Hating Radiology Rotation

[learntothink]

Current med student who was set on Rads before this elective rotation. However, I hate the rotation I am on. I have to just watch a resident read scans for 4-5 hrs. It is so boring that I dread going in everyday. I honestly have no idea what they are telling me half the time either. I like the tech apsect though, and the fact that it is all mental power and the only difference b/w you and ur peers is thinking. Is this normal to hate this rotation... did you guys enjoy ur radiology rotations where you just watch someone read scans?

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[Clean7795]

I don't know if hate is the right word, but most if not all radiology residents were bored out of their mind during their medical school rotation.

It's a lot better when you're the one thinking about the case. Watching vs doing is completely different.

 

[Taurus]

It’s called radioholiday for a reason. As a medical student, I watched for about 30 minutes and then disappeared. As an attending, we prefer you to disappear too.

 

[learntothink]

It’s called radioholiday for a reason. As a medical student, I watched for about 30 minutes and then disappeared. As an attending, we prefer you to disappear too.

Then how are we suppose to get LORs? Just from doing research with faculty?

 

[Taurus]

During the residency application process, we don’t care about your letters from radiologists. We know what medical students do radiology rotations. You do nothing. If you want letters, maybe IR rotation or radiology research. Letters from your clinical rotations are more useful.

 

[learntothink]

During the residency application process, we don’t care about your letters from radiologists. We know what medical students do radiology rotations. You do nothing. If you want letters, maybe IR rotation or radiology research. Letters from your clinical rotations are more useful.

OK thanks. Do you think its useful to do a rad subI or just do a IM subi and try to get another clinical LOR?

 

[SirGecko]

OK thanks. Do you think its useful to do a rad subI or just do a IM subi and try to get another clinical LOR?

If I were you I’d get rad exposure from doing publications with the radiology department and do a subi in another clinical field you are interested in. And yeah radiology is one of the worlds worst spectator sports. I try to save some cases to go over with medical students when they rotate but grinding through the list can be pretty boring to watch.

 

[Tiger100]

To OP:
Then radiology may not be for you.

 

[learntothink]

To OP:
Then radiology may not be for you.

Yeah that is what I am worried about. I am thinking about last minute switching to IM. Cardiology also offers a good mix of reading scans (ECHO, MRI, sometimes NM) and clinical medicine.

 

[clutch21]

Yeah that is what I am worried about. I am thinking about last minute switching to IM. Cardiology also offers a good mix of reading scans (ECHO, MRI, sometimes NM) and clinical medicine.

Radiology electives are boring for just about everyone. I love what I do and my radiology elective in medical school was hands down the most tedious experience I had.

Don’t let this experience dissuade you from radiology if you think it is a fit.

 

[guytakingboards]

Yeah that is what I am worried about. I am thinking about last minute switching to IM. Cardiology also offers a good mix of reading scans (ECHO, MRI, sometimes NM) and clinical medicine.

I'd be worried if you did find sitting behind a resident watching them dictate interesting. That's probably as interesting as watching Peter Gibbons write TPS reports.

Your experience is probably not highlighting the breath and depth of knowledge a radiologist knows, the value of radiology (taking an imaging consult from basically anyone), or the non-diagnostic parts of the field.

Lol, when I have med students I'm trying to kick 'em out by 9:30am. Anything longer than a few hours shadowing and its almost mean.

 

[hal9000]

Watching someone play a video game is not the same as playing one. I almost fell asleep in my radiology rotation.

 

[Oh_Gee]

Watching someone play a video game is not the same as playing one. I almost fell asleep in my radiology rotation.

i never understood how twitch got so popular. if i had the time, i would definitely rather be playing than watching

 

[learntothink]

Quick update: I finished my rotation a short time ago. I did not like any part of it... the conferences, the read outs, the attending explaining images. It just does not attract me. Was planning for rads all med school but I will just be applying IM, thanks for the insight everyone.

 

[NavyDoc23]

Quick update: I finished my rotation a short time ago. I did not like any part of it... the conferences, the read outs, the attending explaining images. It just does not attract me. Was planning for rads all med school but I will just be applying IM, thanks for the insight everyone

Sorry, just seeing this now. This might not sway you either, but you sound a lot like I did as an MS3. I did not like my radiology rotation at all after thinking that's what I was going to do. The conferences were also terrible. I think part of it was I was overwhelmed by how much they knew (and how little I didn't) and I questioned if I could be smart enough for it. Also, my experience on any given day during the radiology rotation was completely dependent on the resident I was with. If they took the time and taught or asked for your opinion (on generally an xray or something easy), I was a lot more interested, even if I had no idea. I also ended up spending time with some chill private practice rads and I liked it so much more. The complexity outside of academia is easier to get a grasp of, and it is much less subspecialized and I really enjoyed the variety aspect (compared to the pediatric neuroradiologist at the academic center who only reads peds brains/spines).

 

[learntothink]

Sorry, just seeing this now. This might not sway you either, but you sound a lot like I did as an MS3. I did not like my radiology rotation at all after thinking that's what I was going to do. The conferences were also terrible. I think part of it was I was overwhelmed by how much they knew (and how little I didn't) and I questioned if I could be smart enough for it. Also, my experience on any given day during the radiology rotation was completely dependent on the resident I was with. If they took the time and taught or asked for your opinion (on generally an xray or something easy), I was a lot more interested, even if I had no idea. I also ended up spending time with some chill private practice rads and I liked it so much more. The complexity outside of academia is easier to get a grasp of, and it is much less subspecialized and I really enjoyed the variety aspect (compared to the pediatric neuroradiologist at the academic center who only reads peds brains/spines).

