Calling all 'non-traditional' residents

[AZCOMstudentdoc]

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DO student, under 40, MSII, married, 2 kids (6th and 8th grades), Masters' degree with thesis and research (no other publications).

I thought it was a challenge applying to medical school as a returning student; now, I am finding myself interested in some of the more demanding residencies / specialties.

Has anyone chosen an FP, ER or IM spot purely because they felt they would do their family harm by selecting something like a surgical specialty, without regard for what you wanted to do?

If you share a similar family please post your background and thoughts on this.

 

[8744]

DO student, under 40, MSII, married, 2 kids (6th and 8th grades), Masters' degree with thesis and research (no other publications).

I thought it was a challenge applying to medical school as a returning student; now, I am finding myself interested in some of the more demanding residencies / specialties.

Has anyone chosen an FP, ER or IM spot purely because they felt they would do their family harm by selecting something like a surgical specialty, without regard for what you wanted to do?

If you share a similar family please post your background and thoughts on this.

Third year Emergency Medicine resident. Over 40. Married. Four kids. five dogs. Would rather have a red-hot poker jammed up my rectum than conduct research into anything. 22 months of residency remaining. Money tank empty. Sucking fumes. Forget the pot, don't even have the lid to piss in. Working hard. Crazy schedule. Must moonlight to make ends meet. Tired all the time. Wife supportive but tired of being poor, single mother. Panda tired, oh so tired, of being a resident but feel strong bond of kinship with the guy assembling my gordito as we both have made essentially the same salary for the last six years.

Surgery residency? You are crazy. Loco. Whacked. Cheese has fallen off of your cracker. What? You don't like your kids? You don't like your wife? I mean, if you want to be rid of 'em I say go for it because one day, three years from now, your tired, lonely, aggravated wife wakes up and realizes that the fatigued, perpetually pissed-off stranger yelling at the kids is not the man she wanted to marry and corrects the problem but not before taking half of your income for the rest of your life.

Neurosurgery? May as well file the divorce papers now to save time later. OB/Gyn. Hug yer' kids, tell them daddy will be home for dinner when they are fifteen.

If you want demanding, work towards dermatology, opthalmalogy, or radiology, each highly competitive in the match, each extremely lucrative, but each with a decent lifestyle both in residency and practice.

Sincerely,

P. Bear, MD

 

[Danica]

Would rather have a red-hot poker jammed up my rectum than conduct research into anything.

Hear Hear!

 

[efex101]

Surgery is not the best choice IMHO....specially for a non-trad, this of course is just MY opinion. Although surgery was my TOP choice I will be doing something else (42 yo, two kids, military husband, no pets)

 

[dralex]

I'm seven years out of my PGY-x era. Left medicine altogether after that but am now applying to Surgery and Radiology residencies.
My wife is a podiatric surgeon and we have a daughter.
Some of us have a long road ahead my friends...
I was going to be an FP the first time around but then realized I did not want to be a primary care doc. I made a poor decision the first time around, I hope I can fix it this time and do what I really want to do before I eventually drop dead...

 

[divinemsm]

32 year old PGY-1 , going into anesthesia residency next year. LOVED surgery, did not love the lifestyle that accompanies it. I had to come to grips with the fact that being a surgeon does not only entail O.R. and clinic time-it entails building a business, paying various overhead expenses, staffing costs etc, nevermind navigating the various aspects of reimbursements, save for those docs who run a cash business-(not many)...plus it is not as if " poof ! " -immediately out of residency one will fall into a lucrative situation-let's face it, bills need to be paid , loans need to be paid back , and there are material things that to a degree, we all want on some level. I have heard from various surgeons, that it takes an average of five years to build a business. Life should be about more than being a doctor.The system at large , makes it hard to do so, especially in certain specialties.

 

[Blade28]

LOVED surgery, did not love the lifestyle that accompanies it. I had to come to grips with the fact that being a surgeon does not only entail O.R. and clinic time-it entails building a business, paying various overhead expenses, staffing costs etc, nevermind navigating the various aspects of reimbursements

But...and this is VERY important to me...despite the business problems, occasionally difficult and sick patients, etc...

