Current DO Resident (Radiology) - Ask me (Almost) Anything

[GuitarFreak]

Hey everyone,

I did one of these about a year and a half ago & found that I was able to pay it forward/give back and answer questions for a lot of you aspiring physicians.

So once again, I find myself with some time to kill, I figured why not try to help once again.

Let me know if you guys have questions about anything, from getting into medical school to picking a specialty to getting into residency, and everything in between.

Best,
GuitarFreak

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[popopopop]

What do you do if you can't recognize something on a scan? Do you consult another doc or is there a resource you use? Thanks for doing this!

 

[GuitarFreak]

What do you do if you can't recognize something on a scan? Do you consult another doc or is there a resource you use? Thanks for doing this!

If you see something and don't recognize it, you would typically look it up on different sources (StatDx, Radiopaedia, Books etc) or depending on whether there's an attending available, you can ask them as well, just to confirm your train of thought. This is precisely why its important to be well-read during residency because when you're on call, by yourself, you better recognize stuff because you won't have attending coverage or the time to look up things!

No worries

 

[songl4a]

.

 

[uworldrelay]

Why would you choose diagnostic rads over interventional rads?

 

[GuitarFreak]

Stats? Did you do research in med school, and if so how? Is your program DO friendly? How about other programs in the hospital?

I don't like to publicly discuss my stats, Sorry

I did do research in medical school. I spent a lot of time looking for and spending time in research actually, since I am passionate about the subject. I looked up tons of labs doing research in Radiology that interested me. After narrowing it down, I shotgun emailed all the PI's (like 30-40 people). Most didn't get back to me. About 5-6 did. I interviewed with them. Got offered multiple positions and finally spent all 4 years of medical school, with the same work.

My program is becoming more DO friendly over the past couple years. The other programs at my hospital are definitely DO friendly.

 

[GuitarFreak]

Why would you choose diagnostic rads over interventional rads?

I enjoy Diagnostic Rads a lot more than Interventional.

 

[just_SAIYAN]

Would you choose medicine again? Would you choose radiology again? Any other fields you considered?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[QueenJames]

Did you take both USMLE and COMLEX? If so, what do you suggest to do to prepare for USMLE?

 

[AlteredScale]

Favorite guitarist?

Is you're program an academic program? Community? What do you like most about it?

 

[GuitarFreak]

Would you choose medicine again? Would you choose radiology again? Any other fields you considered?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

Yes. Yes. None.

I was always one of those weird ones who applied to medical school with the intention of getting into a specific specialty - Radiology. So I never really had a Plan B and thankfully it worked out.

 

[GuitarFreak]

Did you take both USMLE and COMLEX? If so, what do you suggest to do to prepare for USMLE?

COMLEX only. But most of my friends did take both. It seemed that First Aid, annotated with Pathoma and Kaplan videos was the most popular way - at least among my friends.

 

[GuitarFreak]

Favorite guitarist?

Is you're program an academic program? Community? What do you like most about it?

Joe Satriani.

It's an academic program. I love the collegial atmosphere and camaraderie among the residents. The volume is super high so you get to see lots of different path as well!

 

[OverlyRomantic]

Hey! Thanks for taking the time out to do this. We all appreciate it. Can you describe a typical work day for you? What's your favorite part of your day? Least favorite?

 

[68PGunner]

What is a competitive USMLE/COMLEX score for your program?

What resources did you use to find research opportunities in radiology?

 

[songl4a]

.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Since a lot of DO schools don't have certain departments or easy access to them in many fields (some residency programs are far as heck from the school), how did you yourself make connections in the field of radiology while in medical school?

 

[AlteredScale]

Joe Satriani.

It's an academic program. I love the collegial atmosphere and camaraderie among the residents. The volume is super high so you get to see lots of different path as well!

