heme/onc but hate clinic

[heartblood]

I am a resident interested in heme/onc, basically for a lot of reasons: I enjoy the therapeutic relationship, the innovation in new agents, the characteristics of many patients being "fighters" and the chance to truly help my patients for a lifelong condition. The thing is, over the course of my residency, I realized I HATE outpatient medicine. I cannot do solely outpatient medicine for the majority of my work life, as I just feel so under stimulated and drained after more than like a half day of clinic. I, on the other hand, never get tired inpatient. I was wondering what options there are for someone who likes heme/onc but doesn't enjoy outpatient medicine. What if I want to see patients for half days a couple times a week in clinic and rather work in the hospital? Or, is onc/critical care an actual career? How common is this as a career that is mostly inpatient with some outpatient and some research and teaching residents, because that would be my ideal setting. I have also realized there are other careers I could enjoy; I enjoy the physiology of cardiology, and I enjoy the multidisciplinary fashion of critical care, but maybe by nature I'm not the most procedurally inclined or best at quick thinking, but I do enjoy critical thinking. Any insight into how to sort out career options based on preferences and some sagely advice on what a future might look like given my preferences would be most appreciated. Thank you so much.

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[gutonc]

Trust me, you will enjoy clinic. Your experience as a resident is so much different than what it looks like IRL they they might as well be different careers.

I used to be like you and almost took an inpatient leukemia job, but passed that up for an outpatient general onc job. Now, every minute I spend in the hospital destroys my will to live.

 

[dieABRdie]

I am a resident interested in heme/onc, basically for a lot of reasons: I enjoy the therapeutic relationship, the innovation in new agents, the characteristics of many patients being "fighters" and the chance to truly help my patients for a lifelong condition. The thing is, over the course of my residency, I realized I HATE outpatient medicine. I cannot do solely outpatient medicine for the majority of my work life, as I just feel so under stimulated and drained after more than like a half day of clinic. I, on the other hand, never get tired inpatient. I was wondering what options there are for someone who likes heme/onc but doesn't enjoy outpatient medicine. What if I want to see patients for half days a couple times a week in clinic and rather work in the hospital? Or, is onc/critical care an actual career? How common is this as a career that is mostly inpatient with some outpatient and some research and teaching residents, because that would be my ideal setting. I have also realized there are other careers I could enjoy; I enjoy the physiology of cardiology, and I enjoy the multidisciplinary fashion of critical care, but maybe by nature I'm not the most procedurally inclined or best at quick thinking, but I do enjoy critical thinking. Any insight into how to sort out career options based on preferences and some sagely advice on what a future might look like given my preferences would be most appreciated. Thank you so much.

Heme/Onc Transplant. You routinely try to kill people to save their life. Very heavy inpatient presence and very sick patients.

Most med onc groups I know are dumping as much scut as possible onto midlevels. I'm sure you could find a group or position where you spend most of your time inpatient. Its usually the opposite of what people want.

 

[whoknows2012]

I am a resident interested in heme/onc, basically for a lot of reasons: I enjoy the therapeutic relationship, the innovation in new agents, the characteristics of many patients being "fighters" and the chance to truly help my patients for a lifelong condition. The thing is, over the course of my residency, I realized I HATE outpatient medicine. I cannot do solely outpatient medicine for the majority of my work life, as I just feel so under stimulated and drained after more than like a half day of clinic. I, on the other hand, never get tired inpatient. I was wondering what options there are for someone who likes heme/onc but doesn't enjoy outpatient medicine. What if I want to see patients for half days a couple times a week in clinic and rather work in the hospital? Or, is onc/critical care an actual career? How common is this as a career that is mostly inpatient with some outpatient and some research and teaching residents, because that would be my ideal setting. I have also realized there are other careers I could enjoy; I enjoy the physiology of cardiology, and I enjoy the multidisciplinary fashion of critical care, but maybe by nature I'm not the most procedurally inclined or best at quick thinking, but I do enjoy critical thinking. Any insight into how to sort out career options based on preferences and some sagely advice on what a future might look like given my preferences would be most appreciated. Thank you so much.

Leukemia! I spend 75% of my time inpatient

BMT as suggested above is another one. But I kinda agree with @gutonc you’ll most likely be happy with an outpatient position

 

[aafisahar]

I was in a similar position as you but I also had an interest in cardiology (which I ended up matching into). Ultimately, if you think you can't stand clinic, heme/onc won't be a good fit for you. That said, specialty clinic is a different beast than general clinic. Patients are usually more invested in their care and you don't have to do tons of dumb visits to keep the lights on. You can turf most general medicine stuff back to the primary and concentrate solely on their specialty issues.

 

[QuizzicalApe]

Do you hate outpatient clinic or do you hate your resident continuity clinic and dancing around the whims of your preceptors when you rotate through someone else's?
Because I hated both those things, but I love doing outpatient heme/onc with no inpatient responsibilities beyond occasional consults. It comes down to identifying what you hate exactly about clinic and then figuring out if that is something you can avoid in your future career.