...you get to operate!!!

(Of course there are a lot of other factors.)

 

[Winged Scapula]

Ya know, there are hospitals that actually hire surgeons so you don't have to "build a business"...its built in, along with salary, malpractice, etc. Your earning potential may be less, but it comes without the hassles of private practice.

 

[JMC_MarineCorps]

DO student, under 40, MSII, married, 2 kids (6th and 8th grades), Masters' degree with thesis and research (no other publications).

I thought it was a challenge applying to medical school as a returning student; now, I am finding myself interested in some of the more demanding residencies / specialties.

Has anyone chosen an FP, ER or IM spot purely because they felt they would do their family harm by selecting something like a surgical specialty, without regard for what you wanted to do?

If you share a similar family please post your background and thoughts on this.

31 yo senior DO student, married 13 years, 3 daughters (5th grade, 1st grade and 7 months) and 1 dog...once considered EM for its 'lifestyle.' I'm on EM now, certainly don't share that feeling anymore...think its a bad deal with flip-flopping shifts, weekends, holidays - I guess if you really love it you will tolerate it, but no thanks.

Just submitted my ERAS - PSYCHIATRY - The diamond in the rough baby!

 

[napoleondynamite]

32 years old, 3 kids & a dog. Happily married for nine years. I also loved surgery and cardiology. But ended up deciding on radonc (which is actually quite a "surgical" field, but much nicer lifestyle!)

You gotta ask yourself if the anti-lifestyle field you are interested is the ONLY field that would make you happy in medicine, or if it is just the field that would fulfill you the most PROFESSIONALLY. Dude, you don't have the luxury of looking at every specialty through the same lens as a single guy in his twenties. If there is any field out there that would fulfill you & make you happy (even if you don't "like it" as much as say, neurosurg) you should pick that field IMHO. It's a compromise that you make with your family. I figured, my family is stuck with a doctor as a Dad/husband..that's sacrifice enough on their part. The compromise on my end was to not ask even more of them by picking a field strictly based on what I "liked" the most.

Admittedly, I am a lucky case as I ended up in a competetive field, which really has the best of everything to offer: intellectually challenging, rewarding, great lifestyle..so landing a spot in radonc wasn't "giving up" much.

 

[Doc Oc]

30 years old. Married 8 years. Two year old son. HUsband who has lots of hobbies but not good with a sponge. FP intern. Hours not bad. What is bad is PAGER CALL - you are always on pager except for weekends off and post-call. So, even when it isn't your in-house call night, you get paged all the time when on inpatient rotations. This interrupts me trying to give the kid a bath, or watch the kid while my husband is at the gym - because I can get called away at any time, we still have to get a babysitter even if I'm home.

So FP is doable, but would be excellent if there was no pager call or if the in-house intern took pages from the floor, if you were truly "off" once you were at home. I don't mind being gone 80 hours a week if I can be home most of the time that I am home.

 

[balaguru]

32 yo. Married 4 yrs. 4 mo daughter. Applying to gen surg this year. What I have going for me is zero debt, financial independence and a stay at home wife--probably wouldn't have made it through med school without these things.

 

[driedcaribou]

I really admire all of you who juggle families with medicine.

I'm here stressing about what specialties to apply for and what lifestyle it will lead to and what sacrifices I will have to make but they all pale in comparison to what I read you guys have to do.

👍 for your dedication.


It's so hard to balance what you enjoy with finances, personal life, personal satisfaction etc....

Why didn't we all become dentists? j/k 😀

 

[Pir8DeacDoc]

This is truly a tough time of the year. The decisions that you make now can have so much impact on your future. You can always change but who wants to be a resident again at 45 because you hate "X" field that you chose as a fourth year student...


I can only imagine that the process is made that much more difficult when you have to consider more than just your own wishes. Good luck to all parties 🙂