I remember watching Joe Satriani's youtube videos showing how he does some crazy techniques with that floyd rose. The "something stuck in a lizards mouth"-noise was hilarious. He's a great guitarist though. I think he played with Steve Vai and Guthrie Govan (my favorite guitarist right now next to the guitarist of Intervals) at G3 two years ago.

Thanks for the answer. Been using the Figure1 app and rads seems to be an awesome specialty. Did you spend a lot of time auditioning at these academic programs while you were interviewing?

 

[GuitarFreak]

Hey! Thanks for taking the time out to do this. We all appreciate it. Can you describe a typical work day for you? What's your favorite part of your day? Least favorite?

No worries!

A typical day would involve coming into work around 7:30 am. Start prelim-dictating cases from the night before/early morning. After reading a bunch, go over them with the attending. If I were to be on an IR or Ultrasound or Fluoro rotation, then I'd do some hands on stuff like GI-series (fluoro), Paracentesis (IR) or scan patients that the ultrasound techs may be having trouble with. Conference at noon. Then the rest of the day is essentially the same, in that, you dictate cases and go over them with the attendings, handle calls from other residents/attendings regarding ordering appropriate studies, or go over certain cases with other residents/attendings if they have specific questions about particular findings we dictated. Typically we leave around 5 - 5:30 pm.

On face value, the day seems very monotonous but given the wide variety of cases we see, I promise you its anything but

 

[GuitarFreak]

Hey! Thanks for taking the time out to do this. We all appreciate it. Can you describe a typical work day for you? What's your favorite part of your day? Least favorite?

Oh favorite part of the day is actually making diagnoses that haven't been called before.

Least favorite is being on hold while waiting for an ER doc to pick up so we can report acute findings. Its really really frustrating.

 

[GuitarFreak]

What is a competitive USMLE/COMLEX score for your program?

What resources did you use to find research opportunities in radiology?

I think the stats are pretty on-par with the specialty standards nowadays but our program does look at the entire application and holds massive weight on the actual interview / how one carries themselves and gets along with everyone. Radiology is close quarters so personality matters a lot more than other specialties.

Google. Legitimately the only resource I used. I was just sifting through the websites for the Rads research departments for different academic institutions in my area and narrowing them down based on my interest.

 

[GuitarFreak]

Dang, a protected AOA residency position, so has it already been phased out due to the merger?

Not a protected position at all. A regular position with the regular pool of candidates. I'm not even sure if there will be "protected" positions but I honestly do not know much about the details of the merger.

 

[GuitarFreak]

Since a lot of DO schools don't have certain departments or easy access to them in many fields (some residency programs are far as heck from the school), how did you yourself make connections in the field of radiology while in medical school?

Very good question and a massive/real concern!

I went to a lot of conferences, at any chance I could get & just networked there. I also shotgun emailed residents at local programs (who had their emails listed on the websites) and just asked if they had time to talk on the phone or meet up for coffee. A surprising number of people were happy to meet and give advice.

 

[GuitarFreak]

I remember watching Joe Satriani's youtube videos showing how he does some crazy techniques with that floyd rose. The "something stuck in a lizards mouth"-noise was hilarious. He's a great guitarist though. I think he played with Steve Vai and Guthrie Govan (my favorite guitarist right now next to the guitarist of Intervals) at G3 two years ago.

Thanks for the answer. Been using the Figure1 app and rads seems to be an awesome specialty. Did you spend a lot of time auditioning at these academic programs while you were interviewing?

Great taste

I did. Not only because I wanted to audition and make a good impression etc. But also, I'd much rather have spent my time at a Rads rotation than anything else haha

 

[almostnever]

@GuitarFreak Thanks for doing this! Is there anything you wish you had done at the beginning of med school? Any advice to 1st years?

 

[songl4a]

.

 

[GuitarFreak]

@GuitarFreak Thanks for doing this! Is there anything you wish you had done at the beginning of med school? Any advice to 1st years?

No problem!

