In 1996, I signed up for the Navy to pay for medical school, thinking I would have a four-year commitment. Instead, I will end up staying on active duty for 22 years. The events of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent Global War on Terror had a significant impact on my decision to stay in the Navy. My career has provided an opportunity to practice neurosurgery around the world, but the time has come for me to retire from the military. That’s the interesting thing about military retirements — while I am a senior military physician, I’m only in mid-career regarding my neurosurgery career. I still want and need, to have a job.
Fortunately, I have already solidified my next position. The people, the hospital and the location all seem great. But it’s still an unknown for me. Rolling through the gate to a crisp salute from an often much younger gate sentry has been a constant reminder of the patients I have served across my career in the Navy. I am soon going to go from walking around the hospital grounds and being greeted with a “Good morning, sir!” to being just another new person in a place that is unfamiliar. Now, I am sure that with time and a little charm on my part, I’ll find my footing. But it will be a transition for sure.
As I move closer to my military retirement date, I can’t help but feel a sense that I am losing something that has been a part of me for the better part of my adult life. I am losing part of my identity by no longer being associated with the military. It just so happens that my colleague Chris McMains, MD, does research on Professional Identity Formation. As part of his doctoral thesis work, I had a chance to talk about him about Professional Identity Formation and how it relates to my military career and retirement. He said that interest in Professional Identity Formation took off after the publication of Educating Physicians: A Call for Reform of Medical School and Residency, by the Carnegie Foundation. (Cooke M, 2010) Jarvis-Selinger defines Professional Identity Formation as “An adaptive developmental process that happens simultaneously at two levels: (1) at the level of the individual, which involves the psychological development of the person and (2) at the collective level, which involves the socialization of the person into appropriate roles and forms of participation in the community’s work.” (Jarvis-Selinger S, 2012).
It is worth noting that people can feel that they belong to multiple identities simultaneously. For example, someone might identify as a clinician, educator, researcher and leader. The relationship among these identities can vary — sometimes hierarchical (one identity taking precedence over others), sometimes competing with one another, sometimes mutually-reinforcing. Often, people come to identify with a group or activity through participating in the work of a community, over time taking on greater responsibility. In this way, I realize one day that Military Officer and Neurosurgeon have become part of my self-definition. Or said differently, part of my identity.
The concept of professional identity is not just about being in the military, but can be associated with any long standing relationship with a place or role. I am sure that many of the readers can relate to life events that have led to their professional identities being challenged. The long standing faculty member who has been at one institution for decades now moves to a new intuition. Or even the identity crisis that can occur when a neurosurgeon decides to stop operating. These changes in our life make us pause and question what defines us professionally. I can’t help to think that for many of us, our professional identity also spills over into our personal identity. Which one is more predominant for me?
My colleague Jeff Tomlin, MD, FAANS, has reminded me that the Navy has always seemed to deliver new adventures for personal and professional growth. Sometimes these were masked under the camouflage of ‘a great opportunity,’ but the diversity of his assignments have been quite broad. As he has been on Active Duty since graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1989, initially in nuclear submarines, the variety of his experiences has augmented the lessons imparted to many others, including me.
Dr. Tomlin changed “depth” in 1995, attending medical school at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and completed residency training at the University of Rochester in 2006. His adventure-filled life as a neurosurgeon would see him sent to every hospital where the Navy had neurosurgical capabilities. Along the way, he developed the relationships which have made military medicine assignments so fulfilling. As I have learned from Jeff, I will bring to my next ‘duty station’ the breadth of leadership, geographical adaptation and broad relationship accumulation to fuel the roles awaiting me.
As I look forward to my next chapter in life, I will always appreciate what my military career has provided me and look forward to the challenges that come with re-defining my professional identity. A little change in identity can be a good thing.
