Not so interested in doing a residency. Should I still do intern year? How?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
OwnageMobile

OwnageMobile

is just a moniker.
15+ Year Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2005
Messages
735
Reaction score
6
Title says most of it. I no longer think I will be happy as a doctor. MS3 and jaded.

Everyone tells me to at least do my internship:

"You'll get your license and can do locum work"
"You learn so much more; it's the 5th and last year of medical school"
"It gets better. Responsibility makes the work more interesting"
"You get paid"

Valid points, but why subject myself to another year of dread and self loathing? Why postpone finding a truer calling? This is a year of my life.

Okay, so say I cheer up after a break and some 4th year action. I now think I can handle an internship. How do I go about landing one?

230s step 1
High Pass/few Honors in clinical years (better grades in years 1&2)
Could land decent letters

Must I feign interest in the career or is it possible to be frank and just do a prelim or something of the sort? Truly, a transitional year sounds great but they seem hard to come by. I wouldn't mind doing an internship if it weren't so grueling. Are there any cush internships that one with my stats could land? The lesser of my clinical evils were neurology and *gulp* surgery. I imagine the surgery internship is possibly the opposite of cush.

I could do research. I liked research. My tentative life plan is to get back to my creative engineering roots.
Members don't see this ad.
 
michaelrack said:
any interest in psych?

there are some cush psych internships out there
Click to expand...

Any interest in orthopedics or PM&R? Otherwise, if you're looking to get into engineering as it relates to the needs of medicine, I'd honestly put some feelers out into that industry to look to see how much your MD is worth with and without residency.
 
Rendar5 said:
Any interest in orthopedics or PM&R? Otherwise, if you're looking to get into engineering as it relates to the needs of medicine, I'd honestly put some feelers out into that industry to look to see how much your MD is worth with and without residency.
Click to expand...

Those specialties would be better at getting back to engineering roots, but I wouldn't describe an orthopedics internship as cush
 
If you don't have loans to pay off, then I don't see a problem with skipping intern year if you are certain you don't want to practice medicine for a living.
 
I really don't get it when people say just do an internship and get a license. I would not waste one day in a residency program if you know for sure that you are not going to practice medicine. Of course it is easier for me to say that now. When I was a MSIII I still had some desire within me to continue since I was told it will "get better". Well it didn't, it only got worse. It wasn't until residency, that my antipathy began to really take hold. Knowing what I know now I would never have gone into residency. Heck, I wouldn't have gone to med school. But that is hindsight speaking. When you are in the middle of this process like you are this can be a tantalizingly difficult situation.
Medicine is a 100% commitment and you can't half ***** it. Your opportunities to practice medicine in any capacity are severely limited when you don't finish a residency. Heck, even nowadays with education creep, not being board certified can curtail your job options. Seriously, either do the residency or don't do it at all. Internship was the worst year of my life and the remaining years of residency are no spring picnic either. Of course, if you have student loans your hands get tied but there are ways around that if you are truly committed and willing to get out. Life is too damn short to be miserable. In the end though, you need to listen to yourself and make a decision despite what others may say.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Get your MD, you will at least have choices - AND, you can always do an intern year down the road if you get a "second wind" for medicine. There are dozens of ways to go. I worked for a public health administrator at Baltimore City Hall who got an MPH after her MD (no residency).

Here's a CV of someone who did not do a medicine residency after getting an MD; he got a PhD and did a postdoctoral research fellowship and now teaches med-students:

http://www.mbg.jhmi.edu/Pages/cv/CVDesiderio.pdf
 
I agree, even an intern year really isn't worth that much unless you've also finished a full residency. If you're lucky you might be able to find some kind of job, but it seems like most places now only hire Board Eligible/Certified people who have finished a residency. If you're certain you are financially able to leave medicine (most of us aren't, so lucky you if you are!), and are sure you won't ever want to get back into medicine, it might be best to not even bother doing an internship.
Still, though, I do agree that in many respects internship is not as bad as being a med student. There are still bad days, but other days it is more meaningful and interesting than being a student who just gets in the way.
If you do want to keep your options open, it might make sense to apply for Neurology (since you are interested in it and then you can focus on finding the cushest prelim programs you can find). If you're really just trying to find the path of least resistance it would make sense to just try your best to find a tolerable prelim to be sure you have some income flowing in.
 
