The Brodie
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- Joined
- Apr 11, 2019
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I’m an MS3 that needs to submit my 4th year schedule soon and I'm having trouble deciding which field I want to focus on. Step I 250+
So far I know I want a lot of patient interaction, to form relationships with patients/families, have colleagues I admire and get along with, and in an ideal world have a decent percent of my patients be motivated or at least not apathetic about taking care of themselves. I really enjoy diagnostic work-ups but that seems to apply to 90% of med students.
I like the hospital and clinic. I hate the OR.
I love the idea of primary care but worry that I’m not cut out for it. My classmates and family tell me I would be bored in a few years if I don’t subspecialize. I don’t care about income, though admittedly the lack of prestige in primary care could wear on me.
Personality wise I seemed to click with hematology-oncologists and neurologists this year. I’m more intense than most of the pediatricians I met (I can have fun but I'm just not as relaxed). Honestly, I seem most like classmates (intense, crazy self-expectations, etc) that are going into surgical fields but I don’t want to do anything procedural. Even though I am intense, I got great evals in Peds and was told I should go into by some of my attendings.
So I’m thinking Peds vs. Child neuro since I am soooo much happier when I’m working with kids and families. I know the bad outcomes can be tougher with kids, but I would still rather work with them than just adults. I did a rotation in Child neuro and loved the inpatient side- I woke up excited to get there and didn't want to leave at the end of the day. Yet, I felt pretty meh about the outpatient side of things. I'm not sure what it was about oupatient Child neuro that I didn't like (I was even working with the same team). I loved my outpatient and inpatient Peds experiences, but they didn't match up to how excited I was on inpatient Child neuro.
TDLR: Loooved inpatient child neuro, kind of disliked outpatient child neuro, really like gen peds in all settings.
I know I could do peds then subspecialize but I don’t want to apply to Peds if I couldn’t be happy without doing a fellowship.
Any advice on if I should hope that I could enjoy primary care or if I commit to Child neuro?
So far I know I want a lot of patient interaction, to form relationships with patients/families, have colleagues I admire and get along with, and in an ideal world have a decent percent of my patients be motivated or at least not apathetic about taking care of themselves. I really enjoy diagnostic work-ups but that seems to apply to 90% of med students.
I like the hospital and clinic. I hate the OR.
I love the idea of primary care but worry that I’m not cut out for it. My classmates and family tell me I would be bored in a few years if I don’t subspecialize. I don’t care about income, though admittedly the lack of prestige in primary care could wear on me.
Personality wise I seemed to click with hematology-oncologists and neurologists this year. I’m more intense than most of the pediatricians I met (I can have fun but I'm just not as relaxed). Honestly, I seem most like classmates (intense, crazy self-expectations, etc) that are going into surgical fields but I don’t want to do anything procedural. Even though I am intense, I got great evals in Peds and was told I should go into by some of my attendings.
So I’m thinking Peds vs. Child neuro since I am soooo much happier when I’m working with kids and families. I know the bad outcomes can be tougher with kids, but I would still rather work with them than just adults. I did a rotation in Child neuro and loved the inpatient side- I woke up excited to get there and didn't want to leave at the end of the day. Yet, I felt pretty meh about the outpatient side of things. I'm not sure what it was about oupatient Child neuro that I didn't like (I was even working with the same team). I loved my outpatient and inpatient Peds experiences, but they didn't match up to how excited I was on inpatient Child neuro.
TDLR: Loooved inpatient child neuro, kind of disliked outpatient child neuro, really like gen peds in all settings.
I know I could do peds then subspecialize but I don’t want to apply to Peds if I couldn’t be happy without doing a fellowship.
Any advice on if I should hope that I could enjoy primary care or if I commit to Child neuro?