How did you know you wanted to go into FM?

[the_fella]

I'm currently a premed (taking the MCAT in June, applying this year, too) and am over 90% certain I want to go into FM. To me, it seems like the front lines of medicine. FM docs have to have some knowledge of a lot of different areas of medicine, more so if you're practicing in a rural area, etc. For me, this just seems really interesting. So, what made you decide on FM?

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[AtlasMD]

Great question! I realized that I enjoyed so many parts of medicine that i didn't want to limit myself to just one area. But ultimately I found that it was the time with patients that I enjoyed the most.

http://atlas.md/wichita/content/upload/files/Personal Statement for Medical School.pdf

 

[Chicago2012]

I didn't actually initially want to do FM. FM exposure is kind of lacking in med school, but I got the opportunity to volunteer at a free clinic and got the opportunity to see continuity of care for the first time. Family medicine is the best place to see that. Something about seeing the effect I have on patients in the long term just feels great.

 

[AtlasMD]

I think the continuity of care allows you the comfort of managing things over time. So you don't feel that you have to learn everything at every visit. You can sit back and enjoy the encounter, learn the pt's likes/dislikes, and see the fruit of your labor as they improve over time.

 

[Chicago2012]

Exactly, and rapport becomes a bigger focus. A surgeon can sometimes be short with patients because they will see the patient in the short term, and if they do their job right, will hopefully never see the patient. Family Docs don't have that luxury, so they tend to be the more personable doctors.

 

[SLC]

I like clinical medicine and diagnostic work. I initially thought I'd be going to Internal Medicine with perhaps an Oncology fellowship down the road somewhere.

But I also realized in Med-school that I really liked Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, and had a preference for outpatient medicine (for similar reasons to the folks who posted above me). Once I came to that realization, I knew the only way to fill my tank completely was to do Family Medicine so I could do a little bit of all of that.

 

[cabinbuilder]

I never saw myself going into FM, I wanted to do surgery. I ended up not matching into a residency and scrambled into an intern year that was attached to family practice residency. I left after first year to go to a surgical program and found that I hated it so much that I went back to family where I was happy. Sometimes you think you know what you want but don't realize what that entails until you are in the thick of it. I am very happy it worked out this way for me, my life and job are very versatile and I can get a job anywhere.

 

[the_fella]

I like clinical medicine and diagnostic work. I initially thought I'd be going to Internal Medicine with perhaps an Oncology fellowship down the road somewhere.

But I also realized in Med-school that I really liked Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, and had a preference for outpatient medicine (for similar reasons to the folks who posted above me). Once I came to that realization, I knew the only way to fill my tank completely was to do Family Medicine so I could do a little bit of all of that.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but is there really that much of a difference between IM and FM?

 

[SLC]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but is there really that much of a difference between IM and FM?

FM does obstetrics and pediatrics whereas internal medicine doesn't.

And family medicine tends to have more procedures than internal medicine does unless you do an internal medicine subspecialty.

 

[cabinbuilder]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but is there really that much of a difference between IM and FM?

Um, yes,. IM is the thinkers. FP is the doers

 

[primadonna22274]

I think that's overly simplistic. A good FM does A LOT of thinking...and doing.

 

[diesel2101]

Is the difference as great in an urban environment? I'm from an area supersaturated with specialists so I just always assumed primary care referred to specialists regardless of whether or not they're IM or FP.

 

[cabinbuilder]

I think that's overly simplistic. A good FM does A LOT of thinking...and doing.

I agree, I just meant that in general you don't (at least I don't) see a lot of IM's splinting, casting, taking off lesions, suturing, cutting out cysts, injecting joints, etc. Yes, FP does a lot of thinking too, but we do all the procedures as well.

 

[MedicineMan99]

Family Physicians don't make excuses. We are the only physicians who have truly comprehensive training. Residency teaches us to be competent in everything from delivering babies to LPs on an infant. We can be anything from a hospitalist, to an outpatient doctor, to an administrator

I have a colleague who graduated from a very prestigious IM residency. We are in an outpatient practice together. She said that things like ear aches, vaginal complaints, and sinusitis stress her out more than chest pain because she never really learned how to deal with the former. Her program was hospital-based with 1/2-1 day a week of clinic.

I feel that when internists do a lot of procedures in practice, it's because they had to learn how to do it on their own, not because they learned it in residency.

 

[styphon]

I loved OB, outpt clinic, small procedures, hospice care, ER/urgent care. No other speciality allowed me access to this diversity besides family medicine.

I now work at an outpt clinic - I see peds, OB, and adults. I do joint injections, trigger point injections, shave/punch biopsies, I&Ds, colposcopies, IUD insertions, suturing.. I also work at an urgent care where I do the above procedures + joint/fracture reductions, codes (its amazing who comes to urgent care).

 

[the_fella]

I loved OB, outpt clinic, small procedures, hospice care, ER/urgent care. No other speciality allowed me access to this diversity besides family medicine.

I now work at an outpt clinic - I see peds, OB, and adults. I do joint injections, trigger point injections, shave/punch biopsies, I&Ds, colposcopies, IUD insertions, suturing.. I also work at an urgent care where I do the above procedures + joint/fracture reductions, codes (its amazing who comes to urgent care).

Idk what most of that is, but yay! Haha. But yea, this thread is helping to confirm that I'm most likely going to go into FM.

 

[Oo Cipher oO]

I was moving back and forth on FM vs IM vs Psych but the deciding factor for me was working with attending physicians of the different specialties. Psych seemed too quirky and IM was too serious. FM attendings I worked with were happy, good teachers, and very comfortable with thier patients. For me the personalities matched up best in FM.

 

[SLC]

I was moving back and forth on FM vs IM vs Psych but the deciding factor for me was working with attending physicians of the different specialties. Psych seemed too quirky and IM was too serious. FM attendings I worked with were happy, good teachers, and very comfortable with thier patients. For me the personalities matched up best in FM.

At the end of the day this was a big part of it for me. Doing Sub-I's in both IM and FM let me see what the cultures were like in both fields and needless to say, FM lines up with my style a lot better.