Bummed about my prelim spot. For those of you that did hard intern years...

[UCLA2014]

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I'll start off by saying that I'm extremely excited about where I matched for radiology and I realize things could be much worse (ie. having to SOAP).

I matched into a prelim position that I thought was a very remote possibility of happening (pretty much < 1% in my mind). I was banking on a nice, cush TY and thought it was a sure thing - I consider myself competitive (260's Steps, research, all honors, etc) and I don't think I'm terrible at interviews. Anyways, I was very close to not ranking this program. I'm almost wondering now if it would have been better for me to SOAP into a prelim surgery position versus what I got.

I want to be excited about radiology and the awesome program I'm going to, but it's hard for me to be because of this intern year looming over my head. I'll work hard and I'm sure I'll do fine and grit though it, but it's still definitely not ideal.

Do I just need to suck it up and quit complaining? If you thought you had a hard prelim year, was it really as bad as it seemed? I've heard some people say difficult prelim years make them more well rounded and better prepared - but I've also heard the opposite that you forget nearly everything you learn during PGY-1. I'm pretty much looking for any silver linings....

 

[deleted116380]

I matched into an academic prelim I definitely didn't expect with the number of TYs and community IM prelims I interviewed at, but in hindsight I'm glad I matched here.

TYs seem nice when you interview with the cush of electives, but the medicine wards at my academic prelim are easier than I thought. Probably even easier than most TYs. Plus with a 30+ large class size (categoricals + prelims), lots of cool people that I've become friends with. Plus it's in a huge city that the TYs I interviewed at were not in. 🙂 Interview day did not correlated well to the actual experience imo.

 

[colbgw02]

I kind of equate difficult intern years to taking anatomy as an undergrad. You'll be ahead of your peers as an R1 in certain areas briefly, more so if you did surgery rather than TY or medicine, and then everyone catches up. Personally, I think the mental health benefits of an easy internship are the trump card. That said, it's just a year and it'll fly by. Honestly, I can barely remember my internship. If you are doing surgery, often times the department of surgery encompasses all surgical specialties - not just general surgery and its subspecialties. If that's the case and you can swing it, try to spend some time on some non-general surgery services, like urology or ENT.

 

[UCLA2014]

Personally, I think the mental health benefits of an easy internship are the trump card.

So basically you're saying that I'm f***ed? Pretty much what I thought...

 

[talkingcheese]

In somewhat the same position, went way low on my prelim list. Like mentioned above, I just look forward to having a huge class size and being in a big city rather than a cush year now. sh** happens.

 

[DrBowtie]

Just suck it up. It goes by quick when you only get four days off a month 😉

-did 9 months of wards/nights

 

[greg1184]

Its a year... a means to an end.... Suck it up and get it over with. I am finishing up a surgery prelim program.... in New York City. Enough said.

It turned out to be way better than I expected. Good group of residents and attendings in my program.

 

[sivman17]

Not going to lie, intern year can be rough, but it does go by quickly. I am doing a medicine prelim and have to do 4 ICU months and 3 ward months, in addition to 6 weeks of nights. I am hating it now but I only have a couple more months until radiology. It's one year, it won't kill you.

 

[UCLA2014]

Not going to lie, intern year can be rough, but it does go by quickly. I am doing a medicine prelim and have to do 4 ICU months and 3 ward months, in addition to 6 weeks of nights. I am hating it now but I only have a couple more months until radiology. It's one year, it won't kill you.

Sounds similar to what I'll be having to do. It might not kill me, but it might do irreparable harm. 😉

Might be hard for you to have any insight at this point, but do you think that the hard prelim med year will in any way benefit you going forward (other than appreciating radiology)?

There's really not point in my fretting I guess since there's nothing I can change, I'm just looking for anything that will give me a positive attitude.

 

[orangejello]

advantages? you'll probably save money over the year because you won't be outside the hospital enough to spend it.

 

[MossPoh]

It goes by fast. I soaped into my spot and it ended up being fairly cush. Could've done without the 4 months of medicine and 6 weeks of night float, but aside from that...wasn't terrible. There will be days that suck and days that are good. I hate internal medicine, but have tolerated the year so far.

