By Laila Payvandi (‘06 MD)

Dr. Payvandi is a first-year resident at Northwestern University McGaw Medical Center in Chicago. She shares her memories of Match Day 2006 and her first day as a resident.

Portrait of Dr. Payvandi

Match Day 2006 began as a beautiful spring day in Iowa City. I was in the middle of a two-week orthopaedic clerkship and I awoke in full of anticipation for the events of the day. I walked to the hospital for a 7 a.m. student conference. The other students also were in their fourth year and our attending lecturer, Joseph A. Buckwalter IV (’69 BA, ’72 MS, ’74 MD, ‘79 R) immediately sensed our anxiety. The discussion quickly shifted from orthopaedics to the match process.

For almost an hour, we shared stories about the previous months—applications, essays, interviews, rank lists, second looks, and of course, the mounting expenses. In a few short hours, we would learn the next destination for our professional journeys. By coming together that morning, it was a timely way of reflecting on our hard work, our choices, and the difficult personal decisions that had been part of the ranking process. Dr. Buckwalter shared his perspective of the administrative side of the match, with anecdotal stories and comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the process itself. Looking back, it was a very special discussion we shared that morning.

For me, selecting a residency program was as much about professional goals as personal responsibilities. Proximity to family weighed very heavily on the way I constructed my rank list. I knew that my success as a resident would depend on my satisfaction and happiness outside the hospital, so I focused on programs in cities where I had a network of friends and family.

After the morning’s conference, I returned home where my closest friends were gathered. We rode to campus together. Tension and excitement flowed through MERF atrium like an electrical current—the anticipation was palpable as students, faculty and families arrived. My family came like a traveling caravan, my parents, brothers, grandmother and aunts. Despite my best efforts to explain the match process, they were already under the impression I was accepted at Northwestern University. Several times I explained that while I did rank Northwestern’s program number one, there was no guarantee that I would receive my first choice. From my family’s perspective, my residency had to be in Chicago—St. Louis, Denver, San Francisco, and Los Angeles were not part of their vision.

It’s difficult to describe my emotions that day. As I stood surrounded by friends, family and mentors, I reflected on the past eight years of academic training. Each premedical or medical course, exam or research project, represented small steps that propelled me toward this experience. I felt a true sense of accomplishment that was more meaningful than any other event in my life. Starting my residency began a new chapter of learning with an opportunity to convert textbook knowledge into practical, clinical knowledge.

The envelopes were distributed. I opened mine and shrieked with relief when I realized that I had in fact matched at Northwestern for internal medicine. Four other classmates also matched there, and several others received positions at the University of Illinois, Chicago and Rush University Medical Center. It was thrilling to know that Iowa would be well represented in Chicago.

I still remember my first day as a resident vividly. I was on call on general medicine service. My first admission arrived shortly after 7 a.m. and my only thought for the next 20 hours was: what was I thinking? Is it too late to withdraw my contract? How do I work this paging system? Why won’t they stop paging me about the potassium of 3.4? How did the gentleman in 1022 get out of his restraints and call the police?

My first day came and went and each day I felt more in control. In the end, it was a challenging transition from student to intern but our group from Iowa provided tremendous support for one another. We have regular ‘Hawkeye dinners’ where we share stories and frustrations about call schedules, difficult patients and the many social work responsibilities that frequently befall interns. I hope we continue our close friendships and, in so doing, watch one another evolve into the physicians we have always wanted to become and were trained to be.