research/clinical/hospital/private/underserved

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laya533

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Wouldn't it look funny on your secondary if you say you want to work both in research and in primary care.? partially in metropolitan , the rest in underserved? mornings in hospital , evenings at your private clinic? any thoughts? I am confused.

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Yes...You should make up your mind.
You can say that you want to have a mix of research and clinical but I wouldn't go into any details.
 
I don't really know what you're talking about. Are you talking about clinical research, which can be integrated into any specialty, or bench research, which has nothing to do with medicine and will basically be separate time from your clinical practice?

That aside, yes, if you write on a secondary "I want to do X," and even you don't know what you mean by X, it will look funny. Do more homework.
 
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jrdnbenjamin said:
I don't really know what you're talking about. Are you talking about clinical research, which can be integrated into any specialty, or bench research, which has nothing to do with medicine and will basically be separate time from your clinical practice?

That aside, yes, if you write on a secondary "I want to do X," and even you don't know what you mean by X, it will look funny. Do more homework.
For example, I would like to specialize in internal medicine and also do some clinical research (10% of my time).. my primary care will include doing rounds in hospitals in the morning and working in my clinic in afternoons. I will also spend sometime in the year in underserved areas. Would it still look funny?
 
laya533 said:
For example, I would like to specialize in internal medicine and also do some clinical research (10% of my time).. my primary care will include doing rounds in hospitals in the morning and working in my clinic in afternoons. I will also spend sometime in the year in underserved areas. Would it still look funny?
OK, that sounds more reasonable. I know of a doctor here who seems to have a very similar career. If you can support your idea with someone who is doing it now, or at least talk to practicing docs about it, that should help.

My uninformed opinion is that it's perfectly fine to talk about specific visions of what you want to do as long as:
1) your vision is decently researched, not "I want to be a neurosurgeon, run a mouse genetics lab, and work with MSF" or something equally absurd
2) you are humble and acknowledge that you don't know anything and will probably change your mind later

Is this for the UVA secondary?
 
jrdnbenjamin said:
OK, that sounds more reasonable. I know of a doctor here who seems to have a very similar career. If you can support your idea with someone who is doing it now, or at least talk to practicing docs about it, that should help.

My uninformed opinion is that it's perfectly fine to talk about specific visions of what you want to do as long as:
1) your vision is decently researched, not "I want to be a neurosurgeon, run a mouse genetics lab, and work with MSF" or something equally absurd
2) you are humble and acknowledge that you don't know anything and will probably change your mind later

Is this for the UVA secondary?
And will it look favorable?
 
what i did was say that i wanted to do research and primary/specialized care. i told them that i did not fully understand the intricacies of the fields and the time required but that my interest lie in those goals.
 
yourmom25 said:
what i did was say that i wanted to do research and primary/specialized care. i told them that i did not fully understand the intricacies of the fields and the time required but that my interest lie in those goals.
thanks for all of your advices guys!
 
I emphasized things that I had experience in slightly, and then outlined things i think I would enjoy doing, but acknowledged that I have to get a lot more experience to really know for sure by doing clinical rotations.

I made the mistake last time of naming a particular field and focusing in on it and I got called on it in a couple of interviews (and now i'm reapplying) so I wouldnt recommend it too much
 
jrdnbenjamin said:
My uninformed opinion is that it's perfectly fine to talk about specific visions of what you want to do as long as:
1) your vision is decently researched, not "I want to be a neurosurgeon, run a mouse genetics lab, and work with MSF" or something equally absurd
2) you are humble and acknowledge that you don't know anything and will probably change your mind later

I actually worked with a neurosurgeon, who had his own lab and did genetics research on mice. Dude was also pretty humble, but was freakin loaded. Dude tooled around in a sick sports car.
 
LJDHC05 said:
I emphasized things that I had experience in slightly, and then outlined things i think I would enjoy doing, but acknowledged that I have to get a lot more experience to really know for sure by doing clinical rotations.

I made the mistake last time of naming a particular field and focusing in on it and I got called on it in a couple of interviews (and now i'm reapplying) so I wouldnt recommend it too much
So, is it bad to say I wanna pecialize in internal medicine.
 
Unless you have shadowed IM then I would say don't be so concrete about it. I would say that you are highly interested, but could find something you liked better.
 
laya533 said:
For example, I would like to specialize in internal medicine and also do some clinical research (10% of my time).. my primary care will include doing rounds in hospitals in the morning and working in my clinic in afternoons. I will also spend sometime in the year in underserved areas. Would it still look funny?

My wife is an IM doc. She's just accepted an appointment at a medical school/hospital.

She is expected to hold clinic 4-1/2 days a week. She has to cover the inpatient wards on the weekends every six weeks (give the hospitalists a free weekend every now and again). She also has to help with the med school and residents, etc. She is highly encouraged to research. So I don't think you're too far off the mark.
 
laya533 said:
Wouldn't it look funny on your secondary if you say you want to work both in research and in primary care.? partially in metropolitan , the rest in underserved? mornings in hospital , evenings at your private clinic? any thoughts? I am confused.

Underserved does not always mean rural. All large cities have underserved populations.
 
laya533 said:
For example, I would like to specialize in internal medicine and also do some clinical research (10% of my time).. my primary care will include doing rounds in hospitals in the morning and working in my clinic in afternoons. I will also spend sometime in the year in underserved areas. Would it still look funny?
Doctors at UW do this every day. No, I don't think it's funny at all.
 
laya533 said:
So, is it bad to say I wanna pecialize in internal medicine.

If you want to be a primary care doc, it's perfectly ok to say that you plan to go into internal medicine or family practice. In fact, there are loan-forgiveness programs and scholarships specifically for people who want to do primary care, although they require a couple years of commitment to practice in an underserved area. The loan-forgiveness program might not be the way to go if you want to do research. But if you like research, primary care docs do tons of it. There are IM fellowships and many IM docs hold academic positions.
 
The UT Southwestern secondary asks something similar:

“Describe the setting in which you envision conducting your medical career. Also include how and why you think this setting would help fulfill your interests related to the practice of medicine.(This text box will scroll and allow for numerous lines. However, please limit your answer to 500 words or less if possible.)”

I am interested in doing research as well as working in an underserved as either a primary care doc or a specialist while participating in health promotion/public health. I'm just unsure as to how specific they want me to be about my medical career :( Any suggestions?? :oops:
 
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