 

[Substance]

Sounds similar to what I'll be having to do. It might not kill me, but it might do irreparable harm. 😉

Might be hard for you to have any insight at this point, but do you think that the hard prelim med year will in any way benefit you going forward (other than appreciating radiology)?

There's really not point in my fretting I guess since there's nothing I can change, I'm just looking for anything that will give me a positive attitude.

They can't stop the clock.

 

[greg1184]

They can't stop the clock.

These are words of wisdom that has kept me going even through the difficult times during the year.

NO ONE can stop the clock. No chief resident, no attending, nobody.

 

[meister]

It was a rough year made tolerable by good cointerns and residents as well as the knowledge that it was only temporary. Words can't explain how sweet those last two weeks of consults were after I had finished my ninth ward/ICU month...

 

[UCLA2014]

Pretty much what I feared, no good news

 

[sivman17]

Might be hard for you to have any insight at this point, but do you think that the hard prelim med year will in any way benefit you going forward (other than appreciating radiology)?

The only part that I think will benefit me is having a better understanding of all the lines and tubes in ICU patients. I know exactly where these should all be because I've had to place them myself and verified them with x-Ray. However, it would only take 5 minutes to read a book to learn where a CVC, PICC, or Corpak should terminate, so I'm not sure how beneficial it will really be.

Other than that, exactly what you said about appreciating radiology. About 3 weeks into my intern year I realized I definitely made the right choice in choosing radiology. My other rads prelim residents and I all have countdowns on our phones to when radiology starts. All we do now is complain about this year and how great our lives will be next year.. Actually having two-day weekends, never having to do an H&P again, no more pages at 2 AM because my drug addict patient wants Dilaudid, etc. The little light I see at the end of the tunnel is the only thing keeping me going right now.

Sorry if that is discouraging... Just don't want to sugarcoat anything. I hate medicine so much right now.

 

[cbtk18]

The only part that I think will benefit me is having a better understanding of all the lines and tubes in ICU patients. I know exactly where these should all be because I've had to place them myself and verified them with x-Ray. However, it would only take 5 minutes to read a book to learn where a CVC, PICC, or Corpak should terminate, so I'm not sure how beneficial it will really be.

Other than that, exactly what you said about appreciating radiology. About 3 weeks into my intern year I realized I definitely made the right choice in choosing radiology. My other rads prelim residents and I all have countdowns on our phones to when radiology starts. All we do now is complain about this year and how great our lives will be next year.. Actually having two-day weekends, never having to do an H&P again, no more pages at 2 AM because my drug addict patient wants Dilaudid, etc. The little light I see at the end of the tunnel is the only thing keeping me going right now.

Sorry if that is discouraging... Just don't want to sugarcoat anything. I hate medicine so much right now.

I hear that. I'm in an IM intern year and absolutely hating life. I mean I really hate it. It by no means has anything to do with the long hours. It's the absolute life sucking day to day grind of social issues, patient families, non compliance, bad habits, disrespect, crabby nurses, bad attendings...etc that make this one of the least fun times I've ever had in my life. I don't care if they slash radiology salary over half. As long as I don't have to do anything related to internal medicine again I will be happy as a clam.

 

[meister]

Ultimately you'll obtain a good understanding and why clinicians act the way they do and how difficult their job is. Maybe you'll whine less about the ED ordering CTPAs than the typical cush TY-trained rads resident, I don't know.

 

[shark2000]

Internship is a waste of time. However, at most it is one year and you won't even remember it after 4-5 years.

One of the very few good parts about it is friends that you can find. Even if the program itself is not friendly, you and other interns are in the same boat and can make very good friends.

Try to enjoy it as much as you can, even if it is a tough schedule. Once you become an attending in 6-7 years you won't be able to do many things that you can do know. Kind of like college time which will never come back.

 

[Bradstein]

Internship is a waste of time. However, at most it is one year and you won't even remember it after 4-5 years.

You mean I won't have the itch to occasionally admit a CHF exacerbation in the future?

 

[UCLA2014]

Lol, honestly I didn't expect this thread to be quite this bleak.