Not get overwhelmed. You're gonna have an enormous amount of information thrown at you and you're gonna feel extremely overwhelmed. Rest assured that everyone else is in the same boat. Find your most optimal way of studying as early as possible and use it for as long as possible.

Something I heard a lot of my classmates say was that they wished that they'd started using resources like pathoma to study for their classes too. That way, its not just a board prep resource, but also a resource for your regular med school exams. It also helps because by the time you start studying for Step 1, that book and those lectures will not be foreign to you and will feel like a comfortable place when you're going to be traversing things like first aid which are daunting by themselves.

 

[GuitarFreak]

What did you do the summer before med school?

Hung out with friends, traveled, did absolutely nothing related to school or studying.

 

[I'mJustCurious]

1.What is your favorite way to study?
2. Things you wished you knew in under grad? Things you wished you knew in med school?
3. How fast did you adapt to med school? Any advice on how to prepare to get overwhelmed by med school?

 

[GuitarFreak]

1.What is your favorite way to study?
2. Things you wished you knew in under grad? Things you wished you knew in med school?
3. How fast did you adapt to med school? Any advice on how to prepare to get overwhelmed by med school?

1. I would take notes on Word during lectures, then print them out & read them off of paper. For some reason, I found that I retained the most that way.

2. Undergrad & Med school both: Become a time management ninja. It's essential to maintain a social life during both undergrad and medical school and the only way to succeed academically while doing so is being able to set goals for the day and achieving them in the time you allot yourself so you have the rest of the day to do whatever you want to without feeling like you're letting your academics suffer.

3. I was a crammer in undergrad. I loved pulling all nighters. Granted you can't do that in medical school, it still prepared me for marathon hours of studying so I think I adapted fairly fast. As for advice, honestly, I believe that the brain is ridiculously powerful. The only way to not be overwhelmed by the content thrown at you during MS1 is by telling yourself that this is normal. Everyone else is going through the same thing as you. Talk to your peers. Study together. Do what you need to do to convince yourself that these feelings are normal. In my opinion, that's the most important thing to continue carrying on into MS2 and further.

 

[songl4a]

.

 

[j4pac]

Does the Throckmorton's sign have any clinic significance, or is it just a reason to look at the size of guys' junk?

 

[GuitarFreak]

Were you at one of the DOs with an affiliated hospital? Seems particularly hard to continue with the same research project/group for four years when most DOs have to rotate out during 3rd and 4th years. Or did you have all your rotations local?

I was not. My rotations were all local.

Also, doing research doesn't actually require you to be on site at all times. There's a lot of "research" involved in writing your manuscripts or posters once you have your data which is what a lot of my time was spent doing; everything from compiling your references, to formatting images & tables to actually writing the content etc.

 

[GuitarFreak]

Does the Throckmorton's sign have any clinic significance, or is it just a reason to look at the size of guys' junk?

Surprisingly enough, no clinical significance at all, haha.

 

[Arabsgottakent3]

How disadvantaged do you think you were when applying to residencies as a DO? We're you gunna be wayy more advantaged as an MD?

 

[GuitarFreak]

How disadvantaged do you think you were when applying to residencies as a DO? We're you gunna be wayy more advantaged as an MD?

The bias is real. Its improving, but its real. I would've had a humongous advantage as an MD.

 

[Halcyon45]

1) The joke about radiologists is that idea that radiologists are doctors who dislike interacting with people. Thoughts?

2) Not about radiology, but did you have to take out loans for medical school? If so, how did you approach them as you entered year 1 and do you have a plan now that you're done and are into residency? Thanks!

 

[Halcyon45]

The bias is real. Its improving, but its real. I would've had a humongous advantage as an MD.

That's unfortunate to hear.

 

[cliquesh]

The bias is real. Its improving, but its real. I would've had a humongous advantage as an MD.

I agree.

 

[GuitarFreak]

1) The joke about radiologists is that idea that radiologists are doctors who dislike interacting with people. Thoughts?

