Dr.Moms, please share residency experience. MS4 trying to decide fields.

[Ive]

I'm in the process of trying to decide which residency to apply. IM? Fam? My dream is to become an Endocrinologist but I'm afraid I'll burn out since I want to start a family during that time of residency-fellowship.

Moms in residency, how's residency and starting a family been like? Any advice? Would you change anything about your decision? I'm afraid I'll make the wrong choice since I don't have any experience as a mom or a resident, so I'm asking for personal experiences to help guide my decision better.

Please help with any advice and your experience as an IM mom in residency.

Thank you for taking the time to read!

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[bashwell]

In my limited experience, IM and FM residencies hours-wise don't seem all that different to me. IM at a non-sweatshop place is I'd estimate 60-65 hrs on "average" -- although the "average" is in scare quotes because some months will be far more busy while others far less so, as such it's not totally reliable to speak of "averages". For example outpatient months will be below the "average", while ICU will be well above the "average". I might be mistaken, but FM can also work 60 hrs on "average" I believe (see FREIDA to confirm or maybe better yet ask around).

Burnout is less about the hours (not that the hours aren't a factor) and more about the nature of the work and if your personality is suited to the work.

If endo is your dream, and you're choosing between FM and IM, then I'd say IM.

However, the argument for FM rather than IM is FM still can deal with a lot of endo issues especially diabetes and it's a much shorter route to get there.

But again if you won't be satisfied unless you're a subspecialist focusing only or mainly on endo, and not see everything FM sees, then IM for endo.

 

[Ive]

thank you so much for your reply! I would definitely be satisfied dealing with edno cases as an FM, so that is a great point!

As of workload, so far I can and have handled heave loads fine. However, I'm nervous about how it would be like when I'm in residency while being pregnant then having and raising a child. I know this is quite personal but I don't have experience in that so I'm not sure how it would change my energy level as a resident and what I should be expecting. If it's too much to better go for FM than IM. (what i'm thinking and trying to decide on).

thanks again though!

 

[bashwell]

Sorry, I wish I could better help you, Ive, but I'm unfortunately a guy, not a woman. But maybe you can ask someplace like mothersinmedicine.com? They might know better.

 

[Ive]

oh you're a guy, yeah that might be a problem. haha. It's fine. I still really appreciate your advice. I'll definitely check out the website!! A great start. thank you.

 

[bashwell]

Another thing to consider maybe is I think they both make about the same money, though I suspect the ceiling is a bit higher with endo, and both can have relatively good lifestyles, depending on a few variables. But endo takes longer than FM so there's opportunity cost to consider. However with endo you can do some primary care if you want to focus on endo with little or no primary care, whereas with FM it's all primary care. That said with FM if things get too difficult or dicey or whatever you can just refer to a specialist as well. Both have their pros and cons, and both are pretty flexible for people who want to prioritize family or life outside medicine it seems to me. But with FM you can probably can get a job in almost any market and you can probably better negotiate what sort of job you'll do or not do while I'm not sure that's the case with endo, and probably not to the extent it is with FM, though I could be wrong.

 

[Ive]

Thank you so much again bashwell!! I really appreciate the help and direction you've provided these past couple of days! It's been so helpful. I'll definitely take into consideration what you said and will be looking into it further.

 

[mommy2three]

I had a family prior to medical school and my kids are bigger. But the last year I have barely gotten to see them, even if we lived in the same city my schedule is so crazy that I come home eat dinner and study then catch up on miscellaneous things before hitting the hay. During first year you will probably work at least one out of the two weekend days and golden weekends are at a premium unless you are on an outpatient based rotation.
I am not saying this to be discouraging, I have seen people have babies in residency. But you need full support of your other half and additional help from family of possible
And you need to be okay with missing a lot of firsts (which you will ) - trust me that is not as easy as it sounds

 

[seap3]

I think it varies greatly by individual residency program. Like mommy2three above, I also already had kids and they are older, but my program seems to have a much easier schedule than hers. I'm a PGY-1 in Family Med. I still see my kids. Our schedule is split between on-service and off-service months. During off service months, you usually work 8-5, with maybe an occasional 1/2 weekend day on some rotations (but not all). During on-service months, it's either 7-7 or 7-5 6 days a week. We also only have to cover 1 holiday a year. It's really very manageable with a family. I think 2nd year will be tougher though as far as hours, but at least everything won't be so new.

I'm really happy with both my program and family med.

 

[witzelsucht]

I would argue the ceiling is higher in family. If you are entrepreneurial, you can hire a bunch of PAs, market aggressively, and have a real meat factory going on. Not so much in endo.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Closing cross posted elsewhere.