Laid-Back/Easy to get along with People

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MedicinaeDoctor

MedicinaeDoctor

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Which specialties have the most laid-back, easy-going, easy to get along with, and over-all fun people in it? Yes, there are some people like this in every specialty, but which ones tend to have the most? EM, Anesthesiology, Ortho, and Uro?

NOTE: I'm NOT asking which specialties have the best lifestyle.
 
Def not EM, I would imagine being laid-back is not a prized quality in emergency room physicians. Maybe anesthesiology.
 
In my experience it has been surgeons, dentists and ophthalmologists.

Oh and the younger nurses are really cool too.
 
AestheticMed said:
In my experience it has been surgeons, dentists and ophthalmologists.

Oh and the younger nurses are really cool too.
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Dentistry and nursing are not specialties.
 
I've heard gas has really laid back people that will read newspapers and stuff during surgeries and generally have a lively, sociable personality.
 
From what I've gathered on SDN, the specialties that best fit this description are:

- Anesthesia
- PM&R
- Psych
- EM (despite what the poster above said... the EP's I've met have been very laid back, and this is the impression I get on SDN as well. That's only my experience/impression of the specialty though).
 
CityLights said:
From what I've gathered on SDN, the specialties that best fit this description are:

- Anesthesia
- PM&R
- Psych
- EM (despite what the poster above said... the EP's I've met have been very laid back, and this is the impression I get on SDN as well. That's only my experience/impression of the specialty though).
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From personal experience, I would have to disagree with that one. To each their own...
 
Charles Darwin said:
From personal experience, I would have to disagree with that one. To each their own...
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Maybe laid-back isn't the best descriptor as they're usually very busy, but they certainly seem to have less of an ego though than some IM docs and surgeons and are otherwise pretty sociable. I've only worked with the night-shift docs though, that could have something to do with it.
 
It really depends on the individual personalities of the staff. I have shadowed an orthopedic surgeon and the jokes that go on between the surgeon, CRNAs, scrub-techs are hilarious. They all deal with sexual escapades 🙂.

I also shadow an IM physician and he gets along with his nurses very well. It's a very jovial environment.
 
Oh I can't believe I forgot radiologist/MRI guys. When I was shadowing these MRI guys we were having a blast. Talked about so much stupid stuff and we even started singing together while waiting for the scan to complete and such. Funny stuff.
 
Chill and laid back... definitely Psych, Anesthesiologists, and PM&R... no doubt.

Now, I know a lot of EPs... and most of them are chill in the sense that they're not douchebags like some surgeons. But they are usually ADHD types... very sociable, like to keep busy and moving.

Also... ortho's are NOT laid back... in general they're high strung and worrying about getting in that ACL before tee time.

I've been doing some thinking on medical specialties now that I've been getting interviews... it seems like Anesthesiology offers me a plethora of opportunities. I can be an expert in physiology and pharmacology. I get to be in the OR, and I can work in an ICU if I do so please. Then there's the added benefit of doing pain management. And honestly, alleviating pain is something that many people require desperately... let the internists figure out the root cause of the pain. I can make a decent living, afford to send my kids to good schools, take a nice vacation here and there. And support my science fiction habits... comic con etc. Plus I can watch my kids soccer game on the weekend... needless to say any specialty can afford you this type of lifestyle if you play it smart. But to me it seems people in gas love their lives.
 
HH Holmes said:
By far the most stuck up physician with the biggest ego I've ever met was an MD/DMD who was a maxillofacial surgeon. Complete d-bag and totally confirmed my suspicion that the more letters you have after your name = bigger the douche you are :laugh:
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The guy who pulled my wisdom teeth was kind of a d-bag, tbh.

Come on, more fun stereotypes! 😎
 
CodeBlu said:
Now, I know a lot of EPs... and most of them are chill in the sense that they're not douchebags like some surgeons. But they are usually ADHD types... very sociable, like to keep busy and moving.
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Agreed, that's a better way to put it.
 
I did a month-long internship in dermatology, with two different dermatologists, and the differences were huge. One of them was pretty family-oriented, Republican, and did a lot of cosmetic procedures to line the wallet. The other was super liberal, eccentric, and extremely passionate about the medical humanities. This guy had patients who had very small dermatological issues who really came in to see him for psychiatric and internal medicine counseling, and he even gave them hundred dollar checks for treatment they often couldn't afford. It was really inspiring, especially coming from a dermatologist, of all specialties.