OwnageMobile said:
Title says most of it. I no longer think I will be happy as a doctor. MS3 and jaded.
Click to expand...

There are quite a few residency programs that incorporate research pathways, like the University of Wisconsin. You will still have to grit your teeth and survive some clinical training, but if it's part of a larger endeavor you may find it more than tolerable.

Or you can try pathology. It's nothing like the rest of medicine, and there is no intern year.
 
If you're looking for a cush internship, the ophtho and rad onc forum have a running thread from years past that has accumulated an impressive list of the cushiest internships known to man. Some are uber-competitive but a good majority are attainable with your stats. Just get a medicine LOR. It helps.

I know people here are telling you internship is hell but that's only if you end up at hardcore medicine programs, inner city or prelim surgical internships. There are TONS of calk-walk TY's with 6 months of electives where you're straight chillin.

G'luck!
 
Moonglow said:
Here's a CV of someone who did not do a medicine residency after getting an MD; he got a PhD and did a postdoctoral research fellowship and now teaches med-students:

http://www.mbg.jhmi.edu/Pages/cv/CVDesiderio.pdf
Click to expand...

Kind of a non-sequitur as this person was an MD/PhD candidate who possibly knew going in that he wasn't going to pursue clinical medicine.

And trading a 3 year residency for 4-5 years of PhD plus 3-5 years of a post-doc isn't a particularly great use of time (and I say this as someone who has gone down the exact same road, with a residency and fellowship on top of it).

For better or worse, an MD alone doesn't really get you much. I understand wanting to do something besides clinical medicine, that's why I'm doing a research focused fellowship. But doing at least that one year, in order to get your license, and preferably a full residency, will give you the most options down the road.
 
Do a path residency. Lots of reading and lots of intellectual work but in terms of hours you will be working less of them than say IM, FP, peds or surg.

And according to the path forums, you won't be working as a doctor because you won't be able to get a job anyway.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Totally agree in looking into PM&R, which would require an internship though.

But if you were thinking of neuro & have creative engineering interests, you should check out PM&R & the work they do with amputees, etc. You can do clinical work, but would also be useful in research & industry in development or design.

Find your passion, light that fire.
 
gutonc said:
Kind of a non-sequitur as this person was an MD/PhD candidate who possibly knew going in that he wasn't going to pursue clinical medicine.
Click to expand...

My point is that one can still do a lot without a clinical residency. His BS/BA and that MD can take him in many directions within the health profession; or he can go for an MPH, MHS, or even an MBA and work in industry or government; or he can teach anywhere with just the MD...
 
Going through medical school with basically nothing to show for it is nuts bro. Seriously. Get on some meds or something. Do what you have to do to finish this bitch off, then you can start toying around with "your calling." Because, man, if you quit now, and things go south with "your calling," holy crap are you gonna want to jump off of something.
 
Moonglow said:
or he can teach anywhere with just the MD...
Click to expand...

Perhaps you may want to peruse this thread from last week where this very issue was discussed before making such an assumption-


http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=725040


sideways said:
Going through medical school with basically nothing to show for it is nuts bro. Seriously. Get on some meds or something. Do what you have to do to finish this bitch off, then you can start toying around with "your calling." Because, man, if you quit now, and things go south with "your calling," holy crap are you gonna want to jump off of something.
Click to expand...

