Gator05 said:
I'll be the first to admit it; I hated my medicine rotation, with a huge freaking passion. Not a big fan of chasing down papers on the wards, either. And I thought surgery was simply cutting and sewing with special tools on special material. GYN was disgusting. Peds, well, nothing was more frustrating than parents who just don't care.
(snip)
Is there anyone else here who has enjoyed (at least parts of) rotations in most of the specialties they've rotated through?
I always cringe when reading posts like this one, and many others in this thread. This post makes you sound like you hate medicine, and will be miserable regardless of what field you go into. I sincerely hope I DO NOT work with colleagues who had such a lousy experience with medical school. I tend to be very skeptical of med students who claim to hate everything, but LOVE one field that happens to also offer very high income and a good lifestyle. People like this probably don't belong in medicine and would be happier in another career, as long as they didn't have to be poor.
Here is a description of my mostly very positive experience in clerkships:
ANESTHESIOLOGY (4th year)
I did outside rotations in anesthesiology at NYU and Sinai, and the biggest difference between the residents at these two hospitals was the enthusiasm for medicine. The residents at NYU were mostly unenthusiastic, and a few, who were transfers from other residencies, or just didn't match in more competitive lifestyle fields (rads/derm), were downright miserable. One told me the best I could hope for is to not hate what I do. In contrast, the residents at Sinai loved anesthesiology, and seemed to love being doctors. Attendings at both hospitals were terrific.
MEDICINE - COOK COUNTY HOSPITAL
I did medicine at (the old) Cook County Hospital, arguably one of the worst physical environments in the country. Everyone I worked with was, at a minimum, a dedicated professional who liked being a doctor. The attendings are extaordinarily dedicated, since most could work elsewhere for more money, but choose to serve the patient population at County. At least once or twice a week I would have an experience caring for a patient that was truly rewarding. I remember one patient, who I took care of for two weeks, asked me if I could be his doctor after he left the hospital. I had to remind him I was still just a student, but to receive that kind of encouragement in my second month of clerkships felt amazing.
SURGERY - MOUNT SINAI HOPITAL (CHICAGO)
Surgery was a mixed bag. The first two weeks I did trauma, where students were basically note-writers, and x-ray fetchers. We would be in the OR all night with cases typically. The patients were mostly jerks, and likely gun/knife perps themselves, so I didn't find those patient interactions rewarding. Next I did two weeks of neurosurgery, which, at Mount Sinai Hospital (of Chicago), left a lot to be desired. I didn't see much surgery, and what I saw was pretty boring (a six-hour laminectomy, and a craniotomy). Finally I did four weeks of general. That was much more rewarding because I finally got to experience some of the bonding that takes place between surgeon and patient. From the moment you arrive at the patient's bedside and confidently announce "I'm from Surgery", you establish a partnership and trust I didn't feel on any other rotation. Although I didn't like scrubbing, standing for hours, holding retractors, and not being able to scratch my nose during cases, I did love being in the OR. What I liked best about it was the camraderie of the surgical team. I would imagine it's something like what happens between people who go to war together. Surgery challenges you to be your best in situations where you can not afford not to be. Rising to meet those challenges, even the little ones that students get to take on, produces a wonderful sense of achievement. Being good in the OR also seems to lead to greater respect on the wards and all around. I also loved the acuteness of some of the cases we did. After working on a guy with a 12 cm ruptured AAA, I was pretty much sold on surgery. It was only after the rotation ended that I discovered how much I did treasure my time outside the hospital.
FAMILY MEDICINE - MADISON HEALTH CLINIC (INNER CITY)
Family medicine was pleasant, and I enjoyed talking to the patients about low-stress problems, in a low-stress environment. I liked taking care of little kids. The bigger ones are fun to talk to, and the little ones are fun to hold. Of course, ear, eye, and nose exams are tough, and it's not fun forcing a kid to submit to these. I found the field intellectually dull, but socially very rewarding.
EMERGENCY MEDICINE - COOK COUNTY HOSPITAL
Emergency was okay. I did this at Cook County as well. It was like a giant primary care clinic. Very much like family medicine, but with lots of chest/abdominal pain cases. Trauma is separate from the ED at County, so I didn't see the really major cases. I loved the people I worked with there- the residents and attendings were all excellent doctors, very dedicated, and interesting people with lives outiside medicine. What I didn't like about EM was the primary care with no followup, and the shift work. If I'm not going to follow up on a patient, I would rather be doing something more acute with them, like you do in anesthesiology.
NEUROLOGY - PRIVATE OFFICE
Neurology was at a private doctor's office. Intellectually it was interesting, and it was socially rewarding as well. I did get to see a few patients more than once in my three weeks there. The office environment was quiet and nothing exciting ever happened, so I began to realize hospital-based acute care medicine was probably closer to my interests.
Same deal with Rheumatology- intellectually interesting, and socially rewarding, but the office environment was dull.
PEDIATRICS - COOK COUNTY HOSPITAL
Pediatrics was wonderful. I loved working with kids, especially the neglected ones. It broke my heart to see so many kids with "child protective service" issues, so the parents may have been ***holes, but I loved having a chance to play some kind of positive role in these children's lives. Maybe one day some will remember that at least one person seemed to care about them. I had a very malignant attending on the inpatient portion of this rotation, and I got tired of all the conferences, reports, teaching rounds, and lectures we had, but the actual 'medicine' part of the rotation was fantastic.
OB/GYN - MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL (CHICAGO)
OB/GYN was a mixed bag. GYN was great, like surgery (cool), only much lower stress. I got to give a talk on ethics (HIV patients desiring assisted reproduction services) at departmental grand rounds, which was fun. I didn't like the OB floor very much, mainly because there was so much work to do, and I didn't know exactly what my role was. Watching women give birth is kinda gross, and the smell of blood in c-sections eventually got to me. I liked the patients, however, and liked the limited role played by the anesthesiologist.
PSYCHIATRY - HIGHLAND PARK HOSPITAL
Psychiatry was cool. I did three weeks of child psych, and three weeks of adult inpatient psych. I enjoy talking to patients, so the whole rotation was a lot of fun, and it was neat not needing my stethescope to evaluate a patient. I talked to some truly manic, and some depressed kids who were suicidal, it was challenging but very interesting. I would seriously consider psych if I didn't want something more hands-on and 'medical'.
MEDICINE SUB-I - ADVOCATE ILLINOIS MASONIC HOSPITAL
My medicine sub-I was amazing and capped off the whole clerkship experience. I had full responsibility on my patients, no one on the team wrote orders on my patients but me (of course, I had to get co-signs). I communicated directly with consultants, and outside private attendings to discuss treatment plans, and felt very rewarded when I did my job well. My teammates were very supportive and fun to work with, despite it being a very busy month.
Wow. That was long. I figured with all the bitching and negativity in this thread, some readers may desire a boost.