Confused soon to be 4th year trying to decide on different field

[mochamuffins]

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Well I am into my 4th day of family practice and very confused what to set up for rotations for residency.

So my back ground is that originally for three years I really thought I would go into family practice. Then I did my pediatric rotation and realized I loved it but not enough to go into it solely and started looking at med-peds program. I felt family practice residencies did not give enough of pediatric training for the amount of pediatrics I would ideally want in my practice. I have set up some rotations and subI focusing on med-peds residency. I have already got LOR focusing on me applying to med-peds. My personal statement also reflects this. Now having almost finished my first week of FP, I really enjoy it and am confused ( and maybe scared) that I made a mistake on focusing on med-peds. I am not sure if it is the brainwashing of the FPs who know my dilemna and I wont get to work with Med-Peds physicians until it is way into the application process. I have liked most of my rotations so far but have not had that " A-HA!!! This is definitely for me " experience. I am also an older female student( mid 30 s, recently single) and would like to settle and have a family one day...so I am keeping in mind that also. A friend suggested to go for med-peds because it may be harder to get into ( I only have a few programs so far that I like) and if it does not work out, scramble into FP.

Well thanks for reading my distraught ramblings. Hoping to get some advice from residents/ physicians that were in a similar dilemna 😕

 

[Top Gun]

Do you like OB and surgery? With family practice, you can do that as well, but not with med/peds. Also, with med/peds, you have to do two board certification exams.

 

[Bitsy3221]

Bear in mind that I am doing neither med-peds nor FP, so take my view with a grain of salt.

From what I have seen, the med/peds people where I went to med school got more in depth training in the areas they will eventually do their practice in. As the previous poster said, in FP you will do rotations in psych, surgery, OB, etc. but if you have little interest in these fields and have no desire to incorporate these areas into your practice, why spend the time training in them? In addition, with med/peds you seem to have the leg up for fellowships, should you decide a year or so into your training that you really want to be a gastroenterologist/endocrinologost/rheumatologist etc etc etc.

You can also always apply to and rank both FP & med/peds, which will give you more of a chance to end up in a program/location you like rather than just scrambling into what's leftover for FP

 

[werewethere]

Well, you're working from a good position. You already have something you like and I suspect that you will enjoy your med peds experience as well. There can be quite a bit of overlap in rotations that would apply to both residencies, so rather than focusing on the title, focus on what you want to do. Apply to both types of programs, finds out which ones offer the best combination of training for you (lots of peds, but not too much) and which fits your own personal needs. You can then put together your rank order list based on the specific programs and what they offer you rather than on just saying "I want med-peds" or "I want FP." I have friend who did that, and couldn't be happier with the way things went.

 

[boboli]

Just my two cents. After residency FPs and Med/Peds can look really similar in practice. But during training you have to make some very big decisions. Here are some issues to consider (among others). Of course, if you still aren't sure, applying and interviewing at both is a great idea. Just scrambling into FP is probably not a good idea, you would want to make sure the FP program is right for you as they are all quite different from each other.

1. FP gives you the opportunity to do obstetrics once done with residency. Med/Peds excludes obstetrics (basically by definition). So, are you comfortable giving up OB?

2. A Med/Peds residency would allow you to pursue fellowship training in one of the medical or pediatric subspecialties, FP doesn't. Are you sure you don't won't want to be a cardiologist, rheumatologist, etc?

3. FP residency has a heavy focus on outpatient clinic during residency (from 1 to 5 halfdays a week, increasing each year). The Med/Peds residencies that I'm familiar with had adult continuity clinic 2 half days per month and peds continuity clinic 2 half days per month, with most training coming with inpatients and subspecialty rotations.

4. The surgery and psych (behavioral health) rotations in a lot of FP residencies focus on what an FP would need for practice. Sugery clinic with lumps and bumps removal (or first assisting in the OR) and the primary care psych issues.

 

[mochamuffins]

Thank you everyone for all your advice. Ever since I found out about med-peds as an alternative to family practice, I have done extensive research on the differences. I realize that the best way to figure out the best fit for me is to wait for my schedule med-peds experiences( mid way through fourth year) and do some subIs in pediatrics and medicine to make sure I would enjoy the amount of inpatient work during med-peds residency. But I appreciate the advice of werewethere about not trying to define myself with one group or another. Just figure out what I want to do and find the best program that fits my needs and rank accordingly. Well it seems like 4th year is not going to be as easy as I thought and there are a lot of decisions to be made but I am sure it will go by fast.🙂 Since my graduation will be one year from now!!!!