its calling my name....

[drdr2010]

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medicine that is, clinical work, patients, being a doctor.....
i am about 2.5 years out from finishing my PhD, M1 already done, all of M2 except the intro clinical work (they won't let us start until the PhD is done). and i'm so impatient right now. i don't think i would quit the MD/PhD because i have poured so much of my time and effort into my lab work and honestly, i feel good about what i have accomplished there. but for goodness sakes, some days it feels like i am never going to touch a patient!!! and most of my friends from when i started are M3s and M4s and applying for residency and i'm jealous. its just making it hard for me to focus on my research right now. anyone else feel/felt this way and any advice for moving past it?

 

[BDavis]

i don't think i would quit the MD/PhD because i have poured so much of my time and effort into my lab work and honestly, i feel good about what i have accomplished there. but for goodness sakes, some days it feels like i am never going to touch a patient!!! and most of my friends from when i started are M3s and M4s and applying for residency and i'm jealous. its just making it hard for me to focus on my research right now. anyone else feel/felt this way and any advice for moving past it?

I think many MD/PhD students have your sentiments, especially around Match day for your particular medical school class. I also felt like my life was sort of put on hold while did my PhD and my clinical skills just faded away. I sort of hit this "wall" where no matter what experiment I did it wouldn't work.

However, at our school there are opportunities for MD/PhD students to maintain their clinical skills (like volunteering at homeless clinic run mainly by clinical students). Perhaps these kind of opportunities exist at your school where you could devote maybe 1-2 hours a week to maintaining your clinical skills and give yourself a break from bench research. If you plan on doing research during a fellowship (internal medicine, pediatrics), this time that you devote to bench research will probably save you time down the road (i.e. fast-track programs).