Any one else have a hard time picking a field?

[mattorama]

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ERAS has been looming over me for a while...with Sept. 1st quickly approaching I am starting to panic. I don't know what the heck to do with my life. While there are several fields I think I could be content in I have yet to decide what THE field for me is.

So far my top contenders are radiology, pathology, ophtho (probably bordering on too late to apply now...), ENT. I wish we had more elective time to figure these things out.

I think I meet too many people who "couldn't imagine doing anything else" and are really into a particular field. I am starting to wonder if I am ever going to find that.

Anybody else really struggle with this decision? How did you decide? I don't think I have slept well the last couple of weeks...I am pretty preoccupied with this.

 

[MonkeyRalph]

I'm right there with you. I'm waiting for that "aha" moment and I fear it will never come. I just finished my pathology elective yesterday and really liked it, but it seems so intimidating to hear about everyone else knowing that they LOVE their chosen specialty and I've never felt that way. Totally stressing out right now.
I really liked my peds, surgery, psych and pathology rotations. Hated family, neuro, OB/GYN, and medicine.
I start my first emergency rotation on monday and I'm hoping to love it. If not, I suppose I'll do pathology.
Good luck to everyone who's in this situation.

 

[Louisville04]

I would recommend that you try radiology or ENT. If you are later disatisfied during residency, it will be much easier to switch from those fields to pathology than the other way around.

 

[TRAMD]

You have to ask yourself questions about your skillset, lifestyle, seeing patients vs. seeing slides vs. seeing a computer screen and what is your truly favorite aspect of medicine. If you are competitive enough to do radiology and didn't fall asleep in the reading room (as I did) then do that. My aunt is a radiologist and LOVES it.

Or try this:

http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/specialties/

If you do it, tells us about your results please.

 

[mattorama]

So I did the virgina interest thing and here are my top 10.

1 radiology 50
2 nuclear med 46
3 dermatology 46
4 pathology 44
5 neurology 43
6 ophthalmology 41
7 gastroenterology 41
8 pulmonology 40
9 emergency med 40
10 allergy & immunology 40

Overall I am hit or miss on liking patient contact...I can take it or leave it. I am probably more leaning towards radiology/pathology, but can't quite let go of more traditional "treating" fields. I love the technology side of radiology and having the option of doing interventional work but dislike the lack of certainty inherent in their diagnoses. It is also more of a pain as far as the application process goes. Pathology is nice in being more definitive, laid back, great for teaching (a longterm goal of mine) and a lot easier to choose where I go for residency, but I don't like microscope work as much as computers and the job market is far weaker (or so it seems).

I have 240s step 1 and am probably 75-85th percentile in my class overall GPAwise. I know I am a decent applicant for most things, but far from a superstar.

I am signed up to do a radiation oncology rotation next month but am tempted to either do another radiology rotation or maybe a private practice pathology rotation.

The idea of going for the more competitive specialty (radiology) first since it would be easier to switch might not be a bad idea.

 

[mattorama]

Anybody know any rich women looking for a stay-at-home dad for their kids? I think that would be my ideal job

 

[mattorama]

 

[Hard24Get]

1 radiology 50


Overall I am hit or miss on liking patient contact...I can take it or leave it. I am probably more leaning towards radiology/pathology, but can't quite let go of more traditional "treating" fields. The idea of going for the more competitive specialty (radiology) first since it would be easier to switch might not be a bad idea.

Yes, apply radiology. Yo have to do a prelim year, which will either solidify your decision to not have direct patient contact or make you regret your decision. If the latter happens, there are plenty of fields that also require a prelim that would be glad to have you, or you could switch altogether. Rad-onc might be more difficult to pull off unless you already have significant research experience/contacts.

 

[TRAMD]

So I did the virgina interest thing and here are my top 10.

1 radiology 50

I love the technology side of radiology and having the option of doing interventional work but dislike the lack of certainty inherent in their diagnoses.

Huh? There is a lack of certainty in many fields but radiology is not one of them. I would say that it is one of the more certain fields. Their certainty of what they see and what it could possibly be (nothing is 100% certain) is vital to many diagnoses. Sounds like your choice is easy! Good luck, you radiologist you. [punches mattorama playfully in the stomach] I am guessing that on the inventory you answered many of the questions "very important" that pertained to "I like definitive answers" . . . that is why radiology turned out numero uno . . . you have to be more definitive than other specialities because oftentimes you are the last line of diagnosis.

 

[sharmei17]

gastroenterology would be perfect. In our country, we have few specialists on that

 

[Pir8DeacDoc]

Good luck to you. I can certainly relate.


Now about a year and a half after graduating med school things have finally worked out for me. I was always set on being a surgeon but doing an away rotation as a fourth year at an intense program gave me cold feet. So then I went the other way and gave anesthesia a shot. Turned out that was nothing like I thought it would be. So as deadlines drew near I applied for prelim years in surgery. Ended up finding out that indeed I loved surgery but that my personality didn't mesh with the general surgeons, which is where my hesistation during medical school came from. So I set my eye on subspeciality surgery. I have recently been accepted into a second year position in ENT that will start in July '08 at the program I did my internship at.. A happy ending after many months of uncertainty.

 

[turtle md]

Their certainty of what they see and what it could possibly be ...

Why do they always say, "clinical correlation necessary?"

What is the radiologist's favorite plant?
The hedge.

 

[Blade28]

So I set my eye on subspeciality surgery. I have recently been accepted into a second year position in ENT that will start in July '08 at the program I did my internship at.. A happy ending after many months of uncertainty.

Awesome story, congrats! 👍

 

[mdjobexchange]

I started in in Pathology and made the switch to anesthesia and am very glad I did.

So long as you are competitive, you can make the switch to/from any specialty.

If you do Radiology, make sure you go to a place where you will get trained in interventional procedures. You already know about films being sent to Australia and India. The days of making $500k reading chest x-rays are probably over.

Pathology is beginning to have issues with mega-labs pinching their business. It is only a matter of time before they start sending slides overseas to be read. Flow cytometry has changed things quite a bit for hematopathology.

GI is a good choice. Colon cancer borders on an epidemic in this country. There is no mid-level competition for GI such as PAs, CRNA's, or FNPS. It is interesting and fun. GI doesn't pay as much as it used to, but you can easily make 300k.

Ophthalmology is interesting, but you have to like old people who are on a hundred medications. If you specialize, I guess it could be OK. I don't know if I could spend my whole life thinking about the retina.

 

[Pir8DeacDoc]

Awesome story, congrats! 👍

Thanks man.. It's been a bit of a painful journey but well worth it now that things have worked out 😀

 

[docB]

Huh? There is a lack of certainty in many fields but radiology is not one of them. I would say that it is one of the more certain fields. Their certainty of what they see and what it could possibly be (nothing is 100% certain) is vital to many diagnoses.

I recently got a read on a CXR "Possible atelectasis." It's a finding that no one will do anything about. Take a stand for Pete's sake!