Please help me pick a specialty

[brc1123]

Hey everyone,
I am a 4th year MD student and have to apply to residency soon. The problem is I cannot decide which specialty to apply to. I thought I would find out after doing my 3rd year rotations but am still confused. Any input would be appreciated.

A little more about my interests:

• I know I don't want to do peds, I am just not good at interacting with children.
• I know I don't want to do OBGYN, just didn't fit in terms of my personality and desired lifestyle.
• Inpatient psych was really interesting to me but I found outpatient psych to be extremely slow and boring. I also found psych to not be medical and scientific enough for me.
• I liked surgery and internal medicine.
  However, I found surgery to not be medical enough and medicine to not be surgical enough if that makes sense. A specialty which could mix both would probably be ideal.
  I am pretty decent with my hands and have really good spatial intelligence. I also like to see immediate fixes like surgeons rather than dealing with more chronic problems although this is not a dealbreaker.
  I felt that surgery was too fast-paced for me at times, I liked that medicine involved a lot of time for thinking and planning and strategizing rather than making quick decisions which I have never been good at.
  Also, personality-wise, I felt like I fit better with the medicine people. I felt that surgeons tended to have more assertive and dominant personalities and liked to be the center of attention, I tend to be more soft-spoken and less attracted to prestige than surgeons seemed to be.
• I also had a chance to do some radiology and have been trying to do pathology before I apply. I don't love long-term patient interaction that medicine seems to have although I don't mind it. Surgery seemed to be a good mix of short-term patient interaction without being completley isolated from other people. I also have a very scientific and analytical mind which I think a lot of pathologists and radiologists have. I just didn't have much of a chance to explore these specialties. The lifestyle of these specialties is pretty attractive too. I wouldn't mind fixed hours and minimal call although this is not a dealbreaker. Surgeons lifestyle was probably too intense for my liking and medicine was fine. The week I did in radiology was interesting but could be boring at times.
• I did a week of anesthesia and found it to be pretty slow, too much sitting around and doing nothing, it was also really stressful and unpredictable at times which I don't like. I don't mind emergencies and seeing new things but I don't love unpredictability.
• Did a week of neurology and it was interesting, seemed similar to medicine.
• Pay is not extremely important to me as long as I like what i'm doing and all doctors get paid well. Residency length is not a problem either.
• I also am looking to specialize in something, the more specialized the better, I like understanding things deeply and doing research and advancing a specialty and being an expert rather than being a jack of all trades and having only a supeficial understanding.
• I like physiology and pharmacology the most out of all subject in med school, I was never great at anatomy.
  Organ system-wise I liked basically everything above the diaphragm. HLK was the best followed by neuro. Basic sciences were fine. MSK was the worst. GI, GU, skin, and ENT stuff is too gross for me, eye stuff is kinda cringy too.

My top choices so far are IM followed by specialization, possibly in cardiology and then IC or EP as this has a good medical/surgical balance, radiology/IR, pathology, vascular/CT surgery, or neruology/neurosurgery, and possibly ophthalmology, although I am open to other options.

Thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[thatchemguy]

Based on what you said, I would do IC or IR. Though both of these are more surgical than medical, as IC you spend a decent amount of time doing general cardiology as well.

 

[guytakingboards]

You should take some time to check out the surgical sub’s like ENT and ophthalmology. Good quality of life, fair amount of non-surgical management. Some bread and butter easy cases all the way up to very complex surgeries if you’re interested.

 

[Spikebd]

Hey everyone,
I am a 4th year MD student and have to apply to residency soon. The problem is I cannot decide which specialty to apply to. I thought I would find out after doing my 3rd year rotations but am still confused. Any input would be appreciated.

