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Ranjana Srivastava, MBBS(Hon)
Victoria, Australia
dranu@hotmail.com

JAMA. 2004;292:543-544.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

I fidget with a single sheet of paper yet warm from the printer. Surveying the list of optional research projects I could participate in during this, my first year of specialist training, none catches my immediate attention. There are charts that need to be reviewed, retrospective data that need excavating from the bowels of the medical records department, and budding ideas in the heads of others that need nurturing. But I am still looking for something that will hold my research interest. Colleagues who pursued a higher degree more out of obligation than interest have cautioned me, and I am keen to avoid their mistake.

"Do you know where your interests lie?"

Not yet, I guiltily admit. I am still finding my feet. I relish clinical medicine but am yet to define a research interest, if at all. Finely disseminated disapproval stares back at me. Opportunities abound . . . [Full Text of this Article]