Switching residencies , desperate for advise

[Attila445]

Hello.

Im really confused and can benefit from a sound advise.


Im In my last months of my 1st year of radiology residency and thinking to switch to IM.



If this is important, im not in USA.



I already have an acceptance at a “not so good hospital to practice IM”. (High load , chaotic hospital , no teaching , inconsederate consultants , some of the staff are lazy and do not work proparly, that include consultants, residents and nurses.)





I know this is a long post to read , but to understand my situation one must know the whole story.



As a medical student:



By the end of my medical school , i disliked clinical medicine because i wasn't sure that all the clinical work in the form of patient contact and other hectic work of the clinical fields is for me



So , i was thinking to apply to pathology or radiology as future career.





Internship:



In my country we take a 1 year internship after we finish medical school, and by the time of the 6th month of intership we must apply to a certain speciality.



During the 6 months , i took radiology elective and rotations in clinical felids like GS , IM.



My mind was changing regarding the clinical feilds , i liked to be a part of a team , rounding (but long rounds was little boring) , communicating with other physicians and ancillary staff , making decisions, facing challenges, to be in an “active speciality”.



But at the same time i wasn't sure that i wanted patient contact ( i dont like or im not that encouraged to do physical examinations , taking history , dealing with a lot of patients).



In my radiology elective , i was bored , didnt enjoy the inactivness , but i liked interventional radiology.



By the time of the application , i had 3 choices:



1-GS: I liked general surgery (short round , limited dealing with patients , interested in the field knowledge and diseases), but i wasn't sure of the lifestyle and if i wanted to do surgery whole my life, plus the surgical training here is not very good , not like the USA .



2-IM:

I liked to be part of team , big department, lots of resident , dealing and interacting with people , multiple fields and subspecialties , i love medical knowledge , plan to do intervention , so interested in GI or cardio.

I know this is contradictory, but i wasn't encouraged to see -and deal with a lot of patients in IM and also the kind of a tough lifestyle.



3-Radiology:

Knowledge in radiology is interesting and cool, but I don’t like the inactiveness , not dealing with anyone , no challenges, stying in dark room all day.



By the end i think i had made a hasty decision.



I choose radiology, I thought of the good lifestyle, finishing 4 years of residency and going to intervention.



At that particular time I thought this the best thing to do ( but i wasn't confident with my choice , till now unfortunately).



By the end of my internship I realized that i may have made a grave error, going to a speciality that i see boring just to escape the bad lifestyle and contact with patient in IM!! ( i bet that a lot of the IM residents don’t like its lifestyle and dont like too much patient contact but didn’t want to enter a boring speciality)



Now im in my 8th month of radiology, i have acceptance at a lower quality hospital in IM.



I still find that radiology is boring , I like the knowledge but the inactiveness and loneliness in this speciality in unbearable.



i consulted alot of IM physician about my situation, most of them say its not worth it to go to IM just bcs i want to be active ,bcs of the bad lifestyle of medicine and with time all these things won’t be as important as it is now for me.





Should i suck it up and go for Interventional radiology as many IM consultants advised me.



or go to be a IM resident at this lower quality hospital and risk being in situation of not practicing medicine as it should be practiced but at least it wont be boring.



I feel being between hammer and nail.



Would really appreciate an advice.



Thank you.


Note: im new to this site so I don’t know which forum this thread should be , i hope this is the right one.

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[Groove]

Hello.

Im really confused and can benefit from a sound advise.


Im In my last months of my 1st year of radiology residency and thinking to switch to IM.



If this is important, im not in USA.



I already have an acceptance at a “not so good hospital to practice IM”. (High load , chaotic hospital , no teaching , inconsederate consultants , some of the staff are lazy and do not work proparly, that include consultants, residents and nurses.)





I know this is a long post to read , but to understand my situation one must know the whole story.



As a medical student:



By the end of my medical school , i disliked clinical medicine because i wasn't sure that all the clinical work in the form of patient contact and other hectic work of the clinical fields is for me



So , i was thinking to apply to pathology or radiology as future career.





Internship:



In my country we take a 1 year internship after we finish medical school, and by the time of the 6th month of intership we must apply to a certain speciality.



During the 6 months , i took radiology elective and rotations in clinical felids like GS , IM.



My mind was changing regarding the clinical feilds , i liked to be a part of a team , rounding (but long rounds was little boring) , communicating with other physicians and ancillary staff , making decisions, facing challenges, to be in an “active speciality”.



But at the same time i wasn't sure that i wanted patient contact ( i dont like or im not that encouraged to do physical examinations , taking history , dealing with a lot of patients).



In my radiology elective , i was bored , didnt enjoy the inactivness , but i liked interventional radiology.



