Current Radiology Resident - Ask me (Almost) Anything

[GuitarFreak]

Hey everyone,

So I've kind of gotten into the habit of doing these every so often since I never had a resource like this back in the day when I was applying. I've gotten good feedback and have been able to answer a bunch of questions in the past.

Since I had some time to kill, I figured why not start another one of these threads to answer questions for a lot of you aspiring physicians.

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

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[femmegoblue]

Hi there! Did you apply ACGME and AOA residencies?

 

[Marrowist]

Which medical school did you attend?

 

[femmegoblue]

Which medical school did you attend?

Their profile info says NYCOM class of 2014

 

[GuitarFreak]

Hi there! Did you apply ACGME and AOA residencies?

I did. But I'm at an ACGME program. At this point, with the merger, I don't know how much sense it makes to apply to AOA residencies - unless you are aware of their status and where they are in the process of converting over.

 

[GuitarFreak]

Their profile info says NYCOM class of 2014

There ya go!

 

[χmaverickχ]

As a fellow guitar player, who are your main influences? Favorite tuning?

Hint: John Frusciante must be included in answer

 

[GuitarFreak]

As a fellow guitar player, who are your main influences? Favorite tuning?

Hint: John Frusciante must be included in answer

haha unfortunately he isn't...

My main influences have been Satriani, SRV, Hendrix, and BB King to name a few.

 

[STG1021]

with hopefully avoiding the inevitable flames, do you or have you encountered any anti DO bias from med school to now? or do you think its just a pre-med SDN talking point?

 

[YoungDoc25]

Hey everyone,

So I've kind of gotten into the habit of doing these every so often since I never had a resource like this back in the day when I was applying. I've gotten good feedback and have been able to answer a bunch of questions in the past.

Since I had some time to kill, I figured why not start another one of these threads to answer questions for a lot of you aspiring physicians.

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

What made you choose rads? Were you interested in it going into med school?

 

[cjcarter]

Did you do any research in med school? If so, when did you start?

 

[poloboy]

What did you learn in med school that you found useful as a radiology resident or as a resident in general?

 

[GuitarFreak]

with hopefully avoiding the inevitable flames, do you or have you encountered any anti DO bias from med school to now? or do you think its just a pre-med SDN talking point?

The only time I, personally, encountered anti DO bias was in non-medical settings (I'm involved in some tech startups etc). But fortunately, I haven't encountered any anti DO bias in medicine. That said, I haven't applied to fellowship yet so that may change!

 

[GuitarFreak]

What made you choose rads? Were you interested in it going into med school?

For a few personal reasons that I won't get into, I actually applied to medical school with the intention of going into Radiology, or at least with hopes of getting in.

(The reasons involve family stuff / identifiers)

 

[GuitarFreak]

Did you do any research in med school? If so, when did you start?

I did! I started doing research my 2nd month into medical school. I didn't start with a crazy high workload, though. I just familiarized myself with the research being done and then really took on significant hours during the summers or some weekends.

 

[femmegoblue]

I did! I started doing research my 2nd month into medical school. I didn't start with a crazy high workload, though. I just familiarized myself with the research being done and then really took on significant hours during the summers or some weekends.

Can you elaborate on what type of research and how you went about finding it?

 

[GuitarFreak]

What did you learn in med school that you found useful as a radiology resident or as a resident in general?

Time management. My school put up all the lectures online so a vast majority of the students used to stream lectures from home/starbucks and what not. I was one of them. It is very very easy to slack when you're given that independence. But I tried to work on my time management and was able to stay focused with my goals.

That skill has come in very handy in Radiology since Rads involves more reading/book knowledge than any other field (in my opinion) so you consistently have to be reading. So it's been important to keep that in mind and devote a certain amount of time most every night to read.

 

[GuitarFreak]

Can you elaborate on what type of research and how you went about finding it?

I did clinical research in Cardiac MRI. I had to hustle quiet a bit to get the position, to be honest.

What I did was that I looked up anyone and everyone doing Radiology research within commutable distance from where I was. Then I went through each one of them, looked at what they were doing. If it seemed interesting to me, I looked more into it, read a couple of their publications. Then dropped emails asking for opportunities. It took a lot of time and a lot of work but I felt that it was worth it. This wasn't undergrad anymore. I didn't want to do desk/bench research just for the sake of doing it. I only wanted to do stuff that I truly found interesting.

 

[IdealNFP]

Best pieces of advice you learned either in undergrad or during your application process that you could give to someone applying in the next cycle (June 2017)?

 

[GuitarFreak]

Best pieces of advice you learned either in undergrad or during your application process that you could give to someone applying in the next cycle (June 2017)?

