Over the past year, I’ve had more conversations with medical students, residents, and early-career clinicians than I have in a long time. These are bright, motivated people who entered healthcare with conviction. And yet many of them are already questioning whether they can make a life inside a system that feels heavier and more obstructed with every passing year.

What weighs on me is how familiar their discouragement sounds. The challenges today are amplified. Under-staffing that borders on dangerous. Financial and administrative pressures that swallow time and energy. Technology that evolves faster than hospitals can keep up. A culture that often celebrates endurance more than support.

For someone just starting out, those roadblocks seem impossible.

And what makes it harder is the loneliness that comes with feeling like you’re expected to figure it all out on your own.

This is where those of us who have been in healthcare longer carry a responsibility. Not to pretend the system is fine. Not to romanticize the past. To be present in a way that helps the next generation understand two things at once: the reality of the challenges, and the hope that still makes this work worth doing.

I have witnessed what one sincere conversation can do.

When a respected colleague looks a younger clinician in the eye and says: “I know what you’re going through. You’re not alone. Keep going.” That moment can be enough to keep someone anchored to their calling, even when the system feels unfair or overwhelming. It’s not about providing all the answers. It’s about offering the kind of encouragement that restores perspective.

Healthcare absolutely needs structural change.

And while we push for that change, we can’t overlook the human work that sustains our workforce: mentorship, solidarity, and genuine connection across generations.

If you are a healthcare veteran or leader, I hope you’ll reach out to someone younger this week. Check in. Share a story. Listen to theirs. Support them not because you have to, but because this profession depends on people who believe in one another.

Future generations of clinicians are already carrying more than they should.