A little more about my interests:

• I know I don't want to do peds, I am just not good at interacting with children.
• I know I don't want to do OBGYN, just didn't fit in terms of my personality and desired lifestyle.
• Inpatient psych was really interesting to me but I found outpatient psych to be extremely slow and boring. I also found psych to not be medical and scientific enough for me.
• I liked surgery and internal medicine.
  However, I found surgery to not be medical enough and medicine to not be surgical enough if that makes sense. A specialty which could mix both would probably be ideal.
  I am pretty decent with my hands and have really good spatial intelligence. I also like to see immediate fixes like surgeons rather than dealing with more chronic problems although this is not a dealbreaker.
  I felt that surgery was too fast-paced for me at times, I liked that medicine involved a lot of time for thinking and planning and strategizing rather than making quick decisions which I have never been good at.
  Also, personality-wise, I felt like I fit better with the medicine people. I felt that surgeons tended to have more assertive and dominant personalities and liked to be the center of attention, I tend to be more soft-spoken and less attracted to prestige than surgeons seemed to be.
• I also had a chance to do some radiology and have been trying to do pathology before I apply. I don't love long-term patient interaction that medicine seems to have although I don't mind it. Surgery seemed to be a good mix of short-term patient interaction without being completley isolated from other people. I also have a very scientific and analytical mind which I think a lot of pathologists and radiologists have. I just didn't have much of a chance to explore these specialties. The lifestyle of these specialties is pretty attractive too. I wouldn't mind fixed hours and minimal call although this is not a dealbreaker. Surgeons lifestyle was probably too intense for my liking and medicine was fine. The week I did in radiology was interesting but could be boring at times.
• I did a week of anesthesia and found it to be pretty slow, too much sitting around and doing nothing, it was also really stressful and unpredictable at times which I don't like. I don't mind emergencies and seeing new things but I don't love unpredictability.
• Did a week of neurology and it was interesting, seemed similar to medicine.
• Pay is not extremely important to me as long as I like what i'm doing and all doctors get paid well. Residency length is not a problem either.
• I also am looking to specialize in something, the more specialized the better, I like understanding things deeply and doing research and advancing a specialty and being an expert rather than being a jack of all trades and having only a supeficial understanding.
• I like physiology and pharmacology the most out of all subject in med school, I was never great at anatomy.
  Organ system-wise I liked basically everything above the diaphragm. HLK was the best followed by neuro. Basic sciences were fine. MSK was the worst. GI, GU, skin, and ENT stuff is too gross for me, eye stuff is kinda cringy too.

My top choices so far are IM followed by specialization, possibly in cardiology and then IC or EP as this has a good medical/surgical balance, radiology/IR, pathology, vascular/CT surgery, or neruology/neurosurgery, and possibly ophthalmology, although I am open to other options.

Thanks

Pathology is under discussed but it’s worth it to make the effort to check it out; however if GI, GU, and skin stuff grosses you out you need to realize you’ll do a lot of gross things in residency.

 

[LunaOri]

Pulmonary/critical care?

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

You should take some time to check out the surgical sub’s like ENT and ophthalmology. Good quality of life, fair amount of non-surgical management. Some bread and butter easy cases all the way up to very complex surgeries if you’re interested.

I think it's too late in the game to decide on one of those unless OP wants to do a research year.

 

[Dr G Oogle]

Do medicine and then a procedural specialty.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

I agree with medicine -> procedural specialty. But take into account that procedures are not surgery. IR/IC are not surgery. Some people are ok with that, others are not.

For the record, general surgery has a LOT of medicine in it.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

I agree with medicine -> procedural specialty. But take into account that procedures are not surgery. IR/IC are not surgery. Some people are ok with that, others are not.

For the record, general surgery has a LOT of medicine in it

 

[scoopdaboop]

you would probably really like GI if you got over the poop stuff which you say you dislike, but once you see there's $ stacked away in those hyperplastic polyps, you'll feel a different way. Endoscopy suites are also not that stressful, no need to be sterile etc. there's also a lot of medicine/sickness in inpatient GI

 

[operaman]

You may want to consider anesthesia as well. Seems like it has a lot of things you’re looking for with a number of fellowship options as well. I think the day to day can vary a lot depending on your practice environment, so a slow week at one institution may not be the best gauge of the field. Certainly worth a little additional thought.

Overall it does seem that IM -> specialty hits most of the right buttons. Also gives you a 3 year option to just get out and practice if you decide against specialty training. If you’re a Gen surg intern who decides you don’t wanna do surgery, it’s a lot harder than being an IM intern who decides they don’t want to be a cardiologist.

 

[mistafab]

I think you gotta drop the idea of any surgical field bro. Do some “procedures” and pick a subject matter (neurology, anesthesia, cards, GiI, etc).

