What is your career chief complaint?

When you go to see a doctor, the first thing she will do is take a history. The history taking model is:

1. Chief complaint: Why are you here now? What are your symptoms or concerns?
2. History of present illness: Tell me more. When did it start? How has it progressed? What have you done to try to make it go away?
3. Past medical history: What other problems do you have? Have you had surgery? What medicines are you taking?
4. Family history, social history
5. Review of other systems: kidneys, heart, lung, etc?

If you are seeking career advice from an advisor, mentor, or consultant, you should ask yourself the same questions, spend reflective time answering them and be prepared to articulate what is your specific problem you want "treated"?

Typical sick care professional career chief complaints are:

1. I want to make more money doing what I'm doing
2. I want to or have to find another job or career
3. I feel burned out, anxious or depressed
4. I don't feel appreciated
5. I need to improve my competencies and change my mindset
6. I have an idea, but I don't know what to do next
7. I don't feel like I'm making a difference
8. I'm just a cog in the system working for The Man
9. I need an exit ramp but don't know where to find it
10. I'm looking for a side gig as an advisor, consultant, or management team of a startup, scaleup or grown-up company
11. I need money. Where do I find investors?
12. I need people. Where do I find leadership and management talent to join my team?
13. I'm an undergraduate student. How do I get into medical school or other professional school?
14. How do I win my pitch or idea competition?
15. I don't have a personal brand. How do I create one?

Before you go to see the "advice doctors", you should:

1. Define your chief complaint
2. Do online secondary research about your problem and treatment options
3. Do primary research by talking to others and peers who have the same problem

4. Identify various treatment options for your preference sensitive conditions.

A preference-sensitive condition is a medical condition for which the clinical evidence does not clearly support one treatment option, and the appropriate course of treatment depends on the values or preferences of the beneficiary regarding the benefits, harms, and scientific evidence for each treatment option.?Treatment options can sometimes range from taking prescription medication to having surgery to, in some instances, a “watch and wait” approach.?Preference-sensitive care comprises treatment for medical conditions where options exist which may have clinical and cost tradeoffs.?Preference Sensitive Surgeries (PSS) are procedures aimed at treating health conditions for which there are two or more valid treatment alternatives and the choice of treatments involves tradeoffs that should be based on patients’ preference.

5. Be sure to comply with the treatment recommendations by creating a personal and professional development plan. Start trying inexpensive and low risk treatment options.

Don't expect to have to do this once.

Much like unnecessary medical visits, career visits are a waste of your time and the advisor's time if you don't come prepared for your visit.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs on Substack and President and Editor of Digital Health Entrepreneurship