By the time of the application , i had 3 choices:



1-GS: I liked general surgery (short round , limited dealing with patients , interested in the field knowledge and diseases), but i wasn't sure of the lifestyle and if i wanted to do surgery whole my life, plus the surgical training here is not very good , not like the USA .



2-IM:

I liked to be part of team , big department, lots of resident , dealing and interacting with people , multiple fields and subspecialties , i love medical knowledge , plan to do intervention , so interested in GI or cardio.

I know this is contradictory, but i wasn't encouraged to see -and deal with a lot of patients in IM and also the kind of a tough lifestyle.



3-Radiology:

Knowledge in radiology is interesting and cool, but I don’t like the inactiveness , not dealing with anyone , no challenges, stying in dark room all day.



By the end i think i had made a hasty decision.



I choose radiology, I thought of the good lifestyle, finishing 4 years of residency and going to intervention.



At that particular time I thought this the best thing to do ( but i wasn't confident with my choice , till now unfortunately).



By the end of my internship I realized that i may have made a grave error, going to a speciality that i see boring just to escape the bad lifestyle and contact with patient in IM!! ( i bet that a lot of the IM residents don’t like its lifestyle and dont like too much patient contact but didn’t want to enter a boring speciality)



Now im in my 8th month of radiology, i have acceptance at a lower quality hospital in IM.



I still find that radiology is boring , I like the knowledge but the inactiveness and loneliness in this speciality in unbearable.



i consulted alot of IM physician about my situation, most of them say its not worth it to go to IM just bcs i want to be active ,bcs of the bad lifestyle of medicine and with time all these things won’t be as important as it is now for me.





Should i suck it up and go for Interventional radiology as many IM consultants advised me.



or go to be a IM resident at this lower quality hospital and risk being in situation of not practicing medicine as it should be practiced but at least it wont be boring.



I feel being between hammer and nail.



Would really appreciate an advice.



Thank you.


Note: im new to this site so I don’t know which forum this thread should be , i hope this is the right one.

Don't do it. You'll regret giving up Rads for IM. Finish your residency and go IR.

 

[Attila445]

Don't do it. You'll regret giving up Rads for IM. Finish your residency and go IR.

Don't do it. You'll regret giving up Rads for IM. Finish your residency and go IR.

Thanks for the reply.

Do you think its not worth it to change even if im bored as hell ? Do you think That the activity/interaction/challenges i seek could turn to hell for me?

I know that nothing is perfect , maybe overall rads is better even if its boring.

I would like to see other people opninons

 

[anonperson]

Thanks for the reply.

Do you think its not worth it to change even if im bored as hell ? Do you think That the activity/interaction/challenges i seek could turn to hell for me?

I know that nothing is perfect , maybe overall rads is better even if its boring.

I would like to see other people opninons

What do you even know what is boring? You're still in the early stages of residency. You barely know anything right now.

Do your residency and fellowship and move on with your life.

I doubt you will be happier in IM.

 

[Groove]

Thanks for the reply.

Do you think its not worth it to change even if im bored as hell ? Do you think That the activity/interaction/challenges i seek could turn to hell for me?

I know that nothing is perfect , maybe overall rads is better even if its boring.

I would like to see other people opninons

It's kind of like what I was suggesting to someone else who was thinking of switching from EM to gas. (I'm EM btw). There's no magical specialty in the long run IMO. There's nothing that you were genetically engineered to be singularly excellent at doing. Most of us could be happy doing a myriad of different specialties. Every specialty becomes tedious, boring, monotonous, stressful, etc.. after you spend a long enough time doing it. No matter what you choose, near year 10 and beyond, you'll start day dreaming about what life would have been like if you had only chosen X specialty. That's normal. It doesn't mean you chose the wrong field. Just like being disillusioned in residency is normal... Every resident feels that way at some point in time. Most specialties are "customizable" enough that whatever component you feel is lacking, you can generally make up for it through fellowship training and/or taking extra time to find the right work environment. IR will give you more pt interaction and procedure involvement, additional challenges and opportunities to work with other specialties. Rads is a great field from my perspective. I couldn't do my job without them and their contribution is vital for patient care. Same goes for IR. Plus, it's a pretty sweet lifestyle...

If you're an intern you barely have an idea about what rads is going to be like in the long run. I'm sure you had your reasons for choosing it initially and first instincts are usually the right ones.. Just stick it out.

 

[Attila445]

What do you even know what is boring? You're still in the early stages of residency. You barely know anything right now.

Do your residency and fellowship and move on with your life.

I doubt you will be happier in IM.

I know that sitting in a dark room all day is boring, lol.

But Maybe your right , with time it will be less boring, or maybe nothing is perfect and even if i go to IM i wont be happier.

Thanks anonperson

I hope some radiologist can see this post , maybe some of them had doubts same as me.