Pick the most interesting body part and go from there.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

Have you had a chance to rotate in an ICU? How do you feel about vents/lungs? i feel like my MICU experience scratched a lot of the itches you described (very medical, but many opportunities for procedures, mostly short term interaction). Just depends if the crit care procedures are "surgical" enough for you - while i was there they did lots of lines and intubations, some bronchs, some misc other things. We had patients get trachs/PEGs which our main ICU team didn't do but there were some other critical care trained folks who did them. But none of it really felt like being in an OR - which was good for me because i didn't love the OR lol. so i agree with other people suggesting medicine -> specialty, and i think critical care could be a good one to consider.

 

[Manatee3]

I found it was easier to know the things I hated and couldn't do, vs picking a specialty from the things I liked.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

You like medicine and surgery, physiology and pharm? You just described anesthesiology. Anesthesiology has CCM, CT anesthesia,TEE, lots of procedures with regional anesthesia and pain management . Granted it's more action oriented than standing in the hall on IM rounds arguing over putting 20 or 30 meq of K+ in the iv bag. Good luck and best wishes!

 

[brc1123]

Hey everyone, thanks for the advice.

Update: I am doing a cardiology elective right now and am really loving the interventional cardiology side of things, EP seems very interesting too. Will try to check out IR during this year as well.
I'm going to try to do a vascular surgery and cardiothoracic surgery elective if I get a chance, maybe some surgical sub-specialties too. I agree I would have to take a year off and do research, etc. to get accepted to one of these fields.
Never thought of anesthesiology or critical care as an option but that is interesting advice. It still doesn't seem like one of my top choices but I will see if I can get more exposure during the year.
I am also going to try to do a pathology rotation as I have had no exposure to this.

My next question is what should I do for applications. The plan was to apply for internal medicine but I am not sure if I should apply to more specialties like surgery, pathology, radiology this year. Would it be more reasonable to apply to only internal medicine now and if I change my mind I could re-apply next year and take a year off rather then apply to 2 or more specialties now?

I think I would really like the medicine procedural specialties but I really can't stand some parts of general internal medicine sometimes. I feel like I am more of a doer and less of a talker and medicine has a lot of talking involved with it and sometimes not a lot of doing. I like the pathophysiology and science and diagnosis aspect of medicine and it is rewarding to have some patient contact and understand their story/see them improve, etc. but the 3 hours of rounding everyday and note-writing and presentations without being able to physically and quickly improve the patient's outcome really gets to me sometimes.

Let me know what you think,
Thanks

 

[mike-sheree]

You’ve mentioned just about every specialty and have no idea what you want. If you feel surgery might be too fast paced for you—- it will be.
How about PM&R. Haven’t mentioned that yet.

 

[brc1123]

You’ve mentioned just about every specialty and have no idea what you want. If you feel surgery might be too fast paced for you—- it will be.
How about PM&R. Haven’t mentioned that yet.

ha...

 

[mike-sheree]

I am dead serious. Hot field.

 

[operaman]

Hey everyone, thanks for the advice.

Update: I am doing a cardiology elective right now and am really loving the interventional cardiology side of things, EP seems very interesting too. Will try to check out IR during this year as well.
I'm going to try to do a vascular surgery and cardiothoracic surgery elective if I get a chance, maybe some surgical sub-specialties too. I agree I would have to take a year off and do research, etc. to get accepted to one of these fields.
Never thought of anesthesiology or critical care as an option but that is interesting advice. It still doesn't seem like one of my top choices but I will see if I can get more exposure during the year.
I am also going to try to do a pathology rotation as I have had no exposure to this.

My next question is what should I do for applications. The plan was to apply for internal medicine but I am not sure if I should apply to more specialties like surgery, pathology, radiology this year. Would it be more reasonable to apply to only internal medicine now and if I change my mind I could re-apply next year and take a year off rather then apply to 2 or more specialties now?

I think I would really like the medicine procedural specialties but I really can't stand some parts of general internal medicine sometimes. I feel like I am more of a doer and less of a talker and medicine has a lot of talking involved with it and sometimes not a lot of doing. I like the pathophysiology and science and diagnosis aspect of medicine and it is rewarding to have some patient contact and understand their story/see them improve, etc. but the 3 hours of rounding everyday and note-writing and presentations without being able to physically and quickly improve the patient's outcome really gets to me sometimes.

