What are some pros and cons about both fields? What field do you think is better and why? And over the long term which field will come out on top? Thanks in advance.
Emergency medicine vs Psychiatry
- Thread starter twospadz
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This is a stupid question. There is no competition between specialities. pick what you like.
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EM bros aren't exactly orthopods, but if crap went down on a subway I'd rather have them on my side than my psych colleagues. So I guess EM comes out on top.
Just my 2c!
Just my 2c!
Well, you gotta ask your self if you want to deal with crazy people all day, with some actual medicine sprinkled in the mix, or do you just want to deal with crazy people all day. After you figure that out you won't need our help anymore.
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I've been pleasantly suprised by the amount of psych that can be had by working in the ED. It's a great specialty.
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These were my two final choices before I ended up picking one and applying for residency. Feel free to PM me if you wanna talk about it.
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I chose Psychiatry. Will give reasons later when I am off my phone.
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Maybe more helpful would be for us to see your pro/con list. Why are you considering either field? Both are fine fields, so it depends on what you're looking for.
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Can anyone compare work hours between these two specialties? I know its highly variable based on a multitude of factors, but...
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EM - shift work, acute, no long term care, variety, time off, hard work, know a lot about little
Psy - pt population, more reasonable schedule, chance for private practice, long term care, not physically demanding, subjective, not cookie cutter, specialist
Those are just some I can think of.
Psy - pt population, more reasonable schedule, chance for private practice, long term care, not physically demanding, subjective, not cookie cutter, specialist
Those are just some I can think of.
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Slight aside, can you, or anyone, comment on what Psych actually does? I have a decent idea of what a lot of specialties do, but I don't have much insight to the scope of what they can do.
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We see patients with mental illness and determine what they may have and how to best treat them. It can be with meds (why you need a strong pharm knowledge) and/or with psychotherapy. Work in a variety of places, inpatient, outpatient, consult to other services, ED, addiction, etc.
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Also, forensics, maternal health, research, college mental health, etc.
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Both are around 40hrs/wk. But, 40 hrs in the ED is more like 60 hrs. After an 8 hr shift in ED, I was ready to go. In Psy, I never get tired. Only borderline pts compare in terms of the drain to me. ED is more physical but Psy is more mental draining. Borderlines will ruin your day.
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This might be a small niche, and I know very little about it, but maybe OP could look into doing psych but working in a CPEP?
Please dont take this as condescending, but what year are you? I wouldn't really start comparing specialties if you havent done your psych rotation yet. I only say this b/c you asked what does a typical psychiatrist do. And you would definitely know this if you did your ms3 psych rotation.
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