Did any current resident regret after choosing Med-Peds?

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Hi i am a prospective Med peds resident. I am very interested in this combined specialty. I have some great plans later, but worried whether it would be a good decision to opt combined or a single specialty. Some of my friends are scaring a hell out of me. They are suggesting me to choose one program only. If i take both, they say i will be good for neither.

I want to choose this because of the wide-scope of practice that we can enjoy. I am also leaning towards subspecality later on.

1. Can any current residents give their honest opinion on this with pros and cons?
2. Of Med and Peds, which one is more challenging? I am good in Med but worried about my Peds experience.
3. I know it will be challenging for couple of years in the beginning, But all i care about is how confident can we be at the end of 4th year?
4. Can we have the confidence of a categorical pediatrician or internal medicine physician?
5. Are Med-Peds residents well respected during their fellowship interviews? and
6. What their prospects are compared to a categorical resident? of course if we have equal elective experience in our sub-specialty (fellowship) of choice?
7. Can you suggest some good programs in south?

I will sincerely appreciate any honest opinions.

Probably no one will say they regretted it. Not b/c its perfect. Those that had regrets likely switched to a categorical program, so I doubt any check this thread...

I won't address your specific questions as most are value judegments and dependent on the person, IMO. But keep in mind Med-Peds has been around for 40 years. They are everywhere!!! I was not aware of how many Med-Peds trained physicians there actually were until recently. The reason it wasn't obvious was because you can't tell the difference.

Med-Peds is great, but it is not for everyone. If it feels right, go for it, but don't let others that wouldn't choose it talk you out of it.

Originally Posted by happy3

Hi i am a prospective Med peds resident. I am very interested in this combined specialty. I have some great plans later, but worried whether it would be a good decision to opt combined or a single specialty. Some of my friends are scaring a hell out of me. They are suggesting me to choose one program only. If i take both, they say i will be good for neither.

I want to choose this because of the wide-scope of practice that we can enjoy. I am also leaning towards subspecality later on.

1. Can any current residents give their honest opinion on this with pros and cons?
2. Of Med and Peds, which one is more challenging? I am good in Med but worried about my Peds experience.
3. I know it will be challenging for couple of years in the beginning, But all i care about is how confident can we be at the end of 4th year?
4. Can we have the confidence of a categorical pediatrician or internal medicine physician?
5. Are Med-Peds residents well respected during their fellowship interviews? and
6. What their prospects are compared to a categorical resident? of course if we have equal elective experience in our sub-specialty (fellowship) of choice?
7. Can you suggest some good programs in south?

I will sincerely appreciate any honest opinions.

You can be a great internist and pediatrician. As far as fellowship chances, they will likely be just as strong in peds and categorical peds and just as strong as some of the less competitive adult fellowships...If you plan on doing adult cards or GI later, it will be tougher, but people do get taken, especially at hospitals with med-peds programs who are familiar with the strength/equality of mp residents.

I'm a second year Med-Peds resident, and I love doing what I do -- I have absolutely no regrets about choosing med-peds, and I think if I went into one of the categorical programs I would really have missed the other part (whether medicine or peds). I think switching every 3 months really provides a lot of variety and keeps you from getting burnt out. I also really enjoy our med-peds clinic, where we see all age ranges, often taking care of a whole family, including grandparents, parents, and kids.

When I was a medical student, I was also often told by others that I have to choose one or the other, and even if I do end up going into med-peds, I'll still have to decide which way to concentrate sooner or later, but that is really not the case. There are plenty of Med-Peds physicians around who work with both adults and kids, both as primary care doctors, hospitalists, and specialists, who are very good at what they do, and who love their job.

In my hospital now and at my med school earlier, the med-peds residents are always considered among the best residents, both on the medicine side and on the peds side (often better than categoricals), respected by both other residents and attendings. Partially, it's because we naturally have to know more information to be able to do both medicine and pediatrics, and we can very often apply the knowledge from one field in the other field.

The downsides, I'd say, is that for one thing, you have a lot less elective time, but it's still enough to choose a specialty, I believe. It is also a little harder to be a senior at first, since you don't feel you know as much as the categorical seniors initially (having only had 6 months as an intern in each field). But if you're prepared for that, you can still do it, and become a better resident from the experience. Plus, if you're worried about that, some programs have a longer internship. And by 4th year, from what I've seen, you will probably end up more confident in what you do in both disciplines than some categorical 3rd years. All the 4th years I've seen so far, are perfectly at home functioning as both a fully competent pediatrician and internist.

As far as fellowships, I can't really say, since I haven't applied for any yet myself -- but in our program, we've had people go to combined ID, combined pulm, and combined hem/onc, and combined rheumamong others. In some cases, you can also specialize in adults, for example, and then just see kids in that specialty as well, since you're also a board-certified pediatrician.

As far as which is more challenging, it's hard to say -- perhaps Medicine is a little more challenging just because the patients tend to be sicker, but peds has a lot more variety in terms of patients needing different care based on their age. I think overall it's close to equal, especially if you count the NICU and PICU on the peds side.

Can't really say much about programs in the south-- I'm from the Northeast, so I mostly interviewed there.

Hope this helps!

Originally Posted by AlexTent

I'm a second year Med-Peds resident, and I love doing what I do -- I have absolutely no regrets about choosing med-peds, and I think if I went into one of the categorical programs I would really have missed the other part (whether medicine or peds). I think switching every 3 months really provides a lot of variety and keeps you from getting burnt out. I also really enjoy our med-peds clinic, where we see all age ranges, often taking care of a whole family, including grandparents, parents, and kids.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for your wonderful reply and a great insight from your perspective. I have the same feeling too, but some time you get carried away by what your peers suggest. I hope its time to introspect and do what i feel best. I am very thankful to this form for providing us a platform to discuss about these issues.