Help, Im Lost!!!

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Frank Miller

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Hi I just pulled out of anesthesia. I am a ty and dont like procedures, but was attracted to the lifestyle, control, physiology of anesthesia - but when i did my ty elective month i realized that the day just crawled by. So foolish as it may sound, i pulled out of anesthesia. Now I am ty, have no residency spot for next year. I really dont know what i like. I do find medicine interesting except that it is a real grind. I get easily stressed on call and easily overwhelmed. I dont know what to do for next year and for the rest of my life for that matter???? Does anyone have any suggestions?? I need some guidance. Thanks
 
Yikes - you really put yourself in a bad spot by pulling out of your residency before considering what you were going to do instead. You can look around for open PGY 2 spots for next year, but it's going to be difficult to be convincing in an interview unless you can decide what you want to do. At this point, it's time for some serious (yet speedy) introspection; none of us can tell you what you'd like to do.
 
If you dont like procedures you probably wouldnt be happy in anesthesia. Very procedure heavy. However, I would say that doing an anesthesia rotation is very different from being an anestheisa resident. I thought my anestheisa rotations were BORING. Just being honest. Mainly becasue i never really got to do much but observe and do a couple of things here and there. However taking care of your own patient from preop to recovery room/icu as a resident was very very fulfilling. If you still like the lifestyle and physiology (which are also great aspects of anesthesia) there is alway supervising crnas after residency. However I agree a personality that gets easily stressed or overwhelmed is not really a great fit for anestheisa. IMHO medicine is not a big leap I know people who have made that switch. Lower stress intensity, still get to play with physiology, light on procedures, probably pretty easy to pick up a spot though you may have to start at pgy1 since you did a ty. I think residency in just about anything is a grind but after your done your career is what you make it. Congrats on figuring this out now though, you are still in a good spot wether you know it or not.
 
Hi I just pulled out of anesthesia. I am a ty and dont like procedures, but was attracted to the lifestyle, control, physiology of anesthesia - but when i did my ty elective month i realized that the day just crawled by. So foolish as it may sound, i pulled out of anesthesia. Now I am ty, have no residency spot for next year. I really dont know what i like. I do find medicine interesting except that it is a real grind. I get easily stressed on call and easily overwhelmed. I dont know what to do for next year and for the rest of my life for that matter???? Does anyone have any suggestions?? I need some guidance. Thanks

You need to do some soul searching. As IndyXRT said, we can't help you before you answer this in boldface. Your timing isn't the best either. You will need to complete your intern year, get a sense of what field of medicine you wish to spend your career in, and/or decide if you want to continue in medicine at all.
 
Hi I just pulled out of anesthesia. I am a ty and dont like procedures, but was attracted to the lifestyle, control, physiology of anesthesia - but when i did my ty elective month i realized that the day just crawled by. So foolish as it may sound, i pulled out of anesthesia. Now I am ty, have no residency spot for next year. I really dont know what i like. I do find medicine interesting except that it is a real grind. I get easily stressed on call and easily overwhelmed. I dont know what to do for next year and for the rest of my life for that matter???? Does anyone have any suggestions?? I need some guidance. Thanks

Many docs in your position have turned to Psychiatry as a field of specialization. Obviously do not do this if you have no interest in the field. But the residency may be less physically taxing (although more emotionally) and life after residency is not bad either. If you would be more interested in general medicine how about general primary care residency in internal medicine? God knows we need more primary care docs and you can work as much or as little as you want.

You can get a spot pretty easily if you are geographically flexible.
 
First of all, I'd say congrats for realizing what you DON'T want to do...that is a step down the road of deciding what you DO want to do. I think you were right to get out of anesthesiology b/c it doesn't sound like it was a good fit.

Finding a job for next year might be a little bit of a challenge, but I think your first priority should be to find a specialty you actually want to do. You could surely get an IM or family practice spot, if you were competitive for anesthesia, but don't do that just b/c you are desperate. I

M calls can be very long, up to 30 hours Q3 and Q4, sometimes for several months at a time, but how intense an IM residency is varies quite a bit, from what I have seen (I am an IM doc). Most of the bigger more well known academic IM residencies have intense intern years with a couple ICU months which can often be Q3...and will have ICU months in PGY 2 and PGY 3 as well. Some other less intense programs, like community or primary care ones, are less intense. The good side of IM is that once you are done with residency the career options are pretty flexible - hospitalist and primary care are going to remain in demand, and probably medical subspecialists as well.

I you like thinking/problem solving, and want a better lifestyle than IM offers, neurology might be a good option. The caveat is that the first couple of years of residency can be kind of intense - you have to do a medicine intern year plus then the first year of neuro is kind of like being an intern again (only in neuro). You have to do LP's, but otherwise they don't do a ton of procedures.

You could explore some of the lesser known fields of medicine (physical medicine/rehab, preventive medicine, pathology, etc.) which just tend to be lesser known b/c a lot of med students never do rotations in these areas. Medical genetics, too. All these have good hours, and I would think less stress than anesthesia or IM. Psych is also a great field right now, in the sense that it's easy to get a residency and psych docs are in great demand...also the residency (and attendings too) have good hours.

As a TY year intern, you're in a pretty good position now to perhaps try to make time to go talk to some faculty/dept. chairs at your current hospital. Just tell them you are considering their specialty area, and what do they think are the pros/cons, and you could show them your CV to see whether they think you'd be competitive to get a spot.

Again, you could definitely find yourself a spot in fp, IM, and probably peds, but don't just take a spot because you are desperate. You do need to move quickly (like make a decision in the next 2-3 months if you think you can) but don't just grab for anything.

Consider signing up for Findaresident on the NRMP web site. My best friend was on there for a while, and I think it only costs $35 or $70 for 1 year, and it was helpful for her to just see what was out there...you can search for open spots in pretty mcuh any specialty.
 
Based on your post, you sound like you'd be a good fit for endocrinology (low stress, few procedures, good lifestyle, involves physiology). The fellowship isn't the most competitive to get either.
 
Hi I just pulled out of anesthesia. I am a ty and dont like procedures, but was attracted to the lifestyle, control, physiology of anesthesia - but when i did my ty elective month i realized that the day just crawled by. So foolish as it may sound, i pulled out of anesthesia. Now I am ty, have no residency spot for next year. I really dont know what i like. I do find medicine interesting except that it is a real grind. I get easily stressed on call and easily overwhelmed. I dont know what to do for next year and for the rest of my life for that matter???? Does anyone have any suggestions?? I need some guidance. Thanks

Are you still interested in EM?
 
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