Growing interest in EM

[matthew45]

I know this question was addressed in a recent post but I had some other questions. I'm an M2 and it seems like 60% of my fellow students in all classes say they want to do EM. Whenever I meet a student from another school they want to do EM. That's cool and I know it's already pretty competetive. Does anyone think we are moving towards a glut of ERPs? I hear talk of some specialties coming to the end of their halcyon years (i.e. anesthesia). Plus to what extent do people think that alot of students are interested in EM in the beginning and then end up going in to something else?

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[GeneralVeers]

I know this question was addressed in a recent post but I had some other questions. I'm an M2 and it seems like 60% of my fellow students in all classes say they want to do EM. Whenever I meet a student from another school they want to do EM. That's cool and I know it's already pretty competetive. Does anyone think we are moving towards a glut of ERPs? I hear talk of some specialties coming to the end of their halcyon years (i.e. anesthesia). Plus to what extent do people think that alot of students are interested in EM in the beginning and then end up going in to something else?

EM is quite glamorous and a lot of students want to do it initially. I'd say that by the end of my 4th year half of the people had decided on something else, like medicine. You're correct in that it does seem to get more competetive every year as lifestyle becomes more of a concern.

Internal medicine needs to wake up and join the 21st century. They are slowly moving towards 12 hour shifts. In this day and age there is no reason to work 36 hours on call. If some programs continue down the path of abusive call, it's going to be tougher and tougher for them to attract good people.

 

[Radiohead]

Currently, there is a tremendous shortage of EP's in the US. That's not to say that all markets are easy to get into, i.e. New York, SF, LA, but there is definitely no talk of a surplus in the near future. Also, the number of EM residency slots have been pretty stable for the past few years, so it doesn't reallly matter how many people apply. You are only an M2, so take what people say what specialty they want to go into with a grain of salt. I didn't officially declare EM until August of my 4th year. You'll find on your JMS rotations that the ED gets "bashed" a lot, usually by surgery. This will change the minds of some impressionable students. For some perspective, in my class of 180, we have 8 or 9 going into EM (Down from 18 who initially declared). I personally think EM is the best specialty out there for a lot of reasons, so congratulations on considering a great career choice.

 

[EctopicFetus]

interesting.. in my school we had about 15 "declare" now we are at about 22. I think people who were thinking of other fields realize how superior being an EP is





Im kidding.. about the superior thing!