EM or IM to CC?

[Kalogada]

Hello everyone,
I am a 4th year med student. I am currently on my EM aways and I am starting to realize that I enjoy working up my patients and really understanding the pathology and clinical presentation. I want to be the next step in action. I have always thought about CC and was wondering if it would be wise for me to go IM to CC or EM to CC?

Also what is the future of CC, will it be saturated?

Thanks.

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[NITRAS]

Do you like EM work or IM work?

I think that IM->CC/PCC is a better critical care doc, but I know I’m biased. If IM work just makes you want to run away. . . 3 years is a long time. Most of the icu docs at my institution are IM. The one who was EM/CC, i really didn’t like. But that could have been just her.

 

[Prehealth1011]

Would you be happier as a hospitalist or an EM doc in case you don't match? CC is not an easy match out of either residency. Given that, I would pick IM if you're a CC or bust kinda guy because you can apply to pulm-crit programs.

 

[Kalogada]

I like both work, but i love when poop hits the fan in the ED and unstable happens which is like 1% of the time.
I could see myself doing either, the nice thing about EM over IM backup is the pay.

 

[CCM-MD]

IM is the superior choice.

In the event corporatization continues and conditions worsen. IM gives you lots of options to work independently from a hospital (both via general IM or a subspecialty that you may decide to do in combination with CCM).

 

[Prehealth1011]

I like both work, but i love when poop hits the fan in the ED and unstable happens which is like 1% of the time.
I could see myself doing either, the nice thing about EM over IM backup is the pay.

You'll have to decide what you care about the most. Pay vs burning desire to "really understanding the pathology and clinical presentation" vs the 1% of poop hitting the fan.

 

[NewYorkDoctors]

also consider if you like outpatient medicine and pulmonary or not

some of my colleagues who did EM/IM then did one year CCM after liked CCM only and wanted to be able to work in ER sometimes. they went this way because they "did not like rounding in IM" and hated the clinic and outpatient.

it is true that pulmonary and possibly sleep offers an off ramp for when you eventually burn out from CCM, but if your nature is against outpatient medicine , then EM to CCM could work. Another one of my friends is EM only (not EM/IM) and then did 2 years CCM and now he is purely CCM and enjoys life. He cannot stand outpatient medicine even if he understands the potential pay could be higher in private practice.

 

[gutonc]

Hello everyone,
I am a 4th year med student. I am currently on my EM aways and I am starting to realize that I enjoy working up my patients and really understanding the pathology and clinical presentation. I want to be the next step in action. I have always thought about CC and was wondering if it would be wise for me to go IM to CC or EM to CC?

Also what is the future of CC, will it be saturated?

Thanks.

Have you been over to the EM forum recently? I encourage you to do so and just listen. The vast majority of people over there lament their choice and wish they had done something else.

 

[gulmohr]

Go the Anesthesia > CCM route. Then just do anesthesia.

 

[Tipsy McStagger]

A few years into practice there is no difference between EM and IM. That being said, you should do IM-PCCM in my opinion. It opens more doors, and gives you multiple exit strategies that don’t exist in any pure CMM context (whether IM or EM).

I’m EM-CCM, and you can’t tell who in my group is IM or EM. But you do know who’s pulmonary and has sleep on the back burner for when they’re burned out.

 

[SwapperNoSwapping]

Will point out that if you're open to the anesthesia CC route EM does give you that option, which is much less competitive of a match compared to IM-CC