Let me know what you think,
Thanks

I think applying multiple fields may be quite a heavy lift - separate PS, letters, etc for each one and convincing those writers you are committed to their field. You’d almost be better off taking a research year and exploring a bit more rather than trying to multi apply or changing your mind later. Your best shot matching anything is your first attempt as a USMD senior, so make it count.

Applying IM may be the best move, especially if your app is strong enough to match a solid program with good fellowship match rates. Preserves lots of specialty options, and you could potentially try and apply for a pgy2 rads or something if you truly despise it once you’re there since those programs typically require a Med or surg intern year anyhow.

You could also go for surgery. Same basic argument as IM. Lots of specialty option in the field, fairly easy to pop over to a pgy2 spot in gas or rads if you’re a strong student and work hard and your program likes you. I had a friend who was a categorical gen surg intern and lateraled to gas after deciding they didn’t want to be a surgeon after all.

I think the med vs surg decision is the most important one at this point. I’d pick one or the other and then go for it. Gas and rads can be options to exit either one early on if you aren’t happy.

 

[mike-sheree]

I think it would be great if everyone had to do a “rotating“ internship. 2 mo med, 2 surg, 2 peds, 2 mo ob-gyn, 2 mo psych, 2 mo elective.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

I think it would be great if everyone had to do a “rotating“ internship. 2 mo med, 2 surg, 2 peds, 2 mo ob-gyn, 2 mo psych, 2 mo elective.

Uh no. That’s how it used to be. The vast majority of that would have been a complete waste of my time

 

[mike-sheree]

Through my 40+ year retrospectroscope is was worth every day financially and also professionally, particularly among my clinical colleagues.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

Through my 40+ year retrospectroscope is was worth every day financially and also professionally, particularly among my clinical colleagues.

It’s not feasible in surgery to do that anymore. I logged 200+ cases last year in additional to a large number of untracked procedures and assisting cases . I just sat through an ACGME analysis of national trends in surgical training along with an analysis of our institutional numbers. General Surgery residents are seeing almost 6x as many patients as they were 40 years ago to get the same case numbers.

Doing an intern year like you describe simply wouldn’t work with case requirements. And I go to a very high volume program.

 

[mike-sheree]

In all due respect, but I believe they “ keep track” of your hours today. I was a rotating surgical intern and did 36/12 for a month on the S.I.C.U. Things were similar on the C.C.U during IM. We had no shortage of work.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

In all due respect, but I believe they “ keep track” of your hours today. I was a rotating surgical intern and did 36/12 for a month on the S.I.C.U. Things were similar on the C.C.U during IM. We had no shortage of work.

Lol ok.

Again, residents are seeing 6x as many patients to get the same case numbers as 40 years ago. This isn’t “feelz” or anecdote. This is hard data. Pt acuity is also significantly higher. Again, hard data.

But sure, we “keep track” of our hours…

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

I think it would be great if everyone had to do a “rotating“ internship. 2 mo med, 2 surg, 2 peds, 2 mo ob-gyn, 2 mo psych, 2 mo elective.

Aren't you describing 3rd year of medical school?

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

In all due respect, but I believe they “ keep track” of your hours today. I was a rotating surgical intern and did 36/12 for a month on the S.I.C.U. Things were similar on the C.C.U during IM. We had no shortage of work.

Brace yourself: things have changed in the last 40 years

 

[flapjack3d]

pain/spine/sports/msk pm&r

 

[mike-sheree]

Brace yourself: things have changed in the last 40 years

Indeed. They have gone to hell in a handbasket!

 

[mike-sheree]

Aren't you describing 3rd year of medical school?

Sure, except you are now the person on the spot with MD after their name. Quite a shock to the system that few if any of y’all could understand today it seems. You have no money in the game when you are a med student.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Sure, except you are now the person on the spot with MD after their name. Quite a shock to the system that few if any of y’all could understand today it seems. You have no money in the game when you are a med student.

I've been out of residency for a decade...

 

[mike-sheree]

I've been out of residency for a decade...

I don’t understand what that is meant to imply. I’ve been out -40 years which has nothing to do with the value of a clinical internship.

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

General Surgery residents are seeing almost 6x as many patients as they were 40 years ago to get the same case numbers.