****!!!!!

 

[rads214]

It sounds like we are in the exact same boat. I applied to 5 TY's and wound up prelim medicine.

 

[Kaputt]

Lol, honestly I didn't expect this thread to be quite this bleak.

****!!!!!

I'm there with ya, buddy. Landed my ideal rads program but a lame prelim medicine. I was hoping this thread would be a bit more optimistic as well.

 

[rule out normal]

I'm there with ya, buddy. Landed my ideal rads program but a lame prelim medicine. I was hoping this thread would be a bit more optimistic as well.

Same here. Everyone has told me how poorly the interns are treated here, much less prelims.

 

[cbtk18]

Same here. Everyone has told me how poorly the interns are treated here, much less prelims.

This is true. They at least have to keep the categorical somewhat happy, but us prelims? We're only there a year. They wouldn't pee on you if you were on fire.

 

[cbtk18]

This is true. They at least have to keep the categorical somewhat happy, but us prelims? We're only there a year. They wouldn't pee on you if you were on fire.

I think the only true benefit of the inter year is that once you get to radiology, you will be so much more grateful, happy, content....

 

[DermViser]

I hear that. I'm in an IM intern year and absolutely hating life. I mean I really hate it. It by no means has anything to do with the long hours. It's the absolute life sucking day to day grind of social issues, patient families, non compliance, bad habits, disrespect, crabby nurses, bad attendings...etc that make this one of the least fun times I've ever had in my life. I don't care if they slash radiology salary over half. As long as I don't have to do anything related to internal medicine again I will be happy as a clam.

And now you know why ROAD specialties are so coveted. Loved the subject matter of IM, hated the actual practice of it. No regrets.

 

[MossPoh]

I think most of us are in the same boat with our thoughts on IM. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I "loved" the material because there are some areas that I feel like are splitting hairs for the sake of splitting hairs.

Regardless, you will survive..or if you are unfortunate and die, then it likely won't be from the intern year.

 

[greg1184]

In many ways I am somewhat glad I am doing a surgery intern year. Yeah the hours do suck (although on some easier rotations with multiple interns I do get off earlier), but the pluses are no nonsense rounds, succinct notes, getting stuff done, etc. When I watch the medicine people round on the other hand, it looks painful.... I dont know if I can put myself through that. 😛

 

[deleted525628]

1. Quit being weenie
2. Reset your expectations
3. Figure out what you want to get out of the year.

I'm doing a surgery intern year too, it has its ups and downs. The thing I hate the most is that you never have a weekend day off. You'll have a random tuesday off or something dumb like that. A good thing is that you don't have to deal with social bs as much as in medicine. A great thing is that your service can chose NOT to admit patients from the ER; medicine gets so many dumps because they can't deny admits from the ER.

 

[cbtk18]

Yeah a lot of time I wish I had done a surgery year, though many people advised against it.

 

[tco]

I hate rounding as much as the next guy, but I hate surgeons more than rounding.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[skk3]

lol @tco. great, succinct post. mindless rounding >>> surgeons any day of the week.

 

[Puff-of-Snow Sign]

A great thing is that your service can chose NOT to admit patients from the ER; medicine gets so many dumps because they can't deny admits from the ER.

I'm now imagining a scenario in which a medicine consult resident says, "Yeah...I understand his chest pain is really bad, but it's not medical. We'll sign off. Call with questions."

 

[DermViser]

I'm now imagining a scenario in which a medicine consult resident says, "Yeah...I understand his chest pain is really bad, but it's not medical. We'll sign off. Call with questions."

Would be so nice if Internal Medicine did this. They'd get more respect than they do now.

 

[DermViser]

The only part that I think will benefit me is having a better understanding of all the lines and tubes in ICU patients. I know exactly where these should all be because I've had to place them myself and verified them with x-Ray. However, it would only take 5 minutes to read a book to learn where a CVC, PICC, or Corpak should terminate, so I'm not sure how beneficial it will really be.

