- Joined
- Aug 8, 2011
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Hello everyone I hope you are doing well. I am a fourth-year medical student who has interviewed for both family medicine and Internal medicine. I have come to a point of crossroads where I need to decide between the two. I'm not particularly sure if I enjoy the hospital more or the clinic more. Some background about me is that I am a non-traditional student, married, have children and dealt with a major disease in my lifetime for which I am now cured (some call it remission.) I do have several sequelae as a result of my strife including but not limited to diabetes. So this is definitely a consideration in my future. First and foremost I need a specialty where I will not be doing the same thing over and over again and will not be bored. I need something that is intellectually stimulating and gets me excited but I'm not sure I want to make life death decisions. I would like to have the flexibility to go on vacation and spend time with my family if they have an event such as a school event etcetera.
I am not particularly a fan of pediatrics, because I had a horrible pediatrics rotation. So I'm really not sure what pediatrics is like, but it makes me nervous to handle little people. I also get sick easily so children are pretty darn sick and snotty. I don't mind OBGYN short term but going forward I know I don't want to do any OBGYN.
I know that I want to do complex cases and take into account several comorbidities. I do like talking to people but at the same time I would like to have the opportunity to not talk to people if I don't want to. I find internal medicine to be challenging and cerebral. It constantly makes me think and keeps me on my toes but it definitely wears me out and I feel exhausted. At the end of the day I find that I have no energy and all I want to do is sleep and it's difficult for me to spend time with my family. I understand that intern year for both specialties is roughly the same in terms of rigor. But I cannot decide which one I want to do in the long term.
I found it staying in a clinic made me bored and gave me too much time on my hands especially when patients didn't show up. I found most stuff to be run of the mill cough sniffles etc.
Training wise i am concerned about being able to handle an emergency or critical situation if it was to arise. I like to know everything about everything but I feel overwhelmed knowing little about everything. I have done 6 sub internships in Internal medicine back to back and I am exhausted.
I know that I shouldn't feel this way but I keep having this feeling that being a family medicine physician will make me inadequate. I don't particularly have any intention of specializing as I am older. I do know I may want to choose between hospitalist and outpatient. One thing is that the program's I have looked at family medicine is at the location I want to be in. Internal medicine is not the best of locations. I also would match earlier into family medicine due to pre match vs Internal I'd have to go through the match.
Any advice or guidance would be much appreciated.
I am not particularly a fan of pediatrics, because I had a horrible pediatrics rotation. So I'm really not sure what pediatrics is like, but it makes me nervous to handle little people. I also get sick easily so children are pretty darn sick and snotty. I don't mind OBGYN short term but going forward I know I don't want to do any OBGYN.
I know that I want to do complex cases and take into account several comorbidities. I do like talking to people but at the same time I would like to have the opportunity to not talk to people if I don't want to. I find internal medicine to be challenging and cerebral. It constantly makes me think and keeps me on my toes but it definitely wears me out and I feel exhausted. At the end of the day I find that I have no energy and all I want to do is sleep and it's difficult for me to spend time with my family. I understand that intern year for both specialties is roughly the same in terms of rigor. But I cannot decide which one I want to do in the long term.
I found it staying in a clinic made me bored and gave me too much time on my hands especially when patients didn't show up. I found most stuff to be run of the mill cough sniffles etc.
Training wise i am concerned about being able to handle an emergency or critical situation if it was to arise. I like to know everything about everything but I feel overwhelmed knowing little about everything. I have done 6 sub internships in Internal medicine back to back and I am exhausted.
I know that I shouldn't feel this way but I keep having this feeling that being a family medicine physician will make me inadequate. I don't particularly have any intention of specializing as I am older. I do know I may want to choose between hospitalist and outpatient. One thing is that the program's I have looked at family medicine is at the location I want to be in. Internal medicine is not the best of locations. I also would match earlier into family medicine due to pre match vs Internal I'd have to go through the match.
Any advice or guidance would be much appreciated.