I beg to differ. A total pet peeve of mine is when others tell those having second thoughts or are miserable and frustrated to "go on meds". Half of our nation's physicians would be on Prozac if this was the case! It is as if this problem is somehow internal and not with our flawless healthcare system. Furthermore, staying in something that rips me apart from inside out would make me want to jump off something. I agree that you shouldn't just drop out of the medical rat race without a well thought out plan or if you have moments of doubt. However, if you are truly and constantly dissatisfied with medicine and there is something else out there that you are passionate for then go do that thing. Anyways, you can always come back to residency down the road if your love for medicine were somehow reignited. Trust me, residency is not going anywhere.
 
medicinesux said:
Perhaps you may want to peruse this thread from last week where this very issue was discussed before making such an assumption-


http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=725040




I beg to differ. A total pet peeve of mine is when others tell those having second thoughts or are miserable and frustrated to "go on meds". Half of our nation's physicians would be on Prozac if this was the case! It is as if this problem is somehow internal and not with our flawless healthcare system. Furthermore, staying in something that rips me apart from inside out would make me want to jump off something. I agree that you shouldn't just drop out of the medical rat race without a well thought out plan or if you have moments of doubt. However, if you are truly and constantly dissatisfied with medicine and there is something else out there that you are passionate for then go do that thing. Anyways, you can always come back to residency down the road if your love for medicine were somehow reignited. Trust me, residency is not going anywhere.
Click to expand...

I'm telling him to use meds as a tool to get through it, not necessarily because he's ill for not wanting to go through it. And let's be honest with ourselves. . .he's probably going to end up miserable in his "calling" as well.
 
Last edited:
Moonglow said:
My point is that one can still do a lot without a clinical residency. His BS/BA and that MD can take him in many directions within the health profession; or he can go for an MPH, MHS, or even an MBA and work in industry or government; or he can teach anywhere with just the MD...
Click to expand...

Far more doors are open if he is actually a licensed physician who has practiced (even in an internship). There are two reasons everybody advises at least doing an internship (1) most of the jobs for doctors outside of the medical field want the person to have some experience, not just a paper degree, and (2) if he ever changes his mind there are ways to get back into the medical profession having already been licensed and having internship year under your belt -- it's much harder if you were a med school grad who never went further. So there really is sound logic behind at least doing the internship regardless of what path you ultimately "think" you want to be on. Take it from a career changer, what you think you want now might not be the same thing as what you want 5 or 10 years from now.

Do a prelim year in IM. That leaves the door open for the most fields should OP decide after trying something else that, say PM&R or neuro might be cool after all. Something like psych internship, although perhaps "cush" by comparison really doesn't make sense for OP in terms of coming back to medicine unless he plans to actually come back and do psych.

And I probably wouldn't express my goal to leave medicine in interviews for a prelim. Just perhaps say you are going to do a prelim while deciding where you want to end up.
 
Last edited:
Law2Doc said:
Far more doors are open if he is actually a licensed physician who has practiced (even in an internship).
Click to expand...

OK... What's with the thick heads? I know that he should do a residency and get a medical license. But, that's not the what the OP wants right now, hence the comments on what he could do otherwise.
 
Okay. Thanks to everyone for the input. Here goes iteration #1:

sideways said:
Going through medical school with basically nothing to show for it is nuts bro. Seriously. Get on some meds or something. Do what you have to do to finish this bitch off, then you can start toying around with "your calling." Because, man, if you quit now, and things go south with "your calling," holy crap are you gonna want to jump off of something.
Click to expand...

Aight, Sideways. I didn't make myself clear: I will definitely finish the MD. Would be silly to back away now. I'll come back to you later in this post....

michaelrack said:
any interest in psych?

there are some cush psych internships out there
Click to expand...

Rendar5 said:
Any interest in orthopedics or PM&R?
Click to expand...

Not so interested in psych. Don't think I can land an ortho spot. Truth is, I don't think I would finish any residency I started.

bronx43 said:
If you don't have loans to pay off, then I don't see a problem with skipping intern year if you are certain you don't want to practice medicine for a living.
Click to expand...