Other than that, exactly what you said about appreciating radiology. About 3 weeks into my intern year I realized I definitely made the right choice in choosing radiology. My other rads prelim residents and I all have countdowns on our phones to when radiology starts. All we do now is complain about this year and how great our lives will be next year.. Actually having two-day weekends, never having to do an H&P again, no more pages at 2 AM because my drug addict patient wants Dilaudid, etc. The little light I see at the end of the tunnel is the only thing keeping me going right now.

Sorry if that is discouraging... Just don't want to sugarcoat anything. I hate medicine so much right now.

😆😆😆

 

[DermViser]

I think most of us are in the same boat with our thoughts on IM. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I "loved" the material because there are some areas that I feel like are splitting hairs for the sake of splitting hairs.

Regardless, you will survive..or if you are unfortunate and die, then it likely won't be from the intern year.

I should probably be more clear. I'm talking about reading about the pathology and pathophysiology of disease conditions.

 

[cbtk18]

What is this "countdown" app and where can I find it?

 

[guestdoc]

Rounds rounds rounds, notes, H&P's, order monkey, no time to actually learn, "that's for second and third years".

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

 

[MossPoh]

I feel like most of the internists acknowledge it but don't really go much deeper than that. They much rather debate the efficacy of specific beta blockers and calculate TIMI, CHADS2, MELD, or whatever score, grill you about why you didn't calculate it and then go into pedantic discussion regarding the benefits of the scoring system versus another calculation while citing a bunch of studies with cute names.

 

[greg1184]

I feel like most of the internists acknowledge it but don't really go much deeper than that. They much rather debate the efficacy of specific beta blockers and calculate TIMI, CHADS2, MELD, or whatever score, grill you about why you didn't calculate it and then go into pedantic discussion regarding the benefits of the scoring system versus another calculation while citing a bunch of studies with cute names.

In other words.... IM sucks!!!









*runs away*

 

[sivman17]

What's interesting to see is how the categorical IM interns hate this year almost as much as us prelims. The other day one of them said he wishes he was a prelim so that he had something else to look forward to in July. This guy was one of the more enthusiastic interns at the beginning of the year, too. His optimism and excitement for medicine has been completely shattered. Let's just say I am glad I didn't choose IM for residency. I could not imagine doing this the rest of my life. It is terrible.

 

[TUGM]

you'll be alright.

 

[UCLA2014]

I feel like most of the internists acknowledge it but don't really go much deeper than that. They much rather debate the efficacy of specific beta blockers and calculate TIMI, CHADS2, MELD, or whatever score, grill you about why you didn't calculate it and then go into pedantic discussion regarding the benefits of the scoring system versus another calculation while citing a bunch of studies with cute names.

I love radiology.

 

[rule out normal]

I love radiology.

Anyone else really dreading prelim medicine? I did my AI and didn't think I'd make it.

 

[meister]

It gets better once you figure out how to maximize efficiency and work attendings appropriately, such as fake pages to yourself to get out of med student teaching rounds if need be. Also, once you figure out how to write 8 or 12 or however many (correct and accurate) progress notes in under an hour.

 

[rule out normal]

It gets better once you figure out how to maximize efficiency and work attendings appropriately, such as fake pages to yourself to get out of med student teaching rounds if need be. Also, once you figure out how to write 8 or 12 or however many (correct and accurate) progress notes in under an hour.

I love writing endless numbers of progress notes on five hours of sleep while sweating my ass off in my long sleeve shirt and tie, answering pages about drug seeking patients wanting their Dilaudid.

 

[meister]

I love writing endless numbers of progress notes on five hours of sleep while sweating my ass off in my long sleeve shirt and tie, answering pages about drug seeking patients wanting their Dilaudid.

Give them all the dilaudid they want, diluted in a 100cc NS bag infused over an hour of course.

 

[Shifty B]

It will be different knowing that there is no one that you have to impress. As a medical student, you're always trying to do your best, keep everyone satisfied, and impress everyone. Once you are an intern, unless you are at your future program, there is absolutely no external pressure to do well. You are there to get the work done, and that's it. Relax a little bit and do what you need to do to survive. Fake pages are totally fair game. Just leaving rounds to go finish your notes is also an option.

 

[meister]

That's another good point. Last year when I would leave the hospital, I was done. This year when I leave I usually study for a couple hours more often than not.