Did any of you have a tough time picking FP over peds?

[bluebirdie]

Hi there,
I'm a 3rd year med student, and I really enjoy outpatient medicine. I am very interested in either FP or Pediatrics...but am not sure which path I want to through. I love children, all of my work experiences and volunteer experiences as an undergraduate had to do with children. However this year I have found adult medicine enjoyable as well this year. Did any of you have this problem when choosing your career and what finally made you decide?

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[Newdoc2002]

Was going peds before deciding on FM. I really locked it down to FM by the end of my third year. General peds was going to be too repetitive for me. And dealing with parents in about one third versus all of my cases is enough to keep me sane.

Most general peds will be filled with snotty noses, annoying calls and either totally uninvolved or totally obnoxious hypersensitive parents. Just calling like it is.

I love the actual practice of peds. Kids don't fake being sick at the doctor (at least until their 14) and they are usually a lot of fun. So I do enjoy it being a significant amount of my practice, just not all.

On a side note, if I went peds I decided I would want to do cardiology and that meant three more years of training and a potentially horrible lifestyle. Not for my family.

 

[Dartos Vader]

Was going peds before deciding on FM. I really locked it down to FM by the end of my third year. General peds was going to be too repetitive for me. And dealing with parents in about one third versus all of my cases is enough to keep me sane.

Most general peds will be filled with snotty noses, annoying calls and either totally uninvolved or totally obnoxious hypersensitive parents. Just calling like it is.

I love the actual practice of peds. Kids don't fake being sick at the doctor (at least until their 14) and they are usually a lot of fun. So I do enjoy it being a significant amount of my practice, just not all.

On a side note, if I went peds I decided I would want to do cardiology and that meant three more years of training and a potentially horrible lifestyle. Not for my family.

AGREED! I went through the same process. I found if you are interested in peds as an FP you will manage your peds patients quite well. I rotated with a ped then an FP. The FPs diagnosis and treatment were always spot on with the peds population. I was floored. I would even check on my pda epocrates if i wasnt sure and his diagnosis and treatment were textbook. If you are interested in outpatient medicine it doesn't make much sense to spend over half your residency in PICU NICU and hospital rounds. Not to me anyway.

 

[secretwave101]

Did any of you have a tough time picking FP over peds?

Nope.

FM has some of the best variation in pathology and procedures of any specialty. Peds is the opposite of procedures and as rote as it gets.

 

[Dartos Vader]

I'm not trying to bash peds, i think it's a great field but it definitely wasn't for me. I quickly got tired of parents wanting adhd meds when they obvioulsy didnt need them. Childhood obesity was just depressing and if I had to write one more amoxacillin prescription....! The best part was all the cute kids and little babies. I love babies and its great seeing them in the office, but now that I have kids of my own I get my quota of cuteness at home. My first day of FP rotations I knew this was the field for me. I think A LOT more people would go into it if it weren't for money or prestige. On the other hand, I'm glad it's not a highly desired residency b/c I can get a spot in any state in the union in what I think is the best field in medicine.

 

[DOtobe]

Was going peds before deciding on FM. I really locked it down to FM by the end of my third year. General peds was going to be too repetitive for me. And dealing with parents in about one third versus all of my cases is enough to keep me sane.

This is exactly the reason I chose FP over peds. I wanted to peds at first, but didn't want to just do WCC after WCC after WCC and ear infection after ear infection. I love kids, and I have quite a few kids as patients in our clinic, so I feel like I am getting enough peds exposure. There's just more variety with FP.