How do I choose what subspecialty I should pursue?

[Psych_hopeful]

I want to do Cardiology for money 😀. No just kidding.

I'm in an IM program right now and I've started to think about fellowship. The thing is that I went into Internal Medicine because I like being a "chess master" and there is no specialty that is more involved with the initial diagnosis and management of a condition than IM. And I love being that person.

However, our program director has told us to decide what subspecialty we are interested in. Only problem is I dont know which one to do as I like everything. The most I could say at the moment is I want to do Cardiology for money, but of course that's not a good enough reason. I need something more suited to my personality or something that fits me. I'm unsure of what would though

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[Crayola227]

I was in the a similar boat. I spent some time reading up on SDN and other places to get a sense of what life is like in each subspecialty and what they do.

Call me nuts, I like process of elimination, too. Look at the whole dang list, and cross off the ones you already know are a no-go. Pick a few that are definitely interesting. Take some sort of a quiz that suggests what specialties might be for you. Look into all those more deeply.

 

[rokshana]

I want to do Cardiology for money 😀. No just kidding.

I'm in an IM program right now and I've started to think about fellowship. The thing is that I went into Internal Medicine because I like being a "chess master" and there is no specialty that is more involved with the initial diagnosis and management of a condition than IM. And I love being that person.

However, our program director has told us to decide what subspecialty we are interested in. Only problem is I dont know which one to do as I like everything. The most I could say at the moment is I want to do Cardiology for money, but of course that's not a good enough reason. I need something more suited to my personality or something that fits me. I'm unsure of what would though

why? are you not allowed to be a general IM doctor?
say Hospitalist (for the money of course!).

 

[bizdr]

I want to do Cardiology for money 😀. No just kidding.

I'm in an IM program right now and I've started to think about fellowship. The thing is that I went into Internal Medicine because I like being a "chess master" and there is no specialty that is more involved with the initial diagnosis and management of a condition than IM. And I love being that person.

However, our program director has told us to decide what subspecialty we are interested in. Only problem is I dont know which one to do as I like everything. The most I could say at the moment is I want to do Cardiology for money, but of course that's not a good enough reason. I need something more suited to my personality or something that fits me. I'm unsure of what would though

If you have any electives, try to rotate through some. But so many times it matters more if you have a cool attending rather that what specialty it is - whether you enjoy the rotation or not. Think a little about lifestyle, but with an IM background you have so many options, even outside of clinical medicine if you want a change of pace.