If you had the chance to choose your specialty again...

[PharmaTope]

Dear GOD, 5 times???

Ive never heard of that. Never.

I hope you find peace heretic...

I wouldnt change a thing, but of course Im special...

goodness!!!! 5 times is insane!!!!

did you ever contact the programs and ask what else you could do to improve and what was wrong with your application?

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[JaggerPlate]

Dear GOD, 5 times???

Ive never heard of that. Never.

I hope you find peace heretic...

I wouldnt change a thing, but of course Im special...

SDN hiatus over??? Good to have you back.

 

[Psychoderm]

Just curious if people have anymore thoughts on this topic, especially senior residents and attending already practicing.

 

[nitemagi]

Finishing Psych residency, and no regrets. I did apply to some dual internal Med/Psych programs at first, but ultimately ranked them lower. Glad I did. So so satisfied.

Most specialties you do the same thing your whole career. Amazing how medicine is always thought of as this flexible option. The only flexibility in my eyes seems to be the organ you choose. Otherwise it's the same thing every day -- Wake up early every day, do some procedures (caths, dialysis, etc), rush around and round on your inpatients, then get to your clinic by noon to see your clinic list. EP and CC are probably exceptions, as are hospitalists.

But psych has this interesting flexibility where you can work 1 job 2 days a week, another job 2 days a week. Or one in the morning, another in the afternoon. Mix and match settings, patient populations. Do all meds, or some/all psychotherapy. All hospital, or all private practice, or any combo. Gero, forensics, addiction, Psychosomatics (C/L), Sleep. All fellowships are 1 year (except child). Looking at jobs now and nothing I'm finding in my area less than 180k for a 40-hr week.

And you're never bored. Thank you jeebus I found the right fit for me.

 

[danielmd06]

Wouldn't change a thing. Neurology residency plus sleep medicine fellowship.

 

[PsychMedStudent]

I'm very happy with my specialty choice of Psychiatry. It's never boring and can be fulfilling without much stress.

 

[MCAT guy]

Yeah, but EP and GI take far longer to finish than anesthesiology. EP and GI are banking more than anesthesiology, at the moment. Not sure how long that will last. In fact, not sure how long anesthesiology will last, either.

What do you mean by the last sentence? "Last" as in make money or do you mean over saturation?

 

[PMPMD]

Finishing up an anesthesia residency and starting CCM in July. I hope to "change specialties" every 2 weeks when I'm done.

 

[ilovepath]

I'd like to add an additional dimension--can anybody report switching in or out of residencies that can give insights to their switches. Why they did it, was the grass greener, was the switch warranted? Of course I have special interest of path (into it or out of it), but definitely would like to gain insights of any switch where you learned something about yourself from it.

 

[Slack3r]

What do you mean by the last sentence? "Last" as in make money or do you mean over saturation?

Compensation, most likely.

 

[BigRedBeta]

Just curious if people have anymore thoughts on this topic, especially senior residents and attending already practicing.

Doing pediatrics, will be applying for peds critical care fellowships this summer, and absolutely no way I would have done anything else. While I frequently say I "hate my life" when in general peds clinic, my days are still infinitely better than being stuck in any role where I'd have to care for adults. When kids are healthy, it just means I get to play when I'm at work. In terms of being in the PICU, I get such a wide variety of pathology to keep from getting bored, get to do enough procedures to keep my hands busy, and in being exposed to transport medicine (helicopters and such) have managed to find an area I can be passionate about in research. All with the benefit of no clinic ever. And I get to avoid all the social stuff/discharge planning that typically comes with inpatient medicine...oh and there's none of that 'angel of death' stuff that dominates the adult ICU world - if I do my job, my patients get better and go back to being kids. Extremely rewarding.

 

[NINJALoans]

Wouldn't have done medicine at all. Would have stuck with finance.

I think anyone who has worked in any other field but medicine knows how many things are wrong with medical training and practice. I don't even know where to start. It wouldn't suck as hard if the compensation was worthwhile, but it isn't. Not enough close.

 

[The Angriest Bird]

I agree that rad onc is a good field, but don't you guys find it a bit boring? I wanted to just see it for a day, and after few hours I was truly bored out of my mind. I am sure some people like to work at that pace, but would not work for all of us...

300K a year for a job that goes basically 9-5 and is boring? Anyone with brain would take it without blinking eyes.

 

[nitemagi]

300K a year for a job that goes basically 9-5 and is boring? Anyone with brain would take it without blinking eyes.

