Help me decide

[dr_Rose.Mary]

Hey All,


I always had passion for Neurology during medschool & found it very interesting and fascinating field to study but my actual clinical experience is almost nothing except a 1 month elective as a medical student.

So.. as I graduated I applied to a local IM program as my hospital don’t provide Neuro training.

The true issue is that recently I tend to find psychiatry and mental health to be interesting but I actually don’t wish to deeply practice it.

Now I’m stuck in a boring IM program. I really want to switch to another program but my CV will not support me in either neurology or psychiatry.


I accept all your advices. I need to know how can I use the rest of this year to strength my experience in fields of neuro/psych while spending the year as an IM resident.

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[raisinbrain]

It's a little unclear to me what it is you're hoping to transfer into - neuro, psych, something completely different? You mentioned you don't wish to 'deeply' practice psychiatry...

I wonder if the next few months would be best spent doing some soul searching and seeking out local mentors, doing some reading and maybe even shadowing to better develop your own goals for going forward? It's going to be harder to transfer anywhere if you can't convince others that you're passionate about this new goal/specialty, and you have to convince yourself of that first!


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[Blitz2006]

Hey All,


I always had passion for Neurology during medschool & found it very interesting and fascinating field to study but my actual clinical experience is almost nothing except a 1 month elective as a medical student.

So.. as I graduated I applied to a local IM program as my hospital don’t provide Neuro training.

The true issue is that recently I tend to find psychiatry and mental health to be interesting but I actually don’t wish to deeply practice it.

Now I’m stuck in a boring IM program. I really want to switch to another program but my CV will not support me in either neurology or psychiatry.


I accept all your advices. I need to know how can I use the rest of this year to strength my experience in fields of neuro/psych while spending the year as an IM resident.

Sounds like you have 3 options to transfer into:

1) Neurology
2) Psychiatry
3) Combined Neuro/Psych Residency

And with options 1 and 2, you can pursue a UCNS Neuropsychiatry Fellowship after residency (Most are 2 years).

Since you don't want to "practice deeply in psychiatry", I suspect option 2 is not your top choice. You would probably be better off doing Neuro residency followed by neuropsych fellowship, if you just want to 'dabble' in psych...

But it depends what you want.

The issue is you have already missed out on this year's match realistically for Neuro, so you can't even apply to Neuro. So talk to your PD and discuss your interest in transferring to a Neuro residency? Look for sites that have PGY2 Neuro opening? Residentswap?

 

[slappy]

Sounds like you have 3 options to transfer into:

1) Neurology
2) Psychiatry
3) Combined Neuro/Psych Residency

And with options 1 and 2, you can pursue a UCNS Neuropsychiatry Fellowship after residency (Most are 1 year).

Since you don't want to "practice deeply in psychiatry", I suspect option 2 is not your top choice. You would probably be better off doing Neuro residency followed by neuropsych fellowship, if you just want to 'dabble' in psych...

But it depends what you want.

The issue is you have already missed out on this year's match realistically for Neuro, so you can't even apply to Neuro. So talk to your PD and discuss your interest in transferring to a Neuro residency? Look for sites that have PGY2 Neuro opening? Residentswap?

Most are two years, actually. Some are even longer.

 

[thoffen]

What interests you about each, and why can't IM indulge that interest?

Honestly, in practice, neurologists and psychiatrists are very different folk. There are some in each who are quite flexible in personality and therefore are exceptional at their work, but I don't find that to be the norm. The typical personality draw to neurology is the capacity to be very exact and objective in working up a complaint. In psychiatry, it really is valuing the abstract, subjective, and human component of things. Neurologists who don't care about people and can't work on problems that aren't certain aren't good neurologists, and psychiatrists who don't seek objectivity, consistency, and evidence-base for their practice aren't good psychiatrists. You have to be able to do both, but most people are drawn to their respective fields out of a specific preference.