less malignant fields

[Meritina]

---

Members don't see this ad.

This may be a strange aspect on deciding which field of residency to go to, but I'm wondering if anyone has opinions on which fields of medicine are less likely to have malignant people/residents/attendings in them. I just want to work in a field with a higher percentage of 'nice guys' - consider myself a shyer person who prefers to avoid stormy people. I don't mind if the people are hard core workers, just less likely to be malignant.

i already see from clerkships that some NO's are-
-medicine
-surgery
-psychiatry
-pediatrics
-obgyn
-anesthesiology
-urology
-neurology

so far the only field i've worked in with 'nice guys' is orthopedics and family practice. i'm sure all places are varied, but what are your experiences on this. anyone know of pathology, rad-onc, radiology, pmr, ophthalmology, e-med, or dermatology...

thanx

 

[Apollyon]

Wow...your med school must be tough, if your peds, psych, and anesthesia rotations were malignant. Those are three of the most chilled out I've seen (although some of the psych people resemble their patient base too much, and, as my peds senior said, some peds people are SO laid back, they're almost flaky).

I'll agree with you on ortho, though - my experience with 3 different programs has been uniformly low key.

 

[sdude]

First you should decide if you like working with patients or not.

I don't have experience with all these fields, but I have always liked the diagnostic radiologists and pathologists I've known. These seem to be fairly mellow, intellectual fields (particularly path).

Your impression of FP definitely agrees with what I've seen, but you may have had bad luck with peds. I can't speak from experience, but it seems strange that that field would attract stormy people. What was your experience?

 

[GopherBrain]

I think your clerkship experience must be a little skewed. Are you just at a malignant place? I've had almost the opposite experience. There has only been one rotation that really felt malignant. Even that one was not a case of purposeful evil, just being too busy to care about med students...

 

[Meritina]

peds here seems similar to medicine, just less intense. it's a cool field with many nice people, but there are a collection of residents here who seem out to make the med-students lives miserable. it could be just this particular site though.

 

[Swaydaa]

SAme with me...totally opposite. Anesthsiea malignant? WOW

 

[Meritina]

hmm,
i must be having a bad experience in my 3rd year, or there are alot of unhappy people where i'm at, or something...

meaning you actually didn't see collections of malignant people esp in medicine/surgery/obgyn/anesthesiology😕 which locations/what type of hospitals are we talking about here... where do i sign up 😀

just want to stay away from the thunderstorms.

i like sdudes thoughts on path and rads. i have similar thoughts but without actually really getting to know the people in those fields.

thankyou for your inputs - any other thoughts about the kind of people in different fields is greatly appreciated

 

[avendesora]

Rads and Psych were the most chill attendings and residents I worked with. You always hear "there's one in every crowd" and I think that's true everywhere. I had some incredibly chill surgery attendings and a couple pediatricians that were so tight I wondered how they every managed to drop a loaf

Ortho guys are generally cool, although when in large groups they act a lot like high school boys -- If you don't fit the "frat boy" mold you might not fit in that great.

 

[Finally M3]

I'm biased but I think PM&R tends to be a chill speciality

Honestly, though, you're in medicine. It tends to draw Type As out of the woodwork. I had a really cool Rads attending, but there were other a-holes in the same department. Same as true in ER.

 

[Machiavelli]

All of these suggestions should be taken with a grain of salt; you'll find uptight attendings in any speciality.

1) Pediatrics. Uniformly the most laid-back group I've interacted with.

2) Radiology. They rarely have to deal with the "social worker" side of medicine that seems to stress a lot of docs out.

3) Path. Ditto.

4) Anaesthesia. If you had malignant experiences on both Peds AND anaesthesia, I really feel for you.

5) Rad Onc. The patient volume is considerably less than specialities like primary care, so the attendings I worked with seemed to be more relaxed, felt they could take their time to talk to patients, come up with the right treatment plan, etc.

On ortho, I'd say that if you fit into the "ex-jock" crowd, you'll feel very at home. If you don't, you probably won't.

Psych: Tended to be laid-back attendings, but at the same time I came away convinced people went into psych for the self-diagnosis aspect 🙂

 

[edinOH]

I usually don't buy into the sterotypes when it comes to the various fields. They are fun to joke about but in reality I think the truly malignant types are few and far between.

Having said that though, I can tell you that based on my experience the OBGYN folks really do seem to be an unhappy lot. In other fields the malignant/unhappy types are the exception rather than the rule but I think the opposite is true for OBGYN from what I've seen. Other than that, I'd say just go with what you like. For the most part you should be working with nice/cool people.

I'm ER and we are hella-cool. 😀

 

[apma77]

least malignancy+great pay+great hrs+clean wroking environment+least nurse/staf hassles= radiology or anesthesia

yes derm is competitive but i wouldnt want to pop pimples and fry asswarts all day

 

[doc05]

you'll find happy residents in anesthesia, rads, EM.

 

[JR]

Don't forget Ophtho! However, I may be a little biased here...

 

[apma77]

anesthesia or rads is TOP....alot less headaches as far as social work issues are concerend and yes NO rounding endlessly also kicks A$$

 

[pockey]

i already see from clerkships that some NO's are-
-medicine
-surgery
-psychiatry
-pediatrics
-obgyn
-anesthesiology
-urology
-neurology

Are you serious? I wonder if medicine is the right field for you because this pretty much covers almost everything. And as far as a malignant areas, any specialty you're not going to be happy in will seem malignant. If you love a particular field, I think you'll find it less malignant. Besides, every field has it's share of malignant attendings and residents.

