Specialty Stereotypes

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What are some stereotypes people say about IM? I have heard about ortho (lots of physical work but not so intellectual), neuro (all diagnosis but can't do anything) and PM & R (pan consulters), but haven't heard much about IM yet...just curious about what people say.
 
Forgive me, but why does it matter?
 
Nerds 🙂

j/k
 
I am sure we all heard about this one.

Internists know it all but do nothing, surgeons do it all but know nothing, pathologists do it all and know it all, but they are a day late.
 
"mental masturbation"
 
IM docs are considered to be "fleas" b/c they're the last things to jump off a dying animal.
 
salmonella said:
What are some stereotypes people say about IM? I have heard about ortho (lots of physical work but not so intellectual), neuro (all diagnosis but can't do anything) and PM & R (pan consulters), but haven't heard much about IM yet...just curious about what people say.
Click to expand...

1) round for hours
2) develop long lists of improbable differential diagnoses (see mental masturbation)
3) worry about small/insignificant imbalances in electrolytes and rabidly replace them (nurse hang another bag of BUN!)
4) order endless lab work just for routine sake
5) Treat the labwork rather than a patient - our chief of medicine was crazy about figuring out mixed anion gap acidoses/alkolosis and quizing students on all the different forms of Renal Tubular Acidosis
5) most patients are old and decrepit
6) Wish they could be in another specialty (ophtho, derm, anesthesia, ENT, EM ...)

:laugh:
 
Mirror Form said:
IM docs are considered to be "fleas" b/c they're the last things to jump off a dying animal.
Click to expand...

i thought it was because we sit on the patient and suck his/her lifeblood out. also the reason the stethoscope when worn around the neck (as is the fashion in IM) is known as the "flea collar"
 
right, and when your father ends up on the medical floor, you let us know what to do with him when his pH is 7.1, we'll stop mentally masturbating or treating numbers, we'll just watch him, sound good?

how ignorant are you people? you really think that we can do without any one specific specialty? especially IM?

gwen, IM attending

LanceArmstrong said:
1) round for hours
2) develop long lists of improbable differential diagnoses (see mental masturbation)
3) worry about small/insignificant imbalances in electrolytes and rabidly replace them (nurse hang another bag of BUN!)
4) order endless lab work just for routine sake
5) Treat the labwork rather than a patient - our chief of medicine was crazy about figuring out mixed anion gap acidoses/alkolosis and quizing students on all the different forms of Renal Tubular Acidosis
5) most patients are old and decrepit
6) Wish they could be in another specialty (ophtho, derm, anesthesia, ENT, EM ...)

:laugh:
Click to expand...
 
gwen said:
right, and when your father ends up on the medical floor, you let us know what to do with him when his pH is 7.1, we'll stop mentally masturbating or treating numbers, we'll just watch him, sound good?

how ignorant are you people? you really think that we can do without any one specific specialty? especially IM?

gwen, IM attending
Click to expand...

There it is....no thread on SDN can ever be done in jest, somebody always has to get upset.
 
look, i have no problems with jokes. i don't think that was one. it was a crude way of putting down my profession. it would be a shame for something like that deter younger med students from actually looking into IM.

SexPanther said:
There it is....no thread on SDN can ever be done in jest, somebody always has to get upset.
Click to expand...
 
gwen said:
it would be a shame for something like that deter younger med students from actually looking into IM.
Click to expand...

Uhhhmmmm.....I'm pretty sure that the specialty ITSELF is enough of a deterrent. IM doesn't need any help from the humorous lists here to dissuade young physicians from choosing it as a specialty.🙂

The Sensei, Anesthesiology attending
 
gwen said:
right, and when your father ends up on the medical floor, you let us know what to do with him when his pH is 7.1, we'll stop mentally masturbating or treating numbers, we'll just watch him, sound good?

how ignorant are you people? you really think that we can do without any one specific specialty? especially IM?

gwen, IM attending
Click to expand...

