OK when am I suppose to know what field I want to go into ?

[kornphan]

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I am on my second Rotation ( IM done, doing surgery now) , and so far it's been 'very long hours of boredom', and yes I have been 'pushy' and ask questions and seem interested etc... but so far I have not done anything interesting / satisfying. At what point will I "find my nitch" and figure out what field I should go into based on my character, personality, capability etc.. ?

Is this something that happens 'automatically' to all students and they just 'fall' into their own respective fields? or do you have to force/ guide yourself into a field and be happy with that decision?. Obviously, your scores and grades has some influence on this 🙂

Thanks for any guidance. Much appreciated.

 

[ears]

You're not supposed to have found it yet. My medical school (and most I've heard of) act as if something magic happens between now and next spring, when you ARE supposed to know. I can tell you that this miracle didn't occur for a large number of my classmates (and I don't think we're that unusual).

It's a hard decision, and most people agonize over it. Even after people think they've made it, it's not uncommon for people to change their minds (after an internship, a couple of years of residency, or even after finishing a residency). To make matters worse, a medical student isn't really in a good position to judge well what they're actually choosing. You end up having to go with your gut. (Not that that means you shouldn't collect as much information as you can about things you're interested in.)

Most people START that process by figuring out whether they like the OR or not. It sounds like you're in a position to figure that out now. Try to go as much as possible, so you can get comfortable enough with it to figure out if you actually like it. If you do, you can tilt your thinking toward surgery and subspecialties (or anesthesiology). If you don't love the OR, you have to ask whether you like the clinic or not. If you do, think about IM or peds or subspecialties. If you don't like those either, think about the other stuff: radiology, pathology, stuff like that. (I left out ob/gyn and psych because I haven't heard of a good way to know if you like those.)

That's an oversimplification, of course. Maybe the best way for you to approach it is to act on your surgery rotation as if you planned to be a surgeon, and try it on for size (and hold on saying, "This is definitely not for me" as long as you can). Do the same thing in the rest of your rotations.

Don't worry. It's normal to have no idea what you want to do. At some point in the spring, you have to start pretending you're sure about something, but even then, it's normal to be somewhat unsure inside. Good luck.

 

[kornphan]

Thank You so much .. this really help.. ( I feel better already ;-) .. thanks again.

 

[Jaded Soul]

I agree with the above. Two of the most important questions to answer are:

- surgical vs. non-surgical
- primarily in-patient vs. primarily out-patient

You may need to use the rest of third year to figure it out, so don't worry yet.

 

[doc05]

I agree. The most important thing is medicine vs. surgery. you'll have a better idea in a few months. good luck.

 

[ThinkTooMuch]

do general surgeons only do surgery?

 

[rock_climber]

do general surgeons only do surgery?

Some have families and many golf, too.

 

[ThinkTooMuch]

lol, no seriously. im curious what their typical work day is like.

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

I didn't decide until ERAS was already open and accepting apps. It just came out of literally, nowhere (application time that is).

 

[bigDinLV]

It isn't uncommon to be unsure.

I was undecided about which specialty I really wanted even after my list was submitted. I was torn between many many many things to consider. In the end, you will hopefully end up where you belong.

Now that I have matched, I am very thankful that I ended up where I did.

 

[LabMonster]

lol, no seriously. im curious what their typical work day is like.

Medical school does a horrible job informing students what a "typical day" is like. 2 points...

1 - Private medicine is much different than working as an academic at a tertiary teaching hospital. Know the difference - so find an outside mentor and work with that person. Ask them what they love and what they hate. Get in tight so you can ask financial questions. Money is not a taboo question - it's real. It depends on how you form the question 😉

2 - You're a physician, you can tailor your practice, within limits, to meet your needs. Yes, you can make a ton of money in certain specialties working only a few days - and you can make TONS if you work your butt off. The point is that you'll never want for money - you're a doctor. There aren't 'crappy financial specialties.' Of course there is a spectrum of dollars earned - but you didn't put yourself through this for bucks.

My point was tailoring. You can tailor your hours and your earnings, not matter your specialty, to your own wants.