Yikes 🥴 that's pretty staggering.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Lol ok.

Again, residents are seeing 6x as many patients to get the same case numbers as 40 years ago. This isn’t “feelz” or anecdote. This is hard data. Pt acuity is also significantly higher. Again, hard data.

But sure, we “keep track” of our hours…

Oh, no doubt things are different by orders of magnitude. My wife and I both did rotating Internships and felt we were way ahead of our resident colleagues in our respective specialties. Of course there is utility for a surgeon to know about Peds, Gyn, some IM, etc.. I also understand how difficult it is to get approval for surgeries now. If ACS mandates so many cases, well, ya gotta do them. It's a shame, depending on where you work, there may not be a urologist to repair a ureter that is torn during a hysterectomy, or no children's hospital to send the 5 yr old appy to. The general surgeon may need to be the go to person for those cases. Regardless, we need to insure our trainees receive the breadth of knowledge and experience they need to be competent physicians.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

I don’t understand what that is meant to imply. I’ve been out -40 years which has nothing to do with the value of a clinical internship.

Your initial reply seemed to suggest that I was a medical student. If I read that incorrectly, my apologies.

 

[mike-sheree]

I had no intent to offend or demean. My apologies if I came off that way.

 

[mike-sheree]

I can see the root of some of the difficulties in obtaining enough “ numbers”. 40 years, imaging was primitive and fiber optic endoscopy was ?non-existent. There were a hell of a lot of “ex-laps”. Also, things like common “ulcer surgery”, even as basic as a pyloroplasty
don’t seem to be needed today. And frankly, there was just a lot more cutting for the sake of cutting. Modified radical mastectomies were THE operation for breast CA.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

I can see the root of some of the difficulties in obtaining enough “ numbers”. 40 years, imaging was primitive and fiber optic endoscopy was ?non-existent. There were a hell of a lot of “ex-laps”. Also, things like common “ulcer surgery”, even as basic as a pyloroplasty
don’t seem to be needed today. And frankly, there was just a lot more cutting for the sake of cutting. Modified radical mastectomies were THE operation for breast CA.

Fiberoptics were available over 40 yrs ago. Even so, I watched an older ENT from the county hospital perform a rigid bronchoscopy under topical anesthesia. He was very skillful and the patient was comfortable for the most part. I thought it would be a torture session, but the patient tolerated it pretty well.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

It's a shame, depending on where you work, there may not be a urologist to repair a ureter that is torn during a hysterectomy, or no children's hospital to send the 5 yr old appy to. The general surgeon may need to be the go to person for those cases. Regardless, we need to insure our trainees receive the breadth of knowledge and experience they need to be competent physicians.

I’m not sure what you’re getting at. Your actually giving credence to my point…. Me spending time as an intern on the pediatric floor service rounding is useless compared to spending my time on the pediatric surgery service doing the appys and hernias…. Which is what I was doing…

My point is the “rotating internship” quite literally would take away necessary surgical training experiences in general surgery, and decrease overall case numbers. The trickle down effect would be even more scut and surgery patient burden placed on the chief residents. I can’t speak for other specialties, but in surgery it simply isn’t feasible anymore. There is only so much time in training. Doing 2 months on the psych service or IM last year would have been a major detriment to my surgical training.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

I’m not sure what you’re getting at. Your actually giving credence to my point…. Me spending time as an intern on the pediatric floor service rounding is useless compared to spending my time on the pediatric surgery service doing the appys and hernias…. Which is what I was doing…

My point is the “rotating internship” quite literally would take away necessary surgical training experiences in general surgery, and decrease overall case numbers. The trickle down effect would be even more scut and surgery patient burden placed on the chief residents. I can’t speak for other specialties, but in surgery it simply isn’t feasible anymore. There is only so much time in training. Doing 2 months on the psych service or IM last year would have been a major detriment to my surgical training.

I was agreeing with you.

 

[operaman]

Fiberoptics were available over 40 yrs ago. Even so, I watched an older ENT from the county hospital perform a rigid bronchoscopy under topical anesthesia. He was very skillful and the patient was comfortable for the most part. I thought it would be a torture session, but the patient tolerated it pretty well.

Oh my, I do a lot of flex Bronchs awake in the office under local, but awake rigid is truly next level!