7. Very sensitive without a sense of humor.
 
gwen said:
right, and when your father ends up on the medical floor, you let us know what to do with him when his pH is 7.1, we'll stop mentally masturbating or treating numbers, we'll just watch him, sound good?

how ignorant are you people? you really think that we can do without any one specific specialty? especially IM?

gwen, IM attending
Click to expand...

Another stereotype: insecure and easily offended
 
Yeah, sorry Gwen, but the OP did ask what was said....... I could say that EM docs are glorified triage nurses in response to a similar question without actually meaning it....
 
Medicine is wide open. I Guess the stereotype is the really academic type who can quote journal articles and give a differential diagnosis for any type of complaint. The type of Doctor who will dig deep and make sure they do not miss anything. But in reality- it is pretty diverse with all kinds of people and all kinds of attitudes.
 
gwen said:
look, i have no problems with jokes. i don't think that was one. it was a crude way of putting down my profession. it would be a shame for something like that deter younger med students from actually looking into IM.
Click to expand...

It'll just make young students realize the amount of poor professionalism that often exists in academic medicine. I mean every field of medicine thinks the other field is doing a bad job. Whether it's the surgeon mocking the IM attending, or the IM attending belittling a surgeon's poor antibiotic choice.

I think everything here was all in jest.
 
I will start:

Q:What is the difference between a urologist and an anesthesiologist?


A:The urologist is playing with someone else's . . ah hem. .. nether regions during surgery

(don't get pissed.)
 
Anestesiologist: a surgeon's bitch🙂 🙂

Table up, table down, table up, table down...
 
what's an anesthesiologist's biggest occupational hazard?

































































getting hit by the radiologist in the parking lot at 1 pm on their way home from work.
 
How do you hide a dollar from an internist?
Put it under a bandage.

How do you hide a dollar from a surgeon?
Put it in the patient's chart.

How do you hide a dollar from an orthopod?
Put it in a book.

How do you hide a dollar from a radiologist?
Tape it to the patient.

How do you hide a dollar from a neurosurgeon?
Tape it to his children.

How do you hide a dollar from a plastic surgeon?
You can't.

How do you tell the difference between a psychiatrist and his patient?
The psychiatrist is the one with the keys.

What's the definition of a double-blind study?
Two orthopods trying to read an EKG.
 
The_Sensei said:
Uhhhmmmm.....I'm pretty sure that the specialty ITSELF is enough of a deterrent. IM doesn't need any help from the humorous lists here to dissuade young physicians from choosing it as a specialty.🙂

The Sensei, Anesthesiology attending
Click to expand...

Sure, when you are 78 and suffer MI with EF of 15%, you should ask your anestesiologist friend to implant that stent and defibrilator in your ass.

The last time I checked, being a gastroenterologist, electrophysiologist or interventional cardiologist is far more prestigeous, complicated and sought after than being an anestesiologist. It certainly requires more training.
 
rajvosa said:
Sure, when you are 78 and suffer MI with EF of 15%, you should ask your anestesiologist friend to implant that stent and defibrilator in your ass.

The last time I checked, being a gastroenterologist, electrophysiologist or interventional cardiologist is far more prestigeous, complicated and sought after than being an anestesiologist. It certainly requires more training.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that's where they are implanting those things now. But then again I clearly don't have as much training as those other guys. I'm guessing they can probably spell too...
 
rajvosa said:
Sure, when you are 78 and suffer MI with EF of 15%, you should ask your anestesiologist friend to implant that stent and defibrilator in your ass.

The last time I checked, being a gastroenterologist, electrophysiologist or interventional cardiologist is far more prestigeous, complicated and sought after than being an anestesiologist. It certainly requires more training.
Click to expand...

anim_hail.gif
 
NinerNiner999 said:
I didn't know that's where they are implanting those things now. But then again I clearly don't have as much training as those other guys. I'm guessing they can probably spell too...
Click to expand...


ER stereotype: they have no clue what and why they are doing it.

How many times you wondered after evaluating a patient from ER:

I cannot believe they admitted this guy.