 

[Attila445]

It's kind of like what I was suggesting to someone else who was thinking of switching from EM to gas. (I'm EM btw). There's no magical specialty in the long run IMO. There's nothing that you were genetically engineered to be singularly excellent at doing. Most of us could be happy doing a myriad of different specialties. Every specialty becomes tedious, boring, monotonous, stressful, etc.. after you spend a long enough time doing it. No matter what you choose, near year 10 and beyond, you'll start day dreaming about what life would have been like if you had only chosen X specialty. That's normal. It doesn't mean you chose the wrong field. Just like being disillusioned in residency is normal... Every resident feels that way at some point in time. Most specialties are "customizable" enough that whatever component you feel is lacking, you can generally make up for it through fellowship training and/or taking extra time to find the right work environment. IR will give you more pt interaction and procedure involvement, additional challenges and opportunities to work with other specialties. Rads is a great field from my perspective. I couldn't do my job without them and their contribution is vital for patient care. Same goes for IR. Plus, it's a pretty sweet lifestyle...

If you're an intern you barely have an idea about what rads is going to be like in the long run. I'm sure you had your reasons for choosing it initially and first instincts are usually the right ones.. Just stick it out.

“Most of us could be happy doing a myriad of different specialties.”

Thats absolutely true , if radiology had at least 30% clinical work it may would have been the perfect speciality.


But what I really really miss in IM(or any clinical speciality maybe) is the human interaction , to be part of group , the camaraderies between resident , facing and dealing with challenges, improving ones personality , adapting to stress , all these things are minimal in radiology and other similar speciality.

I have been told by senior doctors that all these things don’t matter after a while , that all that matter in the end is a managable lifestyle and stable income to take care of ones family.

Am i just being foolish to think about this, thinking short term.

Should i think long term and compromise my “possibly just short term” desires.

Thank you for your wisdom.

 

[deathmerchant]

“Most of us could be happy doing a myriad of different specialties.”

Thats absolutely true , if radiology had at least 30% clinical work it may would have been the perfect speciality.


But what I really really miss in IM(or any clinical speciality maybe) is the human interaction , to be part of group , the camaraderies between resident , facing and dealing with challenges, improving ones personality , adapting to stress , all these things are minimal in radiology and other similar speciality.

I have been told by senior doctors that all these things don’t matter after a while , that all that matter in the end is a managable lifestyle and stable income to take care of ones family.

Am i just being foolish to think about this, thinking short term.

Should i think long term and compromise my “possibly just short term” desires.

Thank you for your wisdom.

I was in a similar situation as you. I did Radiology for 5 months and didn't like it one bit. I already spend so much time in front of screens off work, I couldn't take it any more.
I switched to Neurology and couldn't be happier- despite the fact that if you look at burnout surveys; neuro is high up there. I look forward to going to work everyday!

That being said, in US many neurologists or IM people are equally if not more unhappy because of workload. Another main difference in US is the compensation for Rads is much higher than IM or Neuro etc. Also, I didn't get much exposure to IR, so may be that has some patient contact as mentioned above.

 

[Attila445]

I was in a similar situation as you. I did Radiology for 5 months and didn't like it one bit. I already spend so much time in front of screens off work, I couldn't take it any more.
I switched to Neurology and couldn't be happier- despite the fact that if you look at burnout surveys; neuro is high up there. I look forward to going to work everyday!

That being said, in US many neurologists or IM people are equally if not more unhappy because of workload. Another main difference in US is the compensation for Rads is much higher than IM or Neuro etc. Also, I didn't get much exposure to IR, so may be that has some patient contact as mentioned above.

Thanks for the replay deathmerchent

So , was your reasons of switching from rads same as mine ? The whole inactivity thing

did you have any doubts if you would be ok with neuro if you changed or you were near 100 % sure about neuro.

And do you think my reasons are sufficient(not foolish) regarding the long term.

 

[deathmerchant]

Thanks for the replay deathmerchent

So , was your reasons of switching from rads same as mine ? The whole inactivity thing

did you have any doubts if you would be ok with neuro if you changed or you were near 100 % sure about neuro.

And do you think my reasons are sufficient(not foolish) regarding the long term.

Yes similar reasons. I craved the 'detective work', the diagnostic dilemmas and taking good histories and exams, figuring out the problems, and just interacting with myriad of personalities/patients daily:the things that initially attracted me to medicine.

I personally always liked Neurosciences and was planning to do Neuro-rads or may be NIR. Neuro or IM was a clear second option for me.

Its obviously a difficult decision and you have a lot of things to think about. Every specialty has its ups and downs. IM has a lot of subspecialties that you can get into eventually that range from procedure heavy(Int Cards/GI) to critical care to primary care. In Neuro you can do NIR after residency if you like.

A major factor in US is salary- Rads being much higher than IM. So, if that is not a deal breaker for you, and/or you don't have major loans, I think it is very reasonable to consider switching.