Opinions for an MS3 declaring radiology

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AdverseAffinity

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Hey all,

I know there's plenty of posts about what you all do and why or why not to go into radiology, but I felt adding a bit of who I am and what I like would help get specific feedback from you all.

I'm an MS3 currently declaring radiology. I have a background from a science/math undergrad and 3 years of post-baccalaureate fulltime research in fMRI. Radiology has been on my radar the entirety of medical school because I'm a visually oriented person who loves problem solving and 3D conceptualization. I have rotated through surgery, neurology, psychiatry, medicine, and now OB. I've enjoyed working with the OR teams but I know I don't want to be a general surgeon or most any subspecialty. I didn't like medicine at all as I felt bored out of my mind. I didn't feel it was intellectually engaging for me. I didn't mind psych and the only part of neurology that I enjoyed was the imaging. I loved the stereotactic imaging used in neurosurgery. I have loved OB because I like the hands on deliveries and C sections and I so feel more emotional investment in helping getting a healthy baby than I have in any other field. I like trying to read CTs and CXRs on my own but I can't tell how happy I'd be doing only that. I enjoy interacting with the health care team a lot (why I like the OR and OB) and enjoy time with patients but am not the person that desires to know the patient's whole life story and all. My advisor says that while radiology is intellectually challenging he says I might be bored in not working with people as much, but most of what I read here seems to say that you all do get to interact with people enough. I changed my elective from radiology to anesthesiology as most people say a rotation in radiology doesn't help rule it in or out. Right now, my short list is probably radiology, anesthesiology (because of the complex physiology and procedures) , and OB which I realize are all very different. I just wanted to get feedback from you all and your experiences and what you were thinking when you were declaring and see if I'm off base with considering radiology. Radiology has the math and science that I miss from my past, has more intellectual reasoning than most other specialties, and has fields like IR where I can get the elements of the OR and procedures to give more diversity to what I could do. Any thoughts? Is there a good way to "try out" radiology to see if it's for me? I realize watching a radiologist is much different than reading the scans. Should I go to the hospital and trying pulling up random CTs and "reading" them for hours and see if that's boring or not? Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks.
 
Do both radiology and anesthesiology rotations. EVERYONE will tell you that you do nothing on a rads elective as a med student, which is true. However, don't you want to find out for yourself what they really mean? Will you really do nothing? Can you at least get an inkling of what life as a radiology resident is like? What will you say to interviewers when they ask you why you didn't do any rads electives? (if you do decide to apply later)
 
Thanks. I certainly will eventually do a rotation in radiology but it'll have to be my 4th year.

Also, I didn't mention, but I'm on the Army HPSP so if there are Army radiology trainees, I'd certainly be interested in hearing your experiences.

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I'm sorry the first part was too wordy. I wanted to get the opinion if radiologists feel like they work with some form of the medical team and like it or if it's truly personally isolating. I was told that while radiology is intellectually interesting that maybe with the lack of team interaction that I might get bored so I wanted to see if people thought that is a fair statement because I've enjoyed the team environment of the OR.

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I'm sorry the first part was too wordy. I wanted to get the opinion if radiologists feel like they work with some form of the medical team and like it or if it's truly personally isolating. I was told that while radiology is intellectually interesting that maybe with the lack of team interaction that I might get bored so I wanted to see if people thought that is a fair statement because I've enjoyed the team environment of the OR.

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Most radiologists don't enjoy OR environment.

Though most radiologists are not introverts, it is safe to say that most radiologists choose to sit in the dark room and read images over clinic or OR.
 
There are subspecialties within radiology in which you'll have more interaction with patients, and a variety of procedures (e.g. IR, breast). In terms of interpersonal interactions in an academic setting, you'll be communicating quite often with referring physicians, colleagues, technologists, etc. You'd certainly be able to somewhat tailor your radiology career to contain more procedures and less isolation.

It's difficult to judge if you'd be bored as a radiologist as a medical student, since actually taking control of the studies and reading them yourself is much more exciting than watching someone else do it. That being said, a radiology rotation would allow you to see the day-to-day life of a radiology resident/attending, and you might be able to get a grasp if it's something you'd enjoy.

On the other hand, you could always choose a specialty outside of radiology that still relies heavily on imaging. Certain OB subspecialties (e.g. MFM) will give you daily exposure to imaging. Anesthesia, not so much. Have you considered Emergency Medicine? It sounds like you enjoy fast-paced, in-and-out type of patient experiences with a smattering of procedures and imaging, which EM provides.

Good luck! The best advice I can give is to choose based on your gut feeling and you'll be happy.

-Current MS4 and radiology applicant
 
Thanks for the feedback. I've liked OB more than expected and MFM does look interesting.

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I'm an army radiology resident.

You should definitely visit the programs and do a rads rotation to see whether the field might be a good fit. True, it is similar to watching someone play video games over their shoulder, but you have to look beyond the experience and imagine the potential. Depending on the resident/service you're working with, we try to engage the students as much as possible.
 
Thank you so much for the feedback.

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Suggestion - do an IR rotation as early as you can. Get your hands dirty putting in lines and ports. Get in on a TACE (after reviewing liver scan yourself and then check with the report). If that gets your engine revving then...welcome to radiology!
 
Saw this in the other thread, maybe it will be helpful!

AMSER Guide to Applying for Radiology Residency, version 6, July 2015
https://www.aur.org/uploadedFiles/A...Guide_to_Applying_for_Radiology_Residency.pdf

Apps of Steel, 11th edition, 2015-2016
http://teamrads.com/images/Uploads/APPSofSTEEL 2015.pdf

"Radiology has become a high-performance and scientifically complex field, requiring not only a masterly command of medicine but of physics, electrical engineering, statistics, biochemistry, and manual dexterity"

Hubris much? Over 90% of radiologists don't have a masterly command of physics, electrical engineering, biochemistry, and statistics.
 
Thank you for all of the feedback. I have a general radiology rotation in April. I have my sub-i in interventional radiology in July. I'm looking forward to them

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