What antibiotics they started him on? Why those? Only God knows.

I will admit this patient from ER than I will discharge him right away.

Patient is getting admitted for abdominal pain but he really is having heart attack.

Wow, history I took is very different from the one I got from the ER physician.

So you are admiting this guy with leg pain for ROMI because of T wave inversions in V1 and V2?

ER (PGY3) Yes

It is normal to have TWI in the right sided leads.

ER: Really???....


Place where I work suppose to have one of the finest ER programs in the nation.
 
rajvosa said:
ER stereotype: they have no clue what and why they are doing it.

How many times you wondered after evaluating a patient from ER:

I cannot believe they admitted this guy.

What antibiotics they started him on? Why those? Only God knows.

I will admit this patient from ER than I will discharge him right away.

Patient is getting admitted for abdominal pain but he really is having heart attack.

Wow, history I took is very different from the one I got from the ER physician.

So you are admiting this guy with leg pain for ROMI because of T wave inversions in V1 and V2?

ER (PGY3) Yes

It is normal to have TWI in the right sided leads.

ER: Really???....


Place where I work suppose to have one of the finest ER programs in the nation.
Click to expand...



It takes pretty good grades and board scores to match into Emergency Medicine. By any objective measure EM residents, on average, are a lot more intelligent than a lot of residents in other specialties in which someone may match with nothing but the desire and a reasonably regular heartbeat.

I'm not bragging. After all, I was the Dumbest Resident at Duke (TM-2006 Panda Bear, MD) but generally speaking the EM residents are a lot sharper than most.
 
We also don't have the luxury of standing around in a circle jerk masturbating to the patient's sodium level.
 
I have to say this is an exceedingly not entertaining specialty bashing thread. SDN has done much better in the past.
 
Panda Bear said:
It takes pretty good grades and board scores to match into Emergency Medicine. By any objective measure EM residents, on average, are a lot more intelligent than a lot of residents in other specialties in which someone may match with nothing but the desire and a reasonably regular heartbeat.

I'm not bragging. After all, I was the Dumbest Resident at Duke (TM-2006 Panda Bear, MD) but generally speaking the EM residents are a lot sharper than most.
Click to expand...

ER:laugh:

Brought my 6 month pregnant wife to ER for possible "trigger point injections" for her back pain. The ER attending wanted to X-ray her because she complained of upper back pain to r/o dissection (young, no history of hypertension, just regular muscle pain). I run away in a second.
 
Panda Bear said:
We also don't have the luxury of standing around in a circle jerk masturbating to the patient's sodium level.
Click to expand...

Why would you jerk mastrubate about something you do not know how to fix anyway?
 
militarymd said:
getting hit by the radiologist in the parking lot at 1 pm on their way home from work.
Click to expand...

God, if my job for the rest of my life was starting IVs and writing down little numbers on paper while trying not to nod off to sleep, I'd try and leave even earlier!
 
rajvosa said:
ER:laugh:

Brought my 6 month pregnant wife to ER for possible "trigger point injections" for her back pain. The ER attending wanted to X-ray her because she complained of upper back pain to r/o dissection (young, no history of hypertension, just regular muscle pain). I run away in a second.
Click to expand...

Objectively, was this in the United States? Your English is off a bit, which makes me wonder where you were. Likewise, I don't know of any EM doc that would do "trigger point injections". After all, when you say "trigger point", I think of "fibromyalgia", which is also known as "depression".

This is notwithstanding your EM-doc bashing. How do you fix sodium? Simply, with normal saline, or water restrict. More deeply, look for the underlying cause. Administering the saline can happen in the ED, but most patients won't be in the ED long enough to show a difference about water restriction. Likewise, screwing with sodium is an inpatient thing. Have at it, brilliant guy!

Oh, and, likewise, Mr. Brilliant Doctor, if your wife was having "just regular muscle pain", why did you waste time and space (and money) coming to the ED? You couldn't treat her yourself with Tylenol (or would you give your wife Motrin? Then, I would run away from you!)?
 