The line between confidence and cockiness is very very thin. People who are on the other side, have been doing this for a while and will smell it from a mile away. Stay humble - humility is memorable. Keep your goals realistic, for the time that you're in.

 

[YoungDoc25]

The line between confidence and cockiness is very very thin. People who are on the other side, have been doing this for a while and will smell it from a mile away. Stay humble - humility is memorable. Keep your goals realistic, for the time that you're in.

This should honestly be a sticky on SDN. Applicable for every step in this crazy process of becoming a physician.

What are some things outside of "the dark room" that you enjoy in radiology? I feel like it gets pegged as the specialty that has no patient contact and requires you to be isolated 24/7/365. Would love to hear your experience so far!

 

[pseud0]

I feel like it gets pegged as the specialty that has no patient contact and requires you to be isolated 24/7/365. Would love to hear your experience so far!

well some people WANT that. My bro picked Path with this being one of the major reasons.

 

[YoungDoc25]

well some people WANT that. My bro picked Path with this being one of the major reasons.

Definitely. That's an awesome opportunity for those personality types. But I've read conflicting views where DR has the opportunity to do various procedures and have as much patient contact as they want. Wasn't sure how common that was though.

 

[Geo16]

How do you get over looking at spooky skeletons?

 

[ritts]

Can you describe a typical day for you as a resident?

 

[ERinspired]

I did clinical research in Cardiac MRI. I had to hustle quiet a bit to get the position, to be honest.

What I did was that I looked up anyone and everyone doing Radiology research within commutable distance from where I was. Then I went through each one of them, looked at what they were doing. If it seemed interesting to me, I looked more into it, read a couple of their publications. Then dropped emails asking for opportunities. It took a lot of time and a lot of work but I felt that it was worth it. This wasn't undergrad anymore. I didn't want to do desk/bench research just for the sake of doing it. I only wanted to do stuff that I truly found interesting.

What was your timeline for getting into research? First year, second? And were you doing research during the academic year? I appreciate it!


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[JB50]

Why rads?

 

[Strange Peanut]

Why?

Quality post! Holy cow

 

[68PGunner]

I did clinical research in Cardiac MRI. I had to hustle quiet a bit to get the position, to be honest.

What I did was that I looked up anyone and everyone doing Radiology research within commutable distance from where I was. Then I went through each one of them, looked at what they were doing. If it seemed interesting to me, I looked more into it, read a couple of their publications. Then dropped emails asking for opportunities. It took a lot of time and a lot of work but I felt that it was worth it. This wasn't undergrad anymore. I didn't want to do desk/bench research just for the sake of doing it. I only wanted to do stuff that I truly found interesting.

How did you search for these research projects?

 

[JB50]

Quality post! Holy cow

Thanks for editing my post in your quote. Let's keep it professional.

 

[deleted244469]

Would you rather have x-ray vision or bionic hearing?

How do you deal with the lack of social interaction? I've been shadowing a Radiologist, and it's a lot of conversing with the same 3-4 people all day in the (near) dark.

 

[Strange Peanut]

Thanks for editing my post in your quote. Let's keep it professional.

Wow you're unreal. I hope your integrity improves in medical school bud. You're lying on anonymous message board. Imagine what you'll lie about in your charts.. :^D

 

[Gordon Gekko]

Do you feel fellowship is necessary? How many audition rotations did you do? Are you concerned about the machine learning/AI encroachment in the future? Thx!


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[ERinspired]

Thanks for editing my post in your quote. Let's keep it professional.

JB50, did you know that we can see the edit history of your post?


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[JB50]

JB50, did you know that we can see the edit history of your post?


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ERinspired, did you know that I wasn't serious, like 90% of my posts on SDN.

Wow you're unreal. I hope your integrity improves in medical school bud. You're lying on anonymous message board. Imagine what you'll lie about in your charts.. :^D

Thanks bud. I will deeply self-reflect on the depth of my integrity now. Will update when self-reflection is complete. Charts, btw, are not an anonymous message board. That comparison is weak



deep lel

 

[GuitarFreak]

This should honestly be a sticky on SDN. Applicable for every step in this crazy process of becoming a physician.

What are some things outside of "the dark room" that you enjoy in radiology? I feel like it gets pegged as the specialty that has no patient contact and requires you to be isolated 24/7/365. Would love to hear your experience so far!

I do like limited patient contact without my specialty depending on it. Radiology has changed a lot and continues to evolve so the whole "no patient contact" thing has become a thing of the past. But outside of the dark room, I do enjoy the conferences. Radiology is very very tech heavy so learning about technological advances is definitely a big draw factor for me.

 

[GuitarFreak]

How do you get over looking at spooky skeletons?