Thanks for your message. I did enjoy when I was working with a certain resident, but he left early on. Funny enough, IM residents pretty much tell me to not do IM b/c of the scut work and say apply rads.

 

[Rubix8]

Thanks for your message. I did enjoy when I was working with a certain resident, but he left early on. Funny enough, IM residents pretty much tell me to not do IM b/c of the scut work and say apply rads.

I don’t know if this point has been made, but it will be significantly easier to switch from rads to IM than the other way around if you choose to switch. You’ll have an intern year, you can do it in IM if you want although I recommend TY, and that way your intern year will “count” toward IM if you decide to switch from rads to IM.

All this to say I think you should go into rads and consider the rotation a means to an end rather than an indication of what you’ll be doing day to day, because doing rads >>>> watching someone do rads. Primary care is a grind. If you like the social work and the talking to families, more power to you. But if not, rads is a safe bet.

 

[Aurum]

I don’t know if this point has been made, but it will be significantly easier to switch from rads to IM than the other way around if you choose to switch. You’ll have an intern year, you can do it in IM if you want although I recommend TY, and that way your intern year will “count” toward IM if you decide to switch from rads to IM.

All this to say I think you should go into rads and consider the rotation a means to an end rather than an indication of what you’ll be doing day to day, because doing rads >>>> watching someone do rads. Primary care is a grind. If you like the social work and the talking to families, more power to you. But if not, rads is a safe bet.

I actually would advise doing an IM prelim year if OP is truly torn. The TY will likely not count for most IM programs as their PGY1, but a prelim IM year should work more easily.

 

[Cognovi]

I don’t know if this point has been made, but it will be significantly easier to switch from rads to IM than the other way around if you choose to switch. You’ll have an intern year, you can do it in IM if you want although I recommend TY, and that way your intern year will “count” toward IM if you decide to switch from rads to IM.

All this to say I think you should go into rads and consider the rotation a means to an end rather than an indication of what you’ll be doing day to day, because doing rads >>>> watching someone do rads. Primary care is a grind. If you like the social work and the talking to families, more power to you. But if not, rads is a safe bet.

This is a good point. My internship program director told all of us prelims that they have an open invitation to return to be a categorical IM resident if you end up not liking your specialty after a year. It's a huge residency so it can flex that. In my class of 11 prelims, one returned (from neurology) to IM. Therefore I would recommend doing an IM prelim in a strong academic program.

 

[brownman23]

Quick update: I finished my rotation a short time ago. I did not like any part of it... the conferences, the read outs, the attending explaining images. It just does not attract me. Was planning for rads all med school but I will just be applying IM, thanks for the insight everyone.

If this is the case, you should not do Rads. While the best part of a med school Radiology rotation is getting to leave early, I still enjoyed conference and attendings explaining images.

As an aside, what made you think you were going to love being a Radiologist during M1-M2?

 

[learntothink]

If this is the case, you should not do Rads. While the best part of a med school Radiology rotation is getting to leave early, I still enjoyed conference and attendings explaining images.

As an aside, what made you think you were going to love being a Radiologist during M1-M2?

I worked on a research project where i was actively involved in reading images and drawing radiation contours on scans. I liked doing that that summer. I spent like 6 hrs a day looking at images for like a month.

I rotated back to medicine a little bit ago and reminded me that I hate the clerkship. So I will most likely apply radiology

 

[Ho0v-man]

I worked on a research project where i was actively involved in reading images and drawing radiation contours on scans. I liked doing that that summer. I spent like 6 hrs a day looking at images for like a month.

I rotated back to medicine a little bit ago and reminded me that I hate the clerkship. So I will most likely apply radiology

What about rad onc? They have entire parts of their day carved out to do exactly what you just described enjoying.

 

[learntothink]

I worked on a research project where i was actively involved in reading images and identifying PET + nodes and drawing radiation contours on scans. I liked doing that that summer.

What about rad onc? They have entire parts of their day carved out to do exactly what you just described enjoying.

Idk rad onc is kinda exploding no?

 

[Ho0v-man]

Idk rad onc is kinda exploding no?

Yeah. Job market is really not as good as it once was by any stretch. N=1, but I’m in a rural area for my TY and our sole rad onc wants to retire but they can’t recruit anybody. And it’s not a bad job offer either.

If you liked rad onc, IM, and rads equally I’d say don’t pick rad onc because of the job market. But it sounds like you’re just agonizing between two options you hate so I brought up a different field that routinely does something routinely tgat you said you enjoyed.

Reading the thread really makes me think you should explore beyond these two fields.

If you can’t stand clinical medicine, maybe consider anesthesia or pathology. You need to figure out what you like. But more importantly what you hate. The stuff you hate will just become more unbearable.

If you’re still stuck between the two, then do rads and match a prelim at an academic center. That way if you decide against rads later, hopefully your program will keep you on as a categorical for IM.

 

[brownman23]

Do you feel like (1) you’re too burnt out from clinical rotations that you’re just hating every rotation, or (2) it is it just Rads and IM you dislike?

Regardless, I don’t understand why you’d apply to Rads given everything you’ve said on this thread. You literally didn’t like any part of your M3 Rads rotation.