 

[VentdependenT]

You still have yet to R/O path or rads. Rotate in em.

 

[DrQuinn]

EM people are pretty laid back IMHO... haven't met one attending who I didn't think was "chill." Granted, I'm an EM resident and biased. But I think with all the shizit you see in the ED, its hard to be an a$$ to your residents or students. <shrug>

Gas for the most part are pretty laid back.

I think peds is probably the least malignant, but I agree with Apollyon, some can be flaky.

Q, DO

 

[axm397]

I've had the most malignant residents in Medicine (at academic programs since you have more gunners hoping to get into fellowship one resident made me "clear" all questions to the attendings with him before I asked them - not community based hospitals), Surgery (mostly Gen Surg ppl - I had to go get food for the residents during trauma calls) and Ob/Gyn (I think the hormones in the air make everyone including men PMS).

Peds ppl are hit or miss - I thought they would be all nice warm and fuzzy but many don't seem to know how to deal with adults.

Most chill and normal - I vote for PM&R, Anesthesia, ER, Opthal, ENT, and Family.

Laid back, smart, but somewhat socially awkward - Pathology, Radiology (more so the attendings, not so much the residents)

 

[drvlad2004]

I am surprised that someone considered urology malignant. The urologists that I have worked with were so cool. They love having students around. Ironically, I love the orthopods. A day is never ever dull with them. They are the best storytellers. I did find general surgeons and ob/gyns to be major a$$holes. OB/GYN is one field that I would honestly leave medicine before I ever enter that field.

Any surgical subspeciality is really cool with decent lifestyles once you complete residencies.

Nephrologists are pretty laid back and so brilliant!

Rads, they're cool if you ever see their face. Ditto with Path. I actually liked peds. There are also a lot of beautiful female pediatricians 🙂. Of course PM&R has the most laid back physicians around. Type A individuals might not last a day in this field.

Least malignant, hands down, goes to dermatology. Again, there are so many beautiful, if not stunningly beautiful, women that go into that field.

Ahh! Vacation in SoCal begins in 2 more days. Nothing but love for the West Coast!

 

[yaah]

Laid back, smart, but somewhat socially awkward - Pathology, Radiology (more so the attendings, not so much the residents)

Socially awkward? I think not! Have you seen medicine residents and attendings, and surgery residents and attendings, interact with patients? Awkward individuals are in every field. People who go into path (or rads I guess) are not more likely to be socially awkward, but if you find one that fits the stereotype it reinforces it. I, for example, find pathologists to be witty, educated, intelligent, humorous, and good teachers. Not socially awkward at all. You probably would too if you spent time in a department.

I think one should avoid generalizations. If you want to be laid back, you can do it in any specialty you want. There are laid back surgeons, psychiatrists, pediatricians, whatever. Some of the best trauma folks are very laid back. Just as well, there are pediatricians, neurologists, psychiatrists, and even a few surgeons 😉 who are type AAAAA people. Just be yourself, pick the field you like, and don't worry so much about whether your personality type is going to fit in.

 

[irlandesa]

It really does vary from institution to institution and hospital to hospital: I've found the BWH residents in medicine and surgery to be really friendly and into teaching, and the NEMC surgery residents were pretty cool too! The BWH med residents also seem to be a pretty cool group of laid-back and well-rounded folks, and I learned more in 3.5 weeks from my most recent BWH resident than I did from all the residents at NEMC in my entire 24 weeks there. I guess that would be an unexpected surprise for most.. Oh yeah, liked Psych and Fam Med staff and residents too, and the surgery attendings are fun to work with wherever I've gone.

Peds and OB/GYN residents on the other hand, at least the ones I met, were sad, sad bitter individuals, many who hated med students, particularly female ones. They also seemed extremely socially unaware and most of the Ob/Gyn residents were completely lacking in basic social skills, like saying "Hi Irlandesa, how are you?" from time to time instead of greeting me with "go do this" with a snap of the fingers.. Unbelievably rude bunch on that service. If the attendings on Ob/Gyn hadn't been cool, I'd have been ready to walk out the door on that rotation.

 

[dbiddy808]

I'm sure everyone has heard this but I must repeat it.

Follow the R-O-A-D to happiness!

Radiology, Ophthamology, Anesthesiology and Dermatology.

 

[mrmed]

What about neurology? would you say it is pretty malignant in terms of hours and attendings?

 

[gherelin]

I usually don't buy into the sterotypes when it comes to the various fields. They are fun to joke about but in reality I think the truly malignant types are few and far between.

Having said that though, I can tell you that based on my experience the OBGYN folks really do seem to be an unhappy lot. In other fields the malignant/unhappy types are the exception rather than the rule but I think the opposite is true for OBGYN from what I've seen. Other than that, I'd say just go with what you like. For the most part you should be working with nice/cool people.

I'm ER and we are hella-cool. 😀

I agree with above. Most of the OB/GYN residents I've seen have been unhappy, angry, sarcastic. Maybe from lack of sleep and too many demands. I think family medicine is definitely the least malignant overall although there are back-biting, bitter, and friendly, laid back programs and people in every field.

 

[leechy]

yeah, what about neurology? i'm interested in knowing.