Deciding on the QUALITY of my medical career. Help!

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indecisiveDude

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I'm an M4, and in the past few weeks, I've been feeling paralyzed by indecisiveness about which direction I should take my medical career. I'm applying to internal medicine, but the options after that are so vast. I feel a basic question you have to answer is: do you want to have a strenuous work schedule or a relaxed schedule? I don't know the answer to this question, and its bothering me.

I look at other people's posts, and they seem to know the answer to this, saying "I know I don't want to have to work my ass off, so I'm going for psych", or "I'm a total Type A, so neurosurg was perfect for me", etc.

But for me, I don't think I am ONLY one way. I think there's different sides to me that sometimes will crave a nice 9 to 5 setting that, say, a rheumatologist will have, and who will get to chat with patients and not have to work so late. But OTHER times I will crave the excitement of, say, a GI doc, who will get the fun of being involved in a bunch of different procedures and working a strenuous schedule.

Its like there's two sides to me. I'm definitely not a Type A personality, but there are times when I enjoyed working long hours because it was exciting and gratifying to accomplish so much, and the procedures made you feel like you're "doing" something. But a lot of the time I'm the kind of person who would rather just relax, and not have a hectic, hussle-bussle day. However, each type of job only satisfies one side of my personality!!

Has anyone had to deal with a similar problem?

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Just screw around during your residency, don't become chief, do no research, and pass your boards with lackluster marks. Then you won't have to decide because the competative options won't be on the table for you. Best of luck.
 
I know you're looking through IM...but what about one of the surgical subspecialties that mixes a good amt of clinic with OR/procedures?
 
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My oncology preceptors all started residency as IM. Now they work 8-5 outpatient as thier normal routine, then every so often they'll be assigned to the wards for 3-4 weeks and work their asses off doing LPs/marrow transplants/other cool life-saving-type stuff. Their field is also pretty high tech, works closely with the path guys and the the rad guys. (plus all the teaching/research/academic stuff)

I'm alot like the personality you described, and this type of venue really appeals to me.
 
This may be oversimplifying the situation, but it seems that unless you are an excessively driven person, the danger is great that a strenuous carreer will eventually wear you out and disappoint. I feel like in 10 years, when you have maybe a bunch of kids running around and not as much energy as in your 20's, you're not likely to sigh, saying "I wish I was working longer hours". I think that the chiller medical fields still offer enough job satisfaction and it's always easier to add more things to your plate (i,.e. get into research) than to clear them off. Of course some people need to have an insane schedule to feel like they're accomplishing something in life, so if that's you then go for it. But if its not and if you're not REALLY in love with some really competitive specialty then my vote goes for a more sane workload. Just a warning though, the above advice comes from a self-proclaimed super-slacker so take it with a grain of salt:)
 
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