After deliberating on a specialty in med school for all of my fourth year, I am now confident that I made the wrong specialty decision, unfortunately. I ultimately chose anesthesia because I enjoy pathophysiology and pharm and thought that leaving work at work would allow me to be my best self for my wife and kid. However, I now realize that the role is just not a good fit for me despite thoroughly thinking through the pros and cons as a med student, and it won’t give me the career satisfaction that I need.
For reference, I was between a surgical sub and gas but felt like I didn’t love to operate enough to justify the surgical path. I had a top quintile rank and strong app otherwise. Now I feel that the cost of the surgical path would’ve been worth it since I just can’t live with the “what if” feeling as well as I thought I could. I’m still very lost, which is frankly embarrassing since I put so much effort into figuring out the best career path for me and still didn’t find it. Ideally I would like to do something procedural but with more patient ownership, mix of clinic and procedures. I’ve considered everything from rads to ESIR to IM subspecialty. Would really prefer not to have to repeat a year, but I understand that is the path I may have to take
I’m really struggling and need help thinking through a new path vs accepting the current one. If you have advice or stories of switching from gas to another specialty, I would appreciate it. Conversely, if you felt that sticking it out is the best path for someone in my shoes, lmk. Thanks
For reference, I was between a surgical sub and gas but felt like I didn’t love to operate enough to justify the surgical path. I had a top quintile rank and strong app otherwise. Now I feel that the cost of the surgical path would’ve been worth it since I just can’t live with the “what if” feeling as well as I thought I could. I’m still very lost, which is frankly embarrassing since I put so much effort into figuring out the best career path for me and still didn’t find it. Ideally I would like to do something procedural but with more patient ownership, mix of clinic and procedures. I’ve considered everything from rads to ESIR to IM subspecialty. Would really prefer not to have to repeat a year, but I understand that is the path I may have to take
I’m really struggling and need help thinking through a new path vs accepting the current one. If you have advice or stories of switching from gas to another specialty, I would appreciate it. Conversely, if you felt that sticking it out is the best path for someone in my shoes, lmk. Thanks