You don't.

ever.

 

[GuitarFreak]

Can you describe a typical day for you as a resident?

It varies a lot depending on what rotation you're on. But if you're on a completely diagnostic rotation (as opposed to Fluoro, VIR, peds etc). You come in to work in the am, start dictating the studies from the night before - making sure that the findings made by the overnight resident were accurate as well. We try to do at least 2 read outs with our attendings before noon conference. Lunch/noon conference is from 12:30-1:30pm. Then you go back to your rotation and continue dictating studies that are being done. Again, like the morning, we do at least 2 read outs with the attendings before its time to go home. If you're on rotations that require you to do some procedures in addition to diagnostic work (peds, MSK etc), then you are responsible for procedures that come in as well as the studies.

 

[GuitarFreak]

What was your timeline for getting into research? First year, second? And were you doing research during the academic year? I appreciate it!


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I think I answered this question earlier - I got my research gig about 2 months into med school and continued doing it during the academic year but took a lot less of a work load then.

 

[GuitarFreak]

Why rads?

In addition to the usual reasons that everyone else gives you (a little bit of everything, not limited to one system of the body, technologically advancing etc etc), I have personal ties to the field where rads a massive part of me growing up / saved the lives of people I am very very close to.

 

[GuitarFreak]

How did you search for these research projects?

Google. I looked up academic centers, sifted through their Rads website etc.

 

[GuitarFreak]

Do you feel fellowship is necessary? How many audition rotations did you do? Are you concerned about the machine learning/AI encroachment in the future? Thx!


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With the current job market (although improving), fellowships are more or less mandatory.

I did 2 auditions (but I only ranked one of the programs)

I am not concerned just yet. I think there are a lot of variables in the AI technology. Also, you can always pick the right/progressive side and go with the flow in order to garner your own success. Swimming against the tide sounds more noble than it probably is.

 

[GuitarFreak]

Would you rather have x-ray vision or bionic hearing?

How do you deal with the lack of social interaction? I've been shadowing a Radiologist, and it's a lot of conversing with the same 3-4 people all day in the (near) dark.

X-ray vision for sure!! I'm a musician so my hearing gets enough use. Bionic hearing would be sensory overload, haha

So this really depends on the setting in which you work. If you're shadowing someone at a larger program, they would be interacting with way more people. I, personally, don't feel that there is a lack of social interaction within the specialty. I think lack of social interaction is a personal thing.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Are there opportunities for procedures outside of VIR? Sorry if that's a dumb question. Also, are your interactions entirely with other physicians? I'm wondering if you get any patient contact at all (if you want it, I mean).

Do you have time to gig at all? I was a session musician for a few years and I miss playing live every once in a while.

 

[Dr. Death]

Are IR fellowships very competitive considering many people are choosing the integrated route?

 

[Wcm21]

Are there opportunities for procedures outside of VIR? Sorry if that's a dumb question. Also, are your interactions entirely with other physicians? I'm wondering if you get any patient contact at all (if you want it, I mean).

I don't know very much at all about radiology but I will say that I recently had a sono and the radiologist came in and talked to me and actually did the sono himself in room. And then I had a biopsy which the radiologist did and spent a lot of time talking to me that day and personally called me with the results. So from my personal experience I'd say there's definitely opportunity for patient contact if you want it

 

[Grey Storm]

Why would you say that fellowships in rads is almost a necessity? Is the market for rads fellowships very competitive?

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I don't know very much at all about radiology but I will say that I recently had a sono and the radiologist came in and talked to me and actually did the sono himself in room. And then I had a biopsy which the radiologist did and spent a lot of time talking to me that day and personally called me with the results. So from my personal experience I'd say there's definitely opportunity for patient contact if you want it

Now that I think about it, a radiologist came in for the sonos on our second child because my wife was 36.

 

[iforget2]

How possible is it to become a radiologist with average numbers as a DO?

 

[GuitarFreak]

Are there opportunities for procedures outside of VIR? Sorry if that's a dumb question. Also, are your interactions entirely with other physicians? I'm wondering if you get any patient contact at all (if you want it, I mean).

Do you have time to gig at all? I was a session musician for a few years and I miss playing live every once in a while.

There are absolutely opportunities for procedures outside of VIR. Obviously not much that is as intensive or invasive. For example, depending on your work setting, you'll end up doing things like LP's as a neurorad, or joint injections/aspirations as an MSK rad (even bone biopsies at some places).

You also definitely get patient contact, during procedures like the ones I stated above, as well as fluoro procedures.

And I definitely don't have as much time to do shows anymore and absolutely do miss it. That said, I still continue to dabble in production and songwriting.