach this point. Then you begin interventional radiology, and suddenly you can feel like a beginner all over again.
You may know what you are looking at on the screen and still need someone beside you to guide the next step. You may spend a day observing and go home wondering, “What did I actually contribute today?”
That gap between being qualified and becoming confident in a new subspecialty can be uncomfortable. It deserves a conversation.
For this first REWIRE with Dr Deepa blog for budding interventional radiologists, I want to share five attitudes to bring into training. These are lessons I value deeply, including what I took from learning under different trainers in the UK.
1 Give yourself permission to be a beginner again
Imagine an accomplished pianist picking up a violin for the first time. They understand music. They can read a score. But they still need someone to teach them how to hold the bow.
Their musical knowledge remains valuable. Learning a new instrument simply asks something different of them.
Beginning interventional radiology can feel like that. Your MD is an achievement and a foundation. You can be proud of it while accepting that a subspecialty requires fresh instruction, close supervision and plenty of practice.
The difficult part is sometimes the thought, “At this stage, I should already know this.” That thought can stop us from asking the very question we need to ask. This is where we have to set our ego aside.
Give yourself permission to say, “I haven’t learnt this yet. Please show me.” You can accept correction and still expect to be treated with respect. Humility should leave your dignity intact.
2 Arrive ready to learn and willing to unlearn
Think about cooking from scratch. You can choose the ingredients and follow the method from the beginning. With a dish that has already been partly prepared in a different way, you first have to understand what has gone into it and what can still be changed.
That is the useful part of the “raw versus half-cooked” analogy in training. A habit we defend automatically can be harder to teach around than a skill we openly admit we have yet to learn.
Previous experience is valuable. What makes learning difficult is becoming so attached to one approach that we cannot consider another.
When a trainer shows you a different method, stay curious. Ask why they prefer it, when they use it and what they are paying attention to.
Bring your knowledge with you, and hold it with enough flexibility to let it grow. “This is how I was taught” can be the beginning of a useful discussion.
3 Learn from several trainers and understand their reasoning
Think of a Formula One team. The driver’s performance draws on people with different strengths, including engineers, mechanics and coaches. Each contributes something the others cannot provide alone.
I see a similar value in learning from several trainers.
One may explain planning exceptionally well. Another may help you notice a detail you had overlooked. Someone else may show you how to stay composed when a procedure becomes difficult.
During my training in the UK, I had the opportunity to learn from several world-class trainers. I am proud of how I have incorporated the best of what they taught me into my practice, and grateful to the people who shared their experience with me.
That is the kind of “cocktail” I would encourage you to build. Understand why an approach works and when it is appropriate before making it part of your own practice.
If your programme allows it, seek opportunities to work with more than one trainer. Over time, those different lessons help you develop your own considered way of working.
4 Protect your confidence when something goes wrong
Early in training, you may begin to feel more capable, then struggle with a step you thought you understood. A trainer may need to take over. Feedback may sting, or your effort may seem to go unnoticed.
It is easy to move from “I need to improve this” to “Perhaps I am not good enough.”
Think of a cricketer after a poor innings. The score tells you what happened that day. It cannot tell you everything about the player.
A mistake deserves honest attention. Discuss it with your supervisor, understand what needs to change and work on it under appropriate supervision. Your confidence needs to be able to accommodate that process.
Try to describe the difficulty precisely: “I need more guidance with this step.” That gives you something to work on. Calling yourself useless gives you nowhere to go.
You can take responsibility for your learning without turning every difficult day into a judgement on your worth.
5 Give your roots time to grow
A seed can spend time beneath the soil before anything appears above the surface. Roots are developing while someone looking only at the ground might think nothing is happening.
Some parts of training feel like that.
You are learning what to notice, which questions to ask and when to seek help. The progress may be hard to see while you are in the middle of it.
Keep preparing for cases. Pay attention while observing. Return to the feedback you were given and work on applying it. Ask your trainers where you are improving and what your next learning goal should be.
You may feel that nobody is watching. A trainer may already be noticing your preparation, reliability and response to feedback. Recognition can take longer than you hope, so make time for those conversations too.
Keep at it. Give the learning process time, and look for the small signs that something once unfamiliar is becoming clearer.
If you are beginning interventional radiology and feel unsettled, I hope you will give yourself a little room to learn.
You have worked hard to get here. Now allow yourself to ask questions, learn from different people and grow into the responsibility you want to carry.
Be patient with the beginner in you. That is where the interventional radiologist you are becoming has to start.