Instate, but no substantial scholarships. I'm not scared of money problems. You can only be expected to pay off loans at a certain max percentage of your income (or so I'm told). Don't let this sound like I'm naive and looking the other way; I see the debt.

medicinesux said:
I really don't get it when people say just do an internship and get a license. I would not waste one day in a residency program if you know for sure that you are not going to practice medicine. ...
Medicine is a 100% commitment and you can't half ***** it. ... Seriously, either do the residency or don't do it at all. Internship was the worst year of my life and the remaining years of residency are no spring picnic either. Of course, if you have student loans your hands get tied but there are ways around that if you are truly committed and willing to get out. Life is too damn short to be miserable. In the end though, you need to listen to yourself and make a decision despite what others may say.
Click to expand...

Amen, brother. I'm drinking your Kool-Aid.

DOCTORSAIB said:
If you're looking for a cush internship ...There are TONS of calk-walk TY's with 6 months of electives where you're straight chillin.

G'luck!
Click to expand...

Lols, Saib. I'd ideally do this, but aren't TYs difficult to land? I hear the closest TY to me is offered in St. Louis. Are they this difficult to come by?

Substance said:
Do a path residency. ...
And according to the path forums, you won't be working as a doctor because you won't be able to get a job anyway.
Click to expand...
I do enjoy path. Have that lined up as a rotation next year. But would a path intern year be helpful?

sideways said:
I'm telling him to use meds as a tool to get through it, not necessarily because he's ill for not wanting to go through it. And let's be honest with ourselves. . .he's probably going to end up miserable in his "calling" as well.
Click to expand...

He finds your lack of faith disturbing.

Anything is better than living your life doing a job that you hate. If I'm lucky enough to have the chance to decide how I live my life, I'm going to find something where I look forward to working hard. Your last sentence is nothing more than bait. Please be constructive.

Law2Doc said:
... if he ever changes his mind there are ways to get back into the medical profession having already been licensed and having internship year under your belt -- it's much harder if you were a med school grad who never went further. So there really is sound logic behind at least doing the internship regardless of what path you ultimately "think" you want to be on. Take it from a career changer, what you think you want now might not be the same thing as what you want 5 or 10 years from now.

And I probably wouldn't express my goal to leave medicine in interviews for a prelim. Just perhaps say you are going to do a prelim while deciding where you want to end up.
Click to expand...

Yes, I've found that I seem to only be consistently fickle. I'm pretty sure that I'll be on to something different after 10 years. It's a double-edged sword. While I can't guarantee that I'll never return to medicine, it's something that I can consistently doubt, for the moment....

Is there a particular way to just match into a prelim year?
 
OwnageMobile said:
...
Yes, I've found that I seem to only be consistently fickle. I'm pretty sure that I'll be on to something different after 10 years. It's a double-edged sword. While I can't guarantee that I'll never return to medicine, it's something that I can consistently doubt, for the moment....

Is there a particular way to just match into a prelim year?
Click to expand...


If you can't guarantee that you'll never return to medicine, you ought to find a way to leave it such that the door stays open. Getting your license is the way to do that. Then you can be as fickle as you want.
To match into just a prelim year you can simply apply to the prelim years you are interested in, go on interviews (generally much shorter than the categorical variety), and rank only prelims. With solid numbers you will get one. If not, prelims tend to constitute the majority of the spots in the scramble.
 
Law2Doc said:
If you can't guarantee that you'll never return to medicine, you ought to find a way to leave it such that the door stays open. Getting your license is the way to do that. Then you can be as fickle as you want.
Click to expand...

Be sure to maintain that license once you get it as well. DO NOT LET IT LAPSE. It'll cost you a couple Benjamins a year (depending on which state you get it in) but that's nothing compared to the headache/hassle/expense to get it back.
 
Moonglow said:
OK... What's with the thick heads? I know that he should do a residency and get a medical license. But, that's not the what the OP wants right now, hence the comments on what he could do otherwise.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure who has the thick head on this point actually. What he "wants right now" should not be done if it closes doors on what he possibly may want later. This board is most useful when we advise against poor decisions. So that is what we were doing. Telling him to get his license and THEN looking elsewhere, knowing he can always come back to something in the field if he later chooses.
 