You just never know.
 
HH Holmes said:
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I believe this ^ has been posted 1.00 x 10^34 times on SDN. Got to meet/talk to an anesthesiologist (head of some program in brooklyn) while shadowing a P&R surgeon. One of the nicest docs I have ever met. Extremely cerebral and willing to teach a lowly pre-med like myself when he didn't have to. Much more chill than the surgeon (every cutter I know seems like a lunatic).

Gas is definitely something on my list to check out, too, Blu.
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Very cerebral people those gas folk. Honestly, the idea of manipulating pharmacology to tailor patient specific needs for surgery/pain turns me on. I've always had a thing for PM&R, ortho related stuff. Partly because I was an athlete and dealt with a lot of sports med docs. But, gas allows the integration of the nerdy receptor physiology/pharmacology, and yet still if you want patient contact... it's not a problem because you can run clinics for pain and do pain management. When I was on chemo, it was a bitch to find the appropriate combo of pain meds for me. Finally a mix of fentanyl and oxycocet worked. But until then... I was a mess.

Anyone ever had morphine/fentanyl will know what I mean... for those that scored well on the MCAT... the feeling you get when you check THx is what it's like. Where you're in anguish and peril, and then an overwhelming sense of a weight lifted off your shoulders, and a cool chill type feeling starts to radiate through your chest and go everywhere.
 
Kangaroo Paw said:
I did a month-long internship in dermatology, with two different dermatologists, and the differences were huge. One of them was pretty family-oriented, Republican, and did a lot of cosmetic procedures to line the wallet. The other was super liberal, eccentric, and extremely passionate about the medical humanities. This guy had patients who had very small dermatological issues who really came in to see him for psychiatric and internal medicine counseling, and he even gave them hundred dollar checks for treatment they often couldn't afford. It was really inspiring, especially coming from a dermatologist, of all specialties.

You just never know.
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People can be surprising. No doubt there are going to be doctors who help people no matter what. Just like there are public defense attorneys who work for pennies and do it cuz they love to. There are derms/rads/opthos who do it cuz they love what they're doing and they actually care about the patient beyond the paycheck.
 
CodeBlu said:
Anyone ever had morphine/fentanyl will know what I mean... for those that scored well on the MCAT... the feeling you get when you check THx is what it's like. Where you're in anguish and peril, and then an overwhelming sense of a weight lifted off your shoulders, and a cool chill type feeling starts to radiate through your chest and go everywhere.
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Ha, I like your description. I took a good 30 seconds imagining it and that alone felt great.

But seriously, no wonder fentanyl addiction is such a problem in anesthesia.
 
please help me dears, my mother is suffering from lip ache from many days. i am in bangladesh. please help me with reply.
 
CityLights said:
Ha, I like your description. I took a good 30 seconds imagining it and that alone felt great.

But seriously, no wonder fentanyl addiction is such a problem in anesthesia.
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Meh the drugs are powerful. But unfortunately some people are predisposed to addiction. Their mu opioid receptors just have a higher affinity for the drug.

But... at one point or another all of us have been "addicted" to something. If you have a healthy working environment, and you take care of yourself mentally and physically then you are less likely to delve into narcotics to take care of yourself.

Fact: You can't be a doctor without taking care of yourself first. So don't skip that meal, or drink that 4th red bull...

the lululemon yoga bags say.... sweat once a day... very true.
 
neurosurgery in my experience has been real chill/laid back people
 
I've worked with orthopods both as a student and patient and generally feel they were the chillest clinicians I've worked with. I'm going into rads and have worked with a ton of different radiologists and they're generally chill and some of the most social people in the hospital (mainly bc they run into everyone from every team at one pt or another and aren't as slammed as other services much of the time) but some attendings are pretty intense.
 
drizzt3117 said:
I've worked with orthopods both as a student and patient and generally feel they were the chillest clinicians I've worked with. I'm going into rads and have worked with a ton of different radiologists and they're generally chill and some of the most social people in the hospital (mainly bc they run into everyone from every team at one pt or another and aren't as slammed as other services much of the time) but some attendings are pretty intense.
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I agree here. Orthos generally are meat heads but cool guys/girls.