2) Not about radiology, but did you have to take out loans for medical school? If so, how did you approach them as you entered year 1 and do you have a plan now that you're done and are into residency? Thanks!

1. That's actually been the running reputation of Radiologists and believe me, a lot of them are like that. But you have your share of socially awkward surgeons, psychiatrists, IM guys etc. So its not an isolated thing. Things are changing. Personally, I'm a people's person and a lot of people (as recent as yesterday haha) have asked me why radiology since I'm outgoing person with a big social life etc. It's because the field fascinates me. It has nothing to do with my social preferences. It's about the diagnostic medicine and technological medicine - that's where my interest lays. I still enjoy interacting with patients when I have to

2. I did. I took out way WAYY too many loans. But I justified it by saying that its part of the process. I spent my entire undergrad, med school and living expenses off of loans and odd jobs. So my debt is up there. The plan initially was to enter into IBR and take it from there but my personal finances have changed recently and unfortunately I'm in forbearance (maybe till the end of my residency/fellowship) and then I'll take it from there. #$1Mdebtclub haha

 

[GuitarFreak]

That's unfortunate to hear.

It absolutely is. But work your butt off and you can rise above a lot of it.

 

[C1Atlas]

How often, or to what extent, do you take your work home with you? You leave work ~5pm, but is your time off/evening truly yours?

 

[DrBowtie]

Does the Throckmorton's sign have any clinic significance, or is it just a reason to look at the size of guys' junk?

It's not the size. It points to the side of the abnormality 50% of the time

 

[GuitarFreak]

How often, or to what extent, do you take your work home with you? You leave work ~5pm, but is your time off/evening truly yours?

You never take your "work" home, really. You have the personal responsibility to read your books when you're home so you can figure out however much time you can devote towards that.

 

[GuitarFreak]

It's not the size. It points to the side of the abnormality 50% of the time

Less than 50% of the time

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

I hope this isn't a stupid question but are you concerned about the outsourcing of Radiology jobs to other countries/companies?! Do you think it will stay this way in the next 10-15 years?

 

[j4pac]

Less than 50% of the time

Is the size proportional to the amount of pathology?

 

[TUVIX]

What percentage of your time is spent reading different scans? For example 80% x-rays and CT, 20% MRI? Do you read PET scans as well? Do diagnostic rads people specialize further into subsets of rads? Admittedly know very little about this specialty.

 

[Giovanotto]

I don't like to publicly discuss my stats, Sorry

I did do research in medical school. I spent a lot of time looking for and spending time in research actually, since I am passionate about the subject. I looked up tons of labs doing research in Radiology that interested me. After narrowing it down, I shotgun emailed all the PI's (like 30-40 people). Most didn't get back to me. About 5-6 did. I interviewed with them. Got offered multiple positions and finally spent all 4 years of medical school, with the same work.

My program is becoming more DO friendly over the past couple years. The other programs at my hospital are definitely DO friendly.

I think the stats are pretty on-par with the specialty standards nowadays but our program does look at the entire application and holds massive weight on the actual interview / how one carries themselves and gets along with everyone. Radiology is close quarters so personality matters a lot more than other specialties.

Google. Legitimately the only resource I used. I was just sifting through the websites for the Rads research departments for different academic institutions in my area and narrowing them down based on my interest.

Where are you going to school, location-wise? I can't understand how you managed to commute or find research opportunities that you could attend to for 4 year, while also meeting with residents from other programs. I'd love to be able to do as you, but it seems like most DO schools are fairly isolated these days. Care to elaborate?

edit: just noticed this was partly answered already.

 

[VagabondKing]

I hope this isn't a stupid question but are you concerned about the outsourcing of Radiology jobs to other countries/companies?! Do you think it will stay this way in the next 10-15 years?

Wondering the same thing.

Also, what's your case load like on an average day?