Law2Doc said:
If you can't guarantee that you'll never return to medicine, you ought to find a way to leave it such that the door stays open. Getting your license is the way to do that. Then you can be as fickle as you want.
To match into just a prelim year you can simply apply to the prelim years you are interested in, go on interviews (generally much shorter than the categorical variety), and rank only prelims. With solid numbers you will get one. If not, prelims tend to constitute the majority of the spots in the scramble.
Click to expand...

Are prelim spots competitive? If so, what would you do if your scores weren't stellar?
 
gutonc said:
Be sure to maintain that license once you get it as well. DO NOT LET IT LAPSE. It'll cost you a couple Benjamins a year (depending on which state you get it in) but that's nothing compared to the headache/hassle/expense to get it back.
Click to expand...


It's just not paying hundreds of dollars to renew your license every year. You also have to keep up with CME's every year as well. Virtually all states require CME's nowadays and you can bet your sweet bippies that the few that don't (I believe NY still doesn't) will require them in the VERY near future. Furthermore, some states may expect you to remain "clinically active" to maintain your license as well. I know my state had a box you had to check off attesting to this when it came time to renew. And no, CME's don't count!
 
bronx43 said:
Are prelim spots competitive? If so, what would you do if your scores weren't stellar?
Click to expand...

Getting "a" prelim spot is not competitive, and many will fall through to the scramble each year. The folks going into "advanced" programs need them, but the number of slots for prelims far exceeds this group, so there should be plenty available; they are not really desirable for folks not going into an advanced path. Getting a specific one, particularly in a popular geographic area or an academic center might be more difficult though. So you need to interview at a handful, to hedge your bets. But if you wan't one, you should be able to get one without too much difficulty.
 
medicinesux said:
It's just not paying hundreds of dollars to renew your license every year. You also have to keep up with CME's every year as well. Virtually all states require CME's nowadays and you can bet your sweet bippies that the few that don't (I believe NY still doesn't) will require them in the VERY near future. Furthermore, some states may expect you to remain "clinically active" to maintain your license as well. I know my state had a box you had to check off attesting to this when it came time to renew. And no, CME's don't count!
Click to expand...

Many states also have an "inactive" option that is cheaper, doesn't require CME and allow you to just pay more money and reactivate it at any point.
 
I once posted a similar response to a similar thread, but here goes: Have you looked into occupational health (or its twin public health)? It's a two year residency after intern year (of any type), but one year is getting an MPH and the other is the training in Occ a/o public health. Occ health is the more "clinical" of the two, but, to my knowledge, neither is considered a bruising residency. I wonder if your engineering background couldn't come in handy esp. in that Occ health you could develop an expertise in ergonomics (esp. important in the workforce). Aerospace medicine is also a subfield of the specialty and you could develop an expertise in wetware/hardware/software interfaces from a medical standpoint. It gets you residency training that isn't bone crushing but allows for far less clinical career vectors.
 
Law2Doc said:
Getting "a" prelim spot is not competitive, and many will fall through to the scramble each year. The folks going into "advanced" programs need them, but the number of slots for prelims far exceeds this group, so there should be plenty available; they are not really desirable for folks not going into an advanced path. Getting a specific one, particularly in a popular geographic area or an academic center might be more difficult though. So you need to interview at a handful, to hedge your bets. But if you wan't one, you should be able to get one without too much difficulty.
Click to expand...

Ah I see. So, let's say you did a prelim year, got a license, then left to do non-clinical work. When or if you decide to return to medicine, wouldn't you still be in a crappy situation of having to apply for residencies after leaving medicine for an extended period of time? Would you be applying as an independent applicant or a US senior?
 
J-Rad said:
I once posted a similar response to a similar thread, but here goes: Have you looked into occupational health (or its twin public health)? It's a two year residency after intern year (of any type), but one year is getting an MPH and the other is the training in Occ a/o public health. Occ health is the more "clinical" of the two, but, to my knowledge, neither is considered a bruising residency. I wonder if your engineering background couldn't come in handy esp. in that Occ health you could develop an expertise in ergonomics (esp. important in the workforce). Aerospace medicine is also a subfield of the specialty and you could develop an expertise in wetware/hardware/software interfaces from a medical standpoint. It gets you residency training that isn't bone crushing but allows for far less clinical career vectors.
Click to expand...

