Setting Habits and Achieving Goals with Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal

Gurpreet Dhaliwal MD is a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and site director of the internal medicine clerkship at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. Dr Dhaliwal completed his medical school from Northwestern University and residency in internal medicine from University of California, San Francisco, where he stayed on as chief resident. He is best known as a medical educator with a specific emphasis on diagnostic reasoning and clinical problem solving and has been lauded by The New York Times as “one of the most skillful clinical diagnosticians in practice today.” From being nominated for a medical student teaching award while still a resident, Dr. Dhaliwal has received multiple Excellence in Teaching awards including the Osler Distinguished Teacher Award at UCSF and has been inducted into the UCSF Department of Medicine Council of Master Clinicians. Think a goal is impossible to achieve? Think again. Today, Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal shares a powerful technique that he uses to achieve his goals: set regular habits. Determined to achieve his goal of becoming an expert diagnostician, Dr. Dhaliwal set a habit of reading the New England Journal of Medicine’s Clinicopathological Conferences series as a medical student. Now, more than 20 years later, he shares not having missed reading a single weekly case report and the marked impact this has had on moving him closer to his goal. Join us as Dr. Dhaliwal explains how to incorporate regular habits into our routine to achieve our goals and realize our maximum potential. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. The key to achieving seemingly “impossible” goals is setting daily habits. 2. To go from experience to expertise, be deliberate about continuing to challenge and push yourself. 3. Practice the framework of relationship-task-relationship with the patient. It not only improves the relationship with the patient, but acts as a memory hook for recall at a later timer. 4. Students really stand out when they show enthusiasm for the 'extra' work in medicine. Click here to listen to Dr. Dhaliwal's inspiring Commencement Address to the 2014 UCSF School of Medicine graduating class.