I hear this a lot among rads residents and applicants, that they strongly preferred M1 and M2 to the clinical years and this was one of the reasons they considered radiology. Was this true for you?
For radiologists and future radiologists, did you prefer preclinical years to the clinical ones?
- Thread starter odyssey2
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I liked the preclinical years, and didn't mind the clinical years. I would I say enjoyed internal medicine but hated the paper work and social duties that were associated with it. After excluding other specialties I settled on radiology, and very glad I did.
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I did like the preclinical years, because learning is generally enjoyable. The clinical years I did not mind because that was where your preclinical learning came to life. Getting the pimp questions right on rounds in front of everyone was more satisfying than doing well on a multiple choice test. Being the first one to pick up a clinical finding (eg, taking a med student level history, or sorting through old scans on all your patients) and suggest a diagnosis was even more satisfying. Radiology provides all that. Instead of ward rounds, it's when the referrers call or visit the reading room or you're put on the spot at tumor board. You have to know a lot.
When you add in the scut and performative aspects of the clinical years, then yes, the preclinical years seemed enjoyable in comparison.
When you add in the scut and performative aspects of the clinical years, then yes, the preclinical years seemed enjoyable in comparison.
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I'll echo the posts above. I preferred preclinical, but also like clinical since it gave me a chance to use that science for diagnosis, treatment, etc. That being said, I really enjoy the radiologic-pathologic correlation. Also, I love the fact that learning (...and re-learning) the basic sciences (physiology, anatomy, pathology, etc) only make your diagnosis, differential, and so on much stronger.
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I liked the preclinical learning environment more but liked the clinical tests more.
Step 2 and 3 are much more practical than step 1.
Step 2 and 3 are much more practical than step 1.
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I enjoyed the preclinical years more mostly because I could set my own schedule (to an extent).
Preclinical
i found clinical medicine to be utter hell and I would have dropped out of medicine if radiology weren’t an option
“Look at the beauty of childbirth courtesy of a 450 lb woman at 230 in the morning. Here, you can pull out the placenta”
i found clinical medicine to be utter hell and I would have dropped out of medicine if radiology weren’t an option
“Look at the beauty of childbirth courtesy of a 450 lb woman at 230 in the morning. Here, you can pull out the placenta”
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Joining the weirdo’s in saying I liked clinicals >>>>> preclinicals.
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Preclinical
Set your own schedule (especially if you have recorded lectures, I did). Casual clothes. One responsibility… study.
vs
Clinical
Wake up at dark-thirty. Dress up. Drive to hospital. Begin pre-round scutwork. Go wake up sleeping patients. Gather labs, etc. Round for what felt like about a hundred years. Parade into each patient’s room with the whole team and talk to each other as if the patient isn’t there. Get pimped. Go write notes. Admit patients. Discharge patients. Deal with social issues. Make phone calls that are too tedious and annoying for the residents or attendings to do. Then maybe later in the day, do nothing. Be absolutely purposeless waiting for someone who is 24 months older than you to say… well, I guess you can go home now (is it really okay for you to leave? Often unclear). Drive home at dark-thirty in the evening. Then…. Study (or at least you have to try to), since what you just did all day won’t help you pass a shelf exam or the USMLE.
I thought the preclinical years weren’t too bad. Clinical years were miserable. I have no idea what I would have done if radiology did not exist.
Set your own schedule (especially if you have recorded lectures, I did). Casual clothes. One responsibility… study.
vs
Clinical
Wake up at dark-thirty. Dress up. Drive to hospital. Begin pre-round scutwork. Go wake up sleeping patients. Gather labs, etc. Round for what felt like about a hundred years. Parade into each patient’s room with the whole team and talk to each other as if the patient isn’t there. Get pimped. Go write notes. Admit patients. Discharge patients. Deal with social issues. Make phone calls that are too tedious and annoying for the residents or attendings to do. Then maybe later in the day, do nothing. Be absolutely purposeless waiting for someone who is 24 months older than you to say… well, I guess you can go home now (is it really okay for you to leave? Often unclear). Drive home at dark-thirty in the evening. Then…. Study (or at least you have to try to), since what you just did all day won’t help you pass a shelf exam or the USMLE.
I thought the preclinical years weren’t too bad. Clinical years were miserable. I have no idea what I would have done if radiology did not exist.
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Preclinical. Although I think this had mostly to do with the overall less work I did those years (I probably only studied about 4 hours a day), and tended to consolidate it to the week of the exam so I had pretty much had the week after the last exam mostly off.
My school had recorded lectures. So it was basically like college in terms of how much actual studying I actually did, and most of the time I did get a high pass which was good enough for me.
I can’t think of anyone who would prefer waking up at 4am to round on surgical patients before the resident gets in at 5am and leaving at 8pm to eat ramen in bed
My school had recorded lectures. So it was basically like college in terms of how much actual studying I actually did, and most of the time I did get a high pass which was good enough for me.
I can’t think of anyone who would prefer waking up at 4am to round on surgical patients before the resident gets in at 5am and leaving at 8pm to eat ramen in bed
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How much do you study now as a resident?
Just matched this cycle. Preclinical by far, but to echo what everyone else has said, that was because I had more control over my schedule and for the most part rotations suck. I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would enjoy third year. I was questioning if I should have gone into medicine that entire year lol. Fourth year has been better because there's more time off and when you do rotate your opinion is a bit more valued and you feel more a part of the team so that's nice. Still not enough to pull me away from rads.
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This is an old account and never updated the name haha. I’m a first year attending, probably read maybe an hour or two on weekends, not including my cme time and looking stuff up at work
as a resident though, I probably studied about an hour a day first year, just doing the requisites stuff and radprimer questions. I also studied maybe 3 hours or so per weekend day. Second and third year I didn’t study nearly as much, really only on weekends a few hours maybe.
To build on why I enjoyed my clinical years... preclinical was chill but it also felt aimless. I already spent most of undergrad relaxing (I was the sort that was lucky and didn't have to try too much to end up in medical school).
My clinical rotations brought me back to what it was like to work a real job again and having that sort of work environment fired me up. The hours were worse but I felt a sense of energy and purpose. All-in-all I like working more than being a student.
My clinical rotations brought me back to what it was like to work a real job again and having that sort of work environment fired me up. The hours were worse but I felt a sense of energy and purpose. All-in-all I like working more than being a student.
Yes. Preclinical >> clinical, for a host of reasons.
Anatomy, pathophysiology, neuroscience are all awesome. While preclinical was quite stressful with studying and Step 1, I still found it extremely intellectually interesting. That all stopped as an MS3.
I would have been miserable if I had to do clinical medicine for my career.
Anatomy, pathophysiology, neuroscience are all awesome. While preclinical was quite stressful with studying and Step 1, I still found it extremely intellectually interesting. That all stopped as an MS3.
I would have been miserable if I had to do clinical medicine for my career.
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Hands down preclinical. MS3 was dreadful.
Preclinicals were great from a schedule standpoint and there were interesting topics but memorizing a bunch of minutae I didn't care about at all was a massive bore at times. I felt like I was studying to pass tests and not really to learn practical things. Clinicals were a lot of fun for me doing things, learned a ton and there was a lot of fun camaraderie and friendships I built working with people who I still keep in touch with. Some rotations were worse than others and a lot depends on the people you work with. But overall I learned and did a ton and intern year was a breeze as a result. M4 I did clinical electives I wanted and that was probably the most fun year of med school. I wouldn't want to do clinical medicine forever, but I'm very glad for the experience I got as an M3 because it for sure has made me a better radiologist and has given me a strong network of clinical friends I can reach out to.