Interesting you say this - the wealthiest physician I have ever met was in occ health. She started her own business in a large city with a high concentration of industry and wealthy corporations. Did stunningly well. The best part is she's a total hippie.
 
For me, a big consideration is your current life situation.

If you're 26, single (or no dependents), I might consider the intern year. Keeps your options open, and even if you never practice, one wasted year in your life isn't a big deal (for sure, we all know people who've wasted more than a year at that age!), as brutal as an intern year can be.

If you're older, with dependents, etc, that may be a different story.
 
If you're truly not interested in practicing as a physician, then I don't know why on earth you'd do an intern year. To put yourself through hell just for the fun of it?

Plus if you decide to go back years later, you'll have forgotten everything you learned during intern year and will be potentially dangerous as a PGY2.

I also don't know why people are telling you to do PM&R. Because it's easy? It might be easier than other residencies, but it's certainly not for people who don't want to be a doctor at all.

I agree with the people who said to consider pathology. Pathology has lots of research and you actually don't even do an intern year at all. Pretty sweet deal. There are other non-clinical residencies too, like prev med.
 
J-Rad said:
I once posted a similar response to a similar thread, but here goes: Have you looked into occupational health (or its twin public health)? It's a two year residency after intern year (of any type), but one year is getting an MPH and the other is the training in Occ a/o public health. Occ health is the more "clinical" of the two, but, to my knowledge, neither is considered a bruising residency. I wonder if your engineering background couldn't come in handy esp. in that Occ health you could develop an expertise in ergonomics (esp. important in the workforce). Aerospace medicine is also a subfield of the specialty and you could develop an expertise in wetware/hardware/software interfaces from a medical standpoint. It gets you residency training that isn't bone crushing but allows for far less clinical career vectors.
Click to expand...
I just wanted to encourage the OP to consider this option. I have two friends who had decided that clinical medicine wasn't for them, and preventive medicine turned out to be a good compromise for them both. You only have one year of clinical training; you are still able to get board-certified in a bona fide specialty; and you can go on to do a fellowship or a clinical residency later if you decide you want to go back to clinical medicine in the future.

OP, if you think you could be at all interested, check out the ACPM webpage, especially the links for med students and residents.
 
cartoondoc said:
If you're truly not interested in practicing as a physician, then I don't know why on earth you'd do an intern year. To put yourself through hell just for the fun of it?
Click to expand...

I don't think *anyone* is encouraging the OP to do it "for the fun of it" but rather not to permanently close doors that he may not be able to open later. Many many people change their minds about career plans; some make the right choice and others do not. MS-3 sucks for many reasons and its hard to tell from this vantage point whether or not the OP is making a reasonable choice in leaving medicine.

The point in doing internship is to make the OP eligible for a medical license which opens up opportunities for moonlighting and non-clinical jobs that want/need a licensed physician (ie, drug research which might require a DEA #).

Plus if you decide to go back years later, you'll have forgotten everything you learned during intern year and will be potentially dangerous as a PGY2.
Click to expand...

I think that point moot - if you leave medicine for a number of years, *most* residencies will require you to repeat PGY-1.

I agree with the people who said to consider pathology. Pathology has lots of research and you actually don't even do an intern year at all. Pretty sweet deal. There are other non-clinical residencies too, like prev med.
Click to expand...

Are people using the phrase "intern year" to refer to a prelim year in medicine or surgery? Because the intern year is simply the first year of residency, which of course pathology residents do. Its not specific to Advanced Match residencies, IM or Surgery.
 
Winged Scapula said:
Are people using the phrase "intern year" to refer to a prelim year in medicine or surgery? Because the intern year is simply the first year of residency, which of course pathology residents do. Its not specific to Advanced Match residencies, IM or Surgery.
Click to expand...