Some of the ortho chicks are SUPER hot too. Not a bad thing either.

I guess I can see the rads point you're trying to make... but I would argue that it is not the "norm".

In general... psychiatrists have to be a little loopy and laid back to deal with the intense things they have to deal with.
 
CodeBlu said:
Explain/elaborate?

The ones I know are... well cool people. But not laid back.
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I guess it's program dependent but the residents/attendings I've been around are very chill/laid back. Up beat personality, always cracking jokes, discussing different types of music, etc.
 
PremedGunner said:
CodeBlu you are posting like a mad man in this thread

I vote Family medicine. But no one wants to hear this because its boring.
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I'm at the airport... waiting... for my flight. It's going to be a long wait.

Hence I post like mad.

Yes... family medicine is pretty chill. But uhhhh... it doesn't appeal to me at all. I need to do more than manage statins and prescribe Biaxin. Plus, in family most of your patients aren't going to listen to you about losing weight, quitting smoking etc.

At least in Gas/Surgery... you get quantifiable and tangible results because the patient is compliant, they signed a consent form. Basically... here, take my body... knock me out... tune me up. Then go back to eating double big macs and wondering why you need another triple bypass in 2 years. But c'est la vie.
 
gettheleadout said:
FM is a quite challenging field, actually.
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Not challenging in terms of thinking though. More like challenging in the sense that you have to essentially be a psychiatrist, social worker and know a little about everything.

Lots of fam docs get dumped on... patients just come in and they let rip. The cardiologist doesn't care that your husband's cheating on you.
 
CodeBlu said:
I guess I can see the rads point you're trying to make... but I would argue that it is not the "norm".

In general... psychiatrists have to be a little loopy and laid back to deal with the intense things they have to deal with.
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I've been at rads programs at 5 large hospitals and it was true at all of them. At one of them one of the rads attendings was running the NCAA bball pool for the entire hospital, like 500 or more people were in it haha.
 
drizzt3117 said:
I've been at rads programs at 5 large hospitals and it was true at all of them. At one of them one of the rads attendings was running the NCAA bball pool for the entire hospital, like 500 or more people were in it haha.
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Fine fine. Rads is chill.

I guess any ROAD specialty could be extremely chill... especially derm.

Work for 3 hours.. make 12,000? Sure why not.
 
Pathology. In the morgue, we listen to music and dance between cases. There are also a lot of jokes being made. And no one throws a fit if you're half an hour late or have lots of visible tattooes...
 
HH Holmes said:
By far the most stuck up physician with the biggest ego I've ever met was an MD/DMD who was a maxillofacial surgeon. Complete d-bag and totally confirmed my suspicion that the more letters you have after your name = bigger the douche you are :laugh:
Click to expand...

The most egotistical doc I ever met was an MD/PhD/JD. Yeah, I was not a fan.
 
ElCapone said:
How about rads?
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I worked in Radiology for seven years. It looks laid back but it really isn't. It's stressful because people are looking to sue you if you slip up in the least bit. You have to be right 100% of the time. One rad specifically told me that radiology (diagnostic + interventional) was stressful.

My uncle is an Anesthesiologist. Again, looks laid back but it isn't. Maybe if you work in a small hospital with easy cases but if you're working with very sick patients, I promise you're not "reading newspapers" or playing with your iPhone during the surgery.

My vote goes to psychiatry or dermatology.
 
Judging by my rotations so far, I'd say anesthesia, psych, family, and PM&R are probably the most relaxed. Interesting that three of those are basically the three least competitive specialties.
 
drdan83 said:
I worked in Radiology for seven years. It looks laid back but it really isn't. It's stressful because people are looking to sue you if you slip up in the least bit. You have to be right 100% of the time. One rad specifically told me that radiology (diagnostic + interventional) was stressful.

My uncle is an Anesthesiologist. Again, looks laid back but it isn't. Maybe if you work in a small hospital with easy cases but if you're working with very sick patients, I promise you're not "reading newspapers" or playing with your iPhone during the surgery.

My vote goes to psychiatry or dermatology.
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Sure there is professional stress, but the hours are good, you listen to music in the reading room, and don't have nurses lighting up your pager with crazy questions. You can get up and go on a coffee break pretty much whenever you get your list in check.
 
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