- Joined
- Aug 31, 2019
- Messages
- 25
- Reaction score
- 5
I am in IM right now, mosty because I loved everything in medical school. I also really liked ob/gyn and anesthesia during medical school but decided that IM probably gave me the most flexibility.
Intern year has been great in that I finally have a job and it’s nice to get a paycheck. And to be honest, I really do love medicine a lot as a whole and feel very fortunate to be in medicine. I seriously can’t believe they pay me to do this.
HOWEVER- I think that mind-set wise I have more of an anesthesia/surgery style of thinking. You know- get to the point, cut the crap. I also like to see the results of what I do quickly. You might wonder why I didn’t think of this as an M4. Well, I did, but I got scared off because of lifestyle (ob/gyn) and cRNAs (anesthesia).
Thus far in intern year I have only gotten that experience once when catching a case of SBP, giving abx, and having the pt’s pain come down significantly afterward. Otherwise, I feel like medicine feels like a lot of throwing meds, doing things for theoretical reasons (don’t given Iron in the setting of infection), and not really knowing what intervention, if any worked. I initially thought GI might be a good fit, but seeing tons of functional disorders in clinic was not super fun. Also- not cool knowing that PAs are scoping now.
At the same time, I look at medscape surveys and GI routinely makes the top cut while ob/gyn loiters at the bottom. Which makes me wonder why ob/gyn is so competitive? I have the scores but I don’t think ob/gyn cares about scores based on the charting outcomes average.
I guess my question is- how long should I stick it out in IM? What is the safest option, to at least ensure I have a job during this pandemic while also exploring other options? I don’t want to bail out too soon but I also don’t want to miss out on a career that makes me feel most alive, in my element, and full of purpose (ob/gyn first, anesthesia second). Also, I do feel very fortunate to have a job in the pandemic and would hate to lose it because I tried switching specialties and failed. I also don’t have much accumulated savings if things went haywire. And while I have received positive feedback on rotations, I haven’t had a chance to really build a solid reputation yet. So idk what the PD would say.
Ideally, I would like to just switch specialties within the institution. Funding considerations aside, I thought that maybe I should proceed to pgy-2 year, get some money under my belt, test the waters of IM, build some sort of a reputation, and switch after 1 year of IM.
Any thoughts on what sort of game plan I should make that is safe, financially speaking, and also keeps my options opens? Any other perspectives on my situation are welcome. Thanks.
Intern year has been great in that I finally have a job and it’s nice to get a paycheck. And to be honest, I really do love medicine a lot as a whole and feel very fortunate to be in medicine. I seriously can’t believe they pay me to do this.
HOWEVER- I think that mind-set wise I have more of an anesthesia/surgery style of thinking. You know- get to the point, cut the crap. I also like to see the results of what I do quickly. You might wonder why I didn’t think of this as an M4. Well, I did, but I got scared off because of lifestyle (ob/gyn) and cRNAs (anesthesia).
Thus far in intern year I have only gotten that experience once when catching a case of SBP, giving abx, and having the pt’s pain come down significantly afterward. Otherwise, I feel like medicine feels like a lot of throwing meds, doing things for theoretical reasons (don’t given Iron in the setting of infection), and not really knowing what intervention, if any worked. I initially thought GI might be a good fit, but seeing tons of functional disorders in clinic was not super fun. Also- not cool knowing that PAs are scoping now.
At the same time, I look at medscape surveys and GI routinely makes the top cut while ob/gyn loiters at the bottom. Which makes me wonder why ob/gyn is so competitive? I have the scores but I don’t think ob/gyn cares about scores based on the charting outcomes average.
I guess my question is- how long should I stick it out in IM? What is the safest option, to at least ensure I have a job during this pandemic while also exploring other options? I don’t want to bail out too soon but I also don’t want to miss out on a career that makes me feel most alive, in my element, and full of purpose (ob/gyn first, anesthesia second). Also, I do feel very fortunate to have a job in the pandemic and would hate to lose it because I tried switching specialties and failed. I also don’t have much accumulated savings if things went haywire. And while I have received positive feedback on rotations, I haven’t had a chance to really build a solid reputation yet. So idk what the PD would say.
Ideally, I would like to just switch specialties within the institution. Funding considerations aside, I thought that maybe I should proceed to pgy-2 year, get some money under my belt, test the waters of IM, build some sort of a reputation, and switch after 1 year of IM.
Any thoughts on what sort of game plan I should make that is safe, financially speaking, and also keeps my options opens? Any other perspectives on my situation are welcome. Thanks.