My understanding (and I could be wrong) is that pathology residency doesn't require any sort of traditional clinical intern year, whatever you want to call that (prelim or transitional). Obviously, you have to do a first year of residency. My personal feeling is that you are a resident rather than an intern once you're in specialty training, but that's all semantics. The point is, you don't have to go through the misery of a clinical intern year.
 
Winged Scapula said:
IAre people using the phrase "intern year" to refer to a prelim year in medicine or surgery? Because the intern year is simply the first year of residency, which of course pathology residents do. Its not specific to Advanced Match residencies, IM or Surgery.
Click to expand...

In pathology parlance "intern year" specifically refers to the usual first year of clinical training that practically every other speciality goes through. It is confusing and purely semantic, but that's how it is.

So yes, there are pathology interns (first year pathology residents), but they are not doing an intern year.
 
cartoondoc said:
My understanding (and I could be wrong) is that pathology residency doesn't require any sort of traditional clinical intern year, whatever you want to call that (prelim or transitional). Obviously, you have to do a first year of residency. My personal feeling is that you are a resident rather than an intern once you're in specialty training, but that's all semantics. The point is, you don't have to go through the misery of a clinical intern year.
Click to expand...

No, you are correct that path doesn't require a clinical year. But (as I'm sure you're aware) the first year of PGY training, regardless of specialty, is traditionally referred to as "intern year."
 
gutonc said:
No, you are correct that path doesn't require a clinical year. But (as I'm sure you're aware) the first year of PGY training, regardless of specialty, is traditionally referred to as "intern year."
Click to expand...

This is my point.

I think by several users making the comment that pathology doesn't require an intern year, it leads users to think that the first year is skipped. It is just semantics but since the first year of training is traditionally referred to as the intern year, as noted above, it is somewhat inaccurate to claim that path doesn't require an intern year. Our path interns worked pretty hard and were always in on the weekends grossing specimens, doing posts, etc.
 
cartoondoc said:
My understanding (and I could be wrong) is that pathology residency doesn't require any sort of traditional clinical intern year, whatever you want to call that (prelim or transitional). Obviously, you have to do a first year of residency. My personal feeling is that you are a resident rather than an intern once you're in specialty training, but that's all semantics. The point is, you don't have to go through the misery of a clinical intern year.
Click to expand...

That may be common in some places but the fact remains that regardless of how you perceive it, that a PGY1 categorical IM, Surgery, Ob, etc resident is still referred to, and refers to themselves as intern. It may all be semantics ut you have to remember that there are lots of pre-meds and med students reading these forums who may be confused by this and it behooves us to clarify. Pathology residents do do an intern year, they just aren't spending it on the wards like a Prelim IM or Surg year intern would.
 
Winged Scapula said:
It is just semantics but since the first year of training is traditionally referred to as the intern year, as noted above, it is somewhat inaccurate to claim that path doesn't require an intern year.
Click to expand...

Again, from inside the pathology training box "doing an intern year" carries the connotation of a year of clinical medicine. From that perspective pathology trainees do not have to "do an intern year."
 
Parts Unknown said:
Interesting you say this - the wealthiest physician I have ever met was in occ health. She started her own business in a large city with a high concentration of industry and wealthy corporations. Did stunningly well. The best part is she's a total hippie.
Click to expand...

She have a website or anything? I've always been borderline confused about what Occ health docs do?? I think they review workman's comp cases, clear people for work, etc???
 
JaggerPlate said:
She have a website or anything?
Click to expand...

I'm sure her company does, but I don't remember the name of it. I met her at a party while I was in residency and we got to talking. Didn't find out about her net worth until later.

