i wish people wud get their stories straight

[PostCall]

one day i'm told the first year of residency is the worse and it gets progressively better. then i hear residency doesn't get better, it gets "different". then i hear once u become an attending it doesn't get any better either, rather you are working harder as an attending than when a resident. only to see an attending waltz in at around 11 a.m. sporting shades and a blazer looking like he stepped off his yacht the SS GQMoney, crack a few jokes with the nurses, do lightening rounds while giving orders to the residents of what needs to be done, write some 2 line notes, and be out the door by noon.

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[silas2642]

one day i'm told the first year of residency is the worse and it gets progressively better. then i hear residency doesn't get better, it gets "different". then i hear once u become an attending it doesn't get any better either, rather you are working harder as an attending than when a resident. only to see an attending waltz in at around 11 a.m. sporting shades and a blazer looking like he stepped off his yacht the SS GQMoney, crack a few jokes with the nurses, do lightening rounds while giving orders to the residents of what needs to be done, write some 2 line notes, and be out the door by noon.

I don't know... I'm starting to see internship somewhere in my future and I'm absolutely dreading it. My interns always look awful and they're in the hospital all the time. I don't want to be them. Ever.

 

[typhoonegator]

one day i'm told the first year of residency is the worse and it gets progressively better. then i hear residency doesn't get better, it gets "different". then i hear once u become an attending it doesn't get any better either, rather you are working harder as an attending than when a resident. only to see an attending waltz in at around 11 a.m. sporting shades and a blazer looking like he stepped off his yacht the SS GQMoney, crack a few jokes with the nurses, do lightening rounds while giving orders to the residents of what needs to be done, write some 2 line notes, and be out the door by noon.

I don't really know any attendings like that, but I'm only a PGY-5. Sounds like a good gig. Maybe that attending is independently wealthy and just coasting. Or maybe you aren't seeing the whole picture.

Even with shorter notes and no K-repletion scales, ultimate responsibility does come with its own weight.

 

[nature4me]

Most of the attendings are like what you said!
about residency I should say "yes, the first year is the worst one!and one of the reasons is lots of night shifts per month!".
the next years depend on that specific residency program;usually programs with surgery component like general surgery,orthopaedics,neurosurgery will get worse by the upcoming years because you'll need to learn more specific operations.
but some other residency programs are not like that as you 'll be more convenient during the next years and will have more time to study or other things in your life.
these specialties include pediatrics,radiology,neurology,psychiatry,....
besides,I should say even in these fields you will be more responsible for events related to the patients; because the residents that you'll superwise[lower levels] will follow your orders in complicated cases!
so,take it easy!
if you really love a specialty ,these are just NOTHING for you.

 

[Biscuit799]

one day i'm told the first year of residency is the worse and it gets progressively better. then i hear residency doesn't get better, it gets "different". then i hear once u become an attending it doesn't get any better either, rather you are working harder as an attending than when a resident. only to see an attending waltz in at around 11 a.m. sporting shades and a blazer looking like he stepped off his yacht the SS GQMoney, crack a few jokes with the nurses, do lightening rounds while giving orders to the residents of what needs to be done, write some 2 line notes, and be out the door by noon.

1. It gets better because you gradually turn from an overworked scut monkey to an overworked medical practitioner who actually does what they want to do for a living.

2. It gets different. In my program, the 2nd and 3rd years are the hardest because as an intern, you don't cover the ICU, you get sent home by nice chiefs who realize you have nothing to do for the rest of the day, you don't spend any time in the OR (and don't have to operate at night on call). Thus it goes hard-> harder -> harder -> easier -> easiest, but still hard

3. Attending workload and money is completely specialty dependant AND lifestyle choice dependant. If the attending you mentioned above is an invasive cardiologist who does caths in his own personal cath lab, then yes, it is likely. Or he could just be an internist who carries a light patient load, and is single with no kids. An FP attending with six kids and two alimony payments or a general surg attending who does high volume will not look like the attending you mentioned.

 

[Arcan57]

Likely the attending you mentioned is dressed like that because he was in clinic in the morning and had to dress up for his private patients. And he's rushing through rounds so that he can grab some lunch because he has to be back in clinic (probably in the suburbs where the paying patients are located) for the afternoon. At least out in the community, I don't think its necessarily easier being an attending. It is however, much more satisfying.