Apollyon said:
Objectively, was this in the United States? Your English is off a bit, which makes me wonder where you were. Likewise, I don't know of any EM doc that would do "trigger point injections". After all, when you say "trigger point", I think of "fibromyalgia", which is also known as "depression".

This is notwithstanding your EM-doc bashing. How do you fix sodium? Simply, with normal saline, or water restrict. More deeply, look for the underlying cause. Administering the saline can happen in the ED, but most patients won't be in the ED long enough to show a difference about water restriction. Likewise, screwing with sodium is an inpatient thing. Have at it, brilliant guy!

Oh, and, likewise, Mr. Brilliant Doctor, if your wife was having "just regular muscle pain", why did you waste time and space (and money) coming to the ED? You couldn't treat her yourself with Tylenol (or would you give your wife Motrin? Then, I would run away from you!)?
Click to expand...


My wife, being pregnant, did not want to take anything, even tylenol. Yes, this was in NYC (Manhattan) and I already mentioned that this ER program is one of the best in the US (To know an ER doctor to do trigger point injections you have to match into a good EM program first). And yes, as a rotator in the same ER, we would do trigger point injections on many people that did not respond to the pain killers. And no, it was not depression. So in all of your speculations you were completely wrong. No wonder you went into EM.
 
rajvosa said:
My wife, being pregnant, did not want to take anything, even tylenol. Yes, this was in NYC (Manhattan) and I already mentioned that this ER program is one of the best in the US (To know an ER doctor to do trigger point injections you have to match into a good EM program first). And yes, as a rotator in the same ER, we would do trigger point injections on many people that did not respond to the pain killers. And no, it was not depression. So in all of your speculations you were completely wrong. No wonder you went into EM.
Click to expand...

Maybe if you politely petition the administration, they'll change your username to "BlackAndDecker"...and, since you don't have a great grasp of English, it's because you're a tool.
 
I heard someone said this about EM the other day:

Does it really take three years of residency to learn the extension numbers for all the specialty consults?


(remember, all in jest, so don't get offended)
 
No speciality is "complete"...or better than the other. One Medicine attending (a cardiologist) learnt this the HARD WAY.

One time during orthopedics surgery walking rounds, the Ortho PD picked up a chart of one of his patients who was scheduled for surgery the next day. In the chart, he saw a note by the patient's primary attending (a cardiologist, but also covers general IM according to a certain schedule).

The note said "Patient is not cleared for surgery tommorow due to the risk of pathological fractures....Sign Medicine attending"

The Ortho PD took this chart and started laughing....

The patient is a diabetic 27 year old with no other medical history. He was admitted for a bad case of osteomyelitis that needed surgery. He was admitted to medicine for "babysitting"...our Ortho service does not have a special ward for Ortho patients.

....The Ortho PD (along with the residents and me) then went to this medicine attending at the end of the hallway and started to "pimp" and "drill" him on his knowledge of "pathological fractures" and his knowledge on pre-surgical screening of diabetic orthopaedic patients.

Needless to say, that "encounter" was hilarious! Some Ortho residents could not stop themselves from laughing and had to leave the team briefly to get the "laughter out of their system".

That medicine attending learnt a lesson of his life...
 
I think any doctor can find holes in ANY other field. We should laugh cause this is funny sometimes.
 
as far as rajvosa...

Which prestigious EM prgram is this? I interviewed all over and NO WHERE did i hear about "trigger points" etc. Sounds ridiculous and you as a doctor should know better than when to bring in your wife to an "EMERGENCY" department. I am sure her ob could have helped her better.
 
Here's a (likely true) stereotype for everyone who got offended by any of the comments on this thread:

You all must have one of the following:

A) NO sense of humor whatsoever

B) NO social life outside of your chosen Holy Grail Specialty

C) A chip on your shoulder because no one gets along with you at work

D) Take yourself far too seriously

E) Maybe the statements that offended you hit a little TOO close to home with you because they might actually apply to you and you hate to hear the truth.