JaggerPlate said:
I've always been borderline confused about what Occ health docs do?? I think they review workman's comp cases, clear people for work, etc???
Click to expand...

http://www.acoem.org/
 
Winged Scapula said:
That may be common in some places but the fact remains that regardless of how you perceive it, that a PGY1 categorical IM, Surgery, Ob, etc resident is still referred to, and refers to themselves as intern. It may all be semantics ut you have to remember that there are lots of pre-meds and med students reading these forums who may be confused by this and it behooves us to clarify. Pathology residents do do an intern year, they just aren't spending it on the wards like a Prelim IM or Surg year intern would.
Click to expand...

This is such a weird discussion.

Why would anyone think that any residency didn't have a first year? That's not possible. Would they misunderstand and think you start path as a PGY2?

I'm sure path PGY1 residents work very hard, but so do PGY2 residents in specialty residencies. You are basically skipping ahead to your specialty training if you do path, which is something that's unique about the field. So for people who really hate patient interaction, it's possibly the only field where you can avoid this for all of residency. That's all I'm trying to say.
 
cartoondoc said:
This is such a weird discussion.

Why would anyone think that any residency didn't have a first year? That's not possible. Would they misunderstand and think you start path as a PGY2?

I'm sure path PGY1 residents work very hard, but so do PGY2 residents in specialty residencies. You are basically skipping ahead to your specialty training if you do path, which is something that's unique about the field. So for people who really hate patient interaction, it's possibly the only field where you can avoid this for all of residency. That's all I'm trying to say.
Click to expand...

As a current path resident I can tell you that people get confused about this all of the time. Many assume that we do a prelim "intern" year like radiology residents do, and then start path as a PGY2. My "intern" year was just path rotations. At most programs you will have a few months with some patient contact, ie transfusion medicine, FNA service, but it is nothing like doing a clinical residency.

To the OP, if you like research and basic science, you should try a path rotation and see if you like the work. If you are thinking of a purely research-based career I am you could find a program that would lead you to a career in that realm. But there is really no way to do just apply for one year of path residency, like you can with a prelim/transitional year. You would likely end up doing several years of residency.

Also, a lot of path programs are not really that cush hours-wise. You will not have the call schedule you would in a clinical residency, but you will likely put in your 80-hour weeks on a lot of rotations by working very long days and/or doing lots of reading. I'd consider it if you like the material/work, but not just for lifestyle.
 
Parts Unknown said:
I'm sure her company does, but I don't remember the name of it. I met her at a party while I was in residency and we got to talking. Didn't find out about her net worth until later.



http://www.acoem.org/
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing that. Just curious, is her case kind of unique? It seems like most of the people doing OEM work for academic type centers and the quoted salaries seem pretty low.

Just curious.
 
cartoondoc said:
This is such a weird discussion.

Why would anyone think that any residency didn't have a first year? That's not possible. Would they misunderstand and think you start path as a PGY2?
Click to expand...

Because perhaps you misunderstand the level of confusion of pre meds and medical students about this stuff.

I'm sure path PGY1 residents work very hard, but so do PGY2 residents in specialty residencies. You are basically skipping ahead to your specialty training if you do path, which is something that's unique about the field. So for people who really hate patient interaction, it's possibly the only field where you can avoid this for all of residency. That's all I'm trying to say.
Click to expand...

And I agree with you, although pathologists have a lot of interaction with other physicians, especially surgeons and that can be a bit *trying* at times. I understand where you're coming from but I think it obsfuscates the point when simply stating you "don't have to do an intern year in path". Most of us are "outside the pathology box" and this can be easily misinterpreted.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

A
Intern hoping to switch specialties
Replies
1
Views
1K
gutonc
gutonc
T
Another Intern Hoping to Switch Specialties...=P
Replies
19
Views
2K
Giovanotto
Giovanotto
southwestpremed06
So how exactly does going back to do a second residency work?
Replies
1
Views
2K
Raryn
Raryn
cassyfrog
Starting residency in a few days...still bummed about match result
Replies
20
Views
3K
HemeOncHopeful19
H
G
  • Question
I Quit Medicine for Pilot Training. Is Loan Deferment Still Possible?
Replies
8
Views
2K
MilaIsMyBaby2022
M
Top