owlegrad
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Emergency Medicine: Can a Sizzling Hot Specialty Burn You to a Crisp?
- Thread starter owlegrad
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One thing I recommend also is doing EM audition rotations at different hospital settings. I strongly agree with the author's point on know thyself before jumping into the field. I know many of my friends who want to do EM because of shift work and I find this reasoning to be questionable. What is the point of having the extra time off when you are not always able to control your work schedule and you cannot suit it to your needs? There is an understanding that all shifts will be divided somewhat evenly amongst all ideally, but the underlying truth is that everyone will be fighting for the best slots. No point on getting a Tuesday night off to see a concert if your friends can't join if you want them to, or maybe you hate doing nights, or maybe you can't see your child's important day (whatever that may be).
As for the autonomy, I always see that the patient overall is the boss. You are there to treat the patient. If you disagree with a patient's request, you can help them make an informed decision without butting heads overtly and thus retaining some autonomy on decisions. Also maybe something you can do is find a niche in EM that you do have control over like teaching.
Also something I've learned in EM audition rotations: learn to smile even when you don't feel like smiling.
As for the autonomy, I always see that the patient overall is the boss. You are there to treat the patient. If you disagree with a patient's request, you can help them make an informed decision without butting heads overtly and thus retaining some autonomy on decisions. Also maybe something you can do is find a niche in EM that you do have control over like teaching.
Also something I've learned in EM audition rotations: learn to smile even when you don't feel like smiling.
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Predictable and fewer hours than most but at the cost of sometimes predictably crappy and often particularly stressful hours, decent compensation for what is usually a three-year program, variety of the work, nature of the work for better or worse, personality of the field, some procedures, acuity of varying frequency depending on your chosen locale, etc. All the other usual things people say. All that has to be worth the burnout risk and stresses of the job.
I'm in EM. It's all pros/cons no matter which specialty you choose. Pick the one with the pros you like the most, the cons you can best accept, and the one you will least likely regret choosing over others. Almost something of an educated guess seeing as how the med student experience is hardly like being a resident much of the time, but hey, have to make a decision.
I'm in EM. It's all pros/cons no matter which specialty you choose. Pick the one with the pros you like the most, the cons you can best accept, and the one you will least likely regret choosing over others. Almost something of an educated guess seeing as how the med student experience is hardly like being a resident much of the time, but hey, have to make a decision.
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Good, thought-provoking article. I'd make one slight correction: my understanding is that it is rotating shift work / nights that has been associated with an increase in health problems as mentioned in the article. I don't believe the shift work of day hospitalists (7 am - 7 pm) has been linked in a similar way, unless I missed an article somewhere.
Why do med students love EM? It's fun as hell (or seems that way to most med students). You put up with the social nonsense, but you're on the front lines of medicine. I may be biased because my school's ED is fantastic, but the ED rotation here was among the top two or three consensus favorites among students in my class. The personalities in general are great - if you have to stereotype a field, ED guys tend to be laid-back, fun to hang out with and learn from, and most have interesting hobbies/interest outside of work.
Why did I choose not to do EM? The rotating shifts. I can handle day shifts (like hospitalists) or even working a week of nights once in a while, if the hours are set. But most ED models that I'm familiar with seem to have constantly changing shift start/end times. I know how I personally function on that sort of sleep schedule, I talked to several ED attendings, and I decided it wasn't for me. Most med students should have access to honest attending advisors - and not just the early 30s attendings fresh out of residency, but the 55 y.o. ED doc who may be able to give a more balanced perspective on the field. But may med students - especially in their mid-20s - just have a difficult time looking too far into the future or predicting what their priorities will be 15 years down the line, and I suspect that leads to a lot of job dissatisfaction.
Why do med students love EM? It's fun as hell (or seems that way to most med students). You put up with the social nonsense, but you're on the front lines of medicine. I may be biased because my school's ED is fantastic, but the ED rotation here was among the top two or three consensus favorites among students in my class. The personalities in general are great - if you have to stereotype a field, ED guys tend to be laid-back, fun to hang out with and learn from, and most have interesting hobbies/interest outside of work.
Why did I choose not to do EM? The rotating shifts. I can handle day shifts (like hospitalists) or even working a week of nights once in a while, if the hours are set. But most ED models that I'm familiar with seem to have constantly changing shift start/end times. I know how I personally function on that sort of sleep schedule, I talked to several ED attendings, and I decided it wasn't for me. Most med students should have access to honest attending advisors - and not just the early 30s attendings fresh out of residency, but the 55 y.o. ED doc who may be able to give a more balanced perspective on the field. But may med students - especially in their mid-20s - just have a difficult time looking too far into the future or predicting what their priorities will be 15 years down the line, and I suspect that leads to a lot of job dissatisfaction.
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Thanks for the responders' support of the piece. It's certainly true that choosing a specialty is an exercise in making an educated guess, especially considering how limited our time is in each medical school clerkship.
Along those lines, here is an additional thought for medical students: It's worth trying to determine what about a rotation is appealing to you. For example, I recall loving my general surgery rotation. Luckily, I realized before it was too late that it was the emergency department consultations that I really enjoyed - not the OR. Medical school rotations go by so quickly and we, understandably, approach them with so much naivete that teasing out what is the real appeal can be tough.
Again, thanks for the thoughtful comments.
Along those lines, here is an additional thought for medical students: It's worth trying to determine what about a rotation is appealing to you. For example, I recall loving my general surgery rotation. Luckily, I realized before it was too late that it was the emergency department consultations that I really enjoyed - not the OR. Medical school rotations go by so quickly and we, understandably, approach them with so much naivete that teasing out what is the real appeal can be tough.
Again, thanks for the thoughtful comments.