F) LIKELY all of the above...


It's so funny to watch people get so bent outta shape on this website! I seriously laugh just thinking about how you people must be in real life if you go this far to try to make sure everyone knows "you're right"! All on a website! Get a new hobby, so you don't blow an aneurysm!
 
TUCOMSam said:
Here's a (likely true) stereotype for everyone who got offended by any of the comments on this thread:

You all must have one of the following:

A) NO sense of humor whatsoever

B) NO social life outside of your chosen Holy Grail Specialty

C) A chip on your shoulder because no one gets along with you at work

D) Take yourself far too seriously

E) Maybe the statements that offended you hit a little TOO close to home with you because they might actually apply to you and you hate to hear the truth.

F) LIKELY all of the above...


It's so funny to watch people get so bent outta shape on this website! I seriously laugh just thinking about how you people must be in real life if you go this far to try to make sure everyone knows "you're right"! All on a website! Get a new hobby, so you don't blow an aneurysm!
Click to expand...

I think you have too much time on your hands.

kidding! 😀
 
Leukocyte said:
No speciality is "complete"...or better than the other. One Medicine attending (a cardiologist) learnt this the HARD WAY.

One time during orthopedics surgery walking rounds, the Ortho PD picked up a chart of one of his patients who was scheduled for surgery the next day. In the chart, he saw a note by the patient's primary attending (a cardiologist, but also covers general IM according to a certain schedule).

The note said "Patient is not cleared for surgery tommorow due to the risk of pathological fractures....Sign Medicine attending"

The Ortho PD took this chart and started laughing....

The patient is a diabetic 27 year old with no other medical history. He was admitted for a bad case of osteomyelitis that needed surgery. He was admitted to medicine for "babysitting"...our Ortho service does not have a special ward for Ortho patients.

....The Ortho PD (along with the residents and me) then went to this medicine attending at the end of the hallway and started to "pimp" and "drill" him on his knowledge of "pathological fractures" and his knowledge on pre-surgical screening of diabetic orthopaedic patients.

Needless to say, that "encounter" was hilarious! Some Ortho residents could not stop themselves from laughing and had to leave the team briefly to get the "laughter out of their system".

That medicine attending learnt a lesson of his life...
Click to expand...

Whoa. Very bad form. Extremely unprofessional all around and in any other profession you and your buddies would have had a good and richly deserved ass-kicking coming. One day the medicine attending is going to save your ass when you do something stupid and stand around saying , "Oh ****. Now what do we do." Or you're going to have a difficult medical patient and you will kiss his ass when he tells you what to do.

I thought ortho had a reputation for not pretending to be internists and willingly collaborating with them in the management of their patients. It was just a mix-up on the part of the attending. I'm absolutely sure if you had been polite he would have slapped himself on the forehead and said, "Whoops, I'm ******o Montalblan."

I poke fun of other specialties but it's just for fun. I don't really believe it.
 
Here's a stereotype for peds:

We're all supposed to be bleeding heart liberals wearing Birkenstocks and eating organic granola. We're also supposed to be incapable of having a converstaion in 'adult talk' and not 'baby talk'.

In reality, some of the hardest drinkers, cussers and a**-kickers I know are pediatricians. Go figure.
 
Panda Bear said:
I thought ortho had a reputation for not pretending to be internists and willingly collaborating with them in the management of their patients.
Click to expand...

Yes, very true.....but this was a unique incident. I do not know the exact details (I was only a student), but I was told that this physician had a long history of "being difficult". I was told by the residents that he looked down on surgeons, often writing in his notes "Disagree with surgery....I reccomend xxx ". He was literaly stepping on surgery's foot. When he did this to a patient that belonged to the Ortho PD (who is also the department chair),..he was asking for confrontation.

Was it unprofessional? Yes, I agree. But to be fair to the PD, this attending was a special situaltion. In general the relation between Ortho and Medicine, and all the other services in the hospital is professional and friendly.
 
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