That salary and hours are far from unique in rad onc.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Finishing Psych residency, and no regrets. I did apply to some dual internal Med/Psych programs at first, but ultimately ranked them lower. Glad I did. So so satisfied.

Most specialties you do the same thing your whole career. Amazing how medicine is always thought of as this flexible option. The only flexibility in my eyes seems to be the organ you choose. Otherwise it's the same thing every day -- Wake up early every day, do some procedures (caths, dialysis, etc), rush around and round on your inpatients, then get to your clinic by noon to see your clinic list. EP and CC are probably exceptions, as are hospitalists.

But psych has this interesting flexibility where you can work 1 job 2 days a week, another job 2 days a week. Or one in the morning, another in the afternoon. Mix and match settings, patient populations. Do all meds, or some/all psychotherapy. All hospital, or all private practice, or any combo. Gero, forensics, addiction, Psychosomatics (C/L), Sleep. All fellowships are 1 year (except child). Looking at jobs now and nothing I'm finding in my area less than 180k for a 40-hr week.

And you're never bored. Thank you jeebus I found the right fit for me.

Psych is excellent

 

[RaraBovis]

I would do EM again. The drug seekers/scumbags, circadian shifts, and heavy night/weekend component are made up for by (generally) interesting work, (usually) grateful patients, and not having to carry a pager. Plus I feel like I'm better at EM then I would be at any other specialty.

Does EM deal with Cardiology patients or do they go to a coronary centre right away?

Yeah, I don't know.
IMG.

Thanks.

 

[Tius]

to the aforementioned of is ep & gi cush? I'm a pgy2 medicine resident waiting to match for cards. EP yea for the most part is not as bad because you don't take stemi call, (depends on negotiations with your contract for private practice) but when you work, its intense. you're putting in pacers all day, bi-v's can take upwards of 6 hours, then you still have to do notes for post-op. If your partners don't put in pacers you could have to come in and do imergent pacemakers. Plus, lets be serious, if you fast track ep and shave off a year of subspecialty fellowship, its still 7 years. If not, then its 8 years (3 med + 3 cards + 2 ep). gi is at least 6 unless you wanna do some advanced endoscopy. And trust me, despite medicine being only 3 years, its a pretty grueling 3 years.

Despite all that, would i have chosen any other field? if i was solely doing internal medicine, probably. But for cardiology? no way

 

[styphon]

I am a family medicine intern and I would not switch what I am doing. I love skipping around fields and doing procedures in different areas of medicine. I love that I can see a 6 month old, a pregnant woman, someone with HIV, and then manage someone's pain in the same clinical setting. I love that I can do outpt clinic, inpt medicine, ER, or ob depending on my wants/needs. I love that I am covered in tattoos and don't get treated that much differently from others, but would be torn apart in other fields for the same thing.

 

[Pontifex Maximus]

Does EM deal with Cardiology patients or do they go to a coronary centre right away?

Yeah, I don't know.
IMG.

Thanks.

Well of course they take care of them, at least until they can be triaged appropriately. To the cath lab, possibly transfer to a hospital with CT surgery, or possibly the floor/ICU.

 

[Groove]

Only starting my PGY3 year, but very happy with EM. I'm one of the very few that had a good idea about what I wanted to do since the beginning of medical school and felt very strongly about the specialty and am one of the twisted bunch that just enjoys working in the ED. The only "surprise" I guess has been that I didn't foresee the circadian rhythm disruptions (terrible on my body and makes me a total grouch), random shifts, wknds, holidays, etc.. being as disruptive to my personal life as it has been. I def don't think EM is a "lifestyle" specialty, but still would make the same decision in a heart beat. Maybe I'll feel differently 20 years from now, who knows.

 

[muhali3]

Doing pediatrics, will be applying for peds critical care fellowships this summer, and absolutely no way I would have done anything else. While I frequently say I "hate my life" when in general peds clinic, my days are still infinitely better than being stuck in any role where I'd have to care for adults. When kids are healthy, it just means I get to play when I'm at work. In terms of being in the PICU, I get such a wide variety of pathology to keep from getting bored, get to do enough procedures to keep my hands busy, and in being exposed to transport medicine (helicopters and such) have managed to find an area I can be passionate about in research. All with the benefit of no clinic ever. And I get to avoid all the social stuff/discharge planning that typically comes with inpatient medicine...oh and there's none of that 'angel of death' stuff that dominates the adult ICU world - if I do my job, my patients get better and go back to being kids. Extremely rewarding.

But isn't it also be very emotionally taxing when a kid doesn't make it. I've heard this is a reason for burnout in peds CCM.