Medical Setting You are Most Interested in?

[mafunk]

What type of medical setting are you most interested in working in?
Hospital?
Community Health Clinic?
For Profit Clinic/Group of Doctors?
Small private office?
Other?

I'm most interested in serving at a community health clinic that serves an indigent population... refugees, immigrants, working poor. In my volunteer work I have found these to be 'kinder, gentler' environments where the staff seems to truly care about their patients.

I find hospitals to be too institutionalized and impersonal. I do want to work in the hospital as needed to serve my patients, for example if I become an Ob/GYN. But I do not want to work FT in a hospital.

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[Tappinfool66]

I'd say hospital.

 

[torshi]

most likely private practice.

 

[KING3]

Private practice for sure. It will finally be nice not to be told what to do and when. I don't care what type of community I serve but I can't work for someone else.

 

[Azmany]

Hospital, but a one that is in Sudan or Uganda.

 

[Tots]

I don't want to go into private practice. Otherwise I don't know?

 

[Renaissance Man]

Definitely a hospital, I worked in a hospital and for me it is 10X better than private practice

 

[DrBowtie]

Definitely a hospital, I worked in a hospital and for me it is 10X better than private practice

They aren't necessarily different. In most non-academic hospitals, the physicians are private practice groups are independentaly contracted by the hospital to work there.

 

[mafunk]

For those of you who said hospital. What, specifically, is it that you like about working in a hospital?

 

[boobelle]

I find hospitals to be too institutionalized and impersonal. I do want to work in the hospital as needed to serve my patients, for example if I become an Ob/GYN. But I do not want to work FT in a hospital.

If you do find yourself interested in a hospital-based specialty like ob/gyn, it might be worth checking out so-called "community hospitals" (which doesn't just mean private-practice hospitals, there are also academic CHs). They tend to be smaller in scale and have a more direct connection to the local area (rather than big university hospitals, where patients come from all over).

In response to your question of why some of us like hospitals...I love both the big academic centers and the smaller CHs. I love the community and the interaction with nurses, PAs, and docs of various specialties...rather than the feeling of being isolated out in private practice somewhere. I also like the "instant gratification" of hospital-based medicine rather than the more drawn-out pace of outpatient medicine. I also prefer the process of diagnosing and treating acutely ill, very sick patients (i.e. inpatient medicine) rather than chronic and preventative medicine, although I enjoy the latter, too.

 

[raginfly]

nip/tuck

 

[Renaissance Man]

They aren't necessarily different. In most non-academic hospitals, the physicians are private practice groups are independentaly contracted by the hospital to work there.

Actually it was quite a bit different. I have worked in a hospital and also as a office "guy" in a plastic surgery private practice. I know that private practice groups get contracts to work in hospitals, but there lies the key, they work in the hospital, not some office building.

 

[DrBowtie]

Actually it was quite a bit different. I have worked in a hospital and also as a office "guy" in a plastic surgery private practice. I know that private practice groups get contracts to work in hospitals, but there lies the key, they work in the hospital, not some office building.

The word you are looking for is outpatient rather than private practice.

 

[Renaissance Man]

The word you are looking for is outpatient rather than private practice.

Naw, but next time I forget where I have worked I will ask you to remind me. The cosmetic plastic surgeon I worked for was unaffiliated with a hospital, he has his own OR and nurses.

 

[DrBowtie]

Naw, but next time I forget where I have worked I will ask you to remind me. The cosmetic plastic surgeon I worked for was unaffiliated with a hospital, he has his own OR and nurses.

So knowing your two jobs allows you to comment on all practice types and settings?

Just to clarify for anyone else reading:
Private practice vs. Hospital employee vs. Academic physician are just different ways to get paid.

Hospital based vs. outpatient clinic vs. surgery center are practice settings.

You can mix and match each type in any way.

 

[toff4l]

Office setting. I like to see patients in the office and then travel to several hospitals to do rounds.

 

[Swagster]

How feasible is it to work in a clinic (part of a group practice) and take a month off at a time twice per year to do international work? It seems like that could offer the best of both worlds.

 

[Renaissance Man]

So knowing your two jobs allows you to comment on all practice types and settings?

Just to clarify for anyone else reading:
Private practice vs. Hospital employee vs. Academic physician are just different ways to get paid.

Hospital based vs. outpatient clinic vs. surgery center are practice settings.

You can mix and match each type in any way.

No, but it allows me to comment on my situation, something you are seemingly unable to comprehend. All I said was that I want to work in a hospital setting because in my experiences I like it better than my experiences with private practice. Nowhere do I make sweeping generalities, you are the one who can't just accept a simple post/comment. I don't pretend to know much about practice set-ups across the nation but I can comment on what I have experienced. If this is confusing make sure to look at the words in italics breh