 

[mike-sheree]

I must agree with you all that it has changed to the extent that i am too far out of the loop to intelligently comment on today’s circumstances, certainly outside of pathology. Perhaps I can best serve as a historical repository.
Anyone have any good story’s about “Greek’s” across from the old cook county hospital in the 70’s? I do!

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

I must agree with you all that it has changed to the extent that i am too far out of the loop to intelligently comment on today’s circumstances, certainly outside of pathology. Perhaps I can best serve as a historical repository.
Anyone have any good story’s about “Greek’s” across from the old cook county hospital in the 70’s? I do!

A big part of the issue these days even compared to when I was in med school 15 years ago is that students get much less hands on experience.

My father-in-law is an OB who trained in the 70s. As a student he was routinely putting in central lines, chest tubes, 1st assisting in surgery, stuff like that. 15 years ago I was one of maybe 3 people in 3rd year who got to put in a central line.

Students start residency having done less than I did (and way less than I'm sure you did) so a general year would just put them further behind.

Don't get me wrong, I often wish many of my specialist colleagues had a better grasp on some basics of medicine but I absolutely understand why that's not done anymore.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Oh my, I do a lot of flex Bronchs awake in the office under local, but awake rigid is truly next level!

Indeed!

 

[brc1123]

update: my current plan is to apply to IM. I agree with the IM vs. surgery comment. The thing is I just really don't like general surgery. No offense to general surgeons but its just kinda gross and boring to me and I would have to work way too hard and be overly stressed doing something I don't like. I was more interested in a surgical specialty like vascular, cardiothoracic, neuro, possibly ENT or ophtho, which I found more interesting. Also tend to be a more intellectual person which IM seems to offer more than surgery. IM can branch into interventional specialties too which I find interesting.
I will also be taking some surgery electives like vascular, neurosurgery, cardiac, maybe ophtho this year, and if I like them i'll think of a research year and then reapply.
My last question is if it is possible to apply to IM, join an IM program, and then switch after one year to radiology or pathology and skip the transition year. I am checking out radiology and pathology soon and was thinking of this option if I like them much more than IM or if my IM residency isn't going well. I agree that applying to more than one specialty might be tough but I am a fairly competitive applicant for IM and radiology, but if I could easily switch after one year of IM residency and switch the transitional year I think applying to IM only would be the best option.
Thanks again for all the advice and interesting discussion on surgery residency, reading about the workload of surgery residency made me think of another reason I might not want to go that route haha.

 

[guytakingboards]

update: my current plan is to apply to IM. I agree with the IM vs. surgery comment. The thing is I just really don't like general surgery. No offense to general surgeons but its just kinda gross and boring to me and I would have to work way too hard and be overly stressed doing something I don't like. I was more interested in a surgical specialty like vascular, cardiothoracic, neuro, possibly ENT or ophtho, which I found more interesting. Also tend to be a more intellectual person which IM seems to offer more than surgery. IM can branch into interventional specialties too which I find interesting.
I will also be taking some surgery electives like vascular, neurosurgery, cardiac, maybe ophtho this year, and if I like them i'll think of a research year and then reapply.
My last question is if it is possible to apply to IM, join an IM program, and then switch after one year to radiology or pathology and skip the transition year. I am checking out radiology and pathology soon and was thinking of this option if I like them much more than IM or if my IM residency isn't going well. I agree that applying to more than one specialty might be tough but I am a fairly competitive applicant for IM and radiology, but if I could easily switch after one year of IM residency and switch the transitional year I think applying to IM only would be the best option.
Thanks again for all the advice and interesting discussion on surgery residency, reading about the workload of surgery residency made me think of another reason I might not want to go that route haha.

Sounds like a plan.

For the rad/path options, pathology does not require an intern year so if you decided midway through PGY1 year to switch to path you'd have to apply for the match.... so you gotta figure that one out early or SOAP. For radiology, during intern year you could apply for open R1/PGY-2 slots starting the next year. Some are in the match, some are outside the match. If you go for an R1 slot in the match you gotta figure that out early. Spots outside the match are becoming more limited as radiology competitiveness ticks up.

 

[Ho0v-man]

I think it would be great if everyone had to do a “rotating“ internship. 2 mo med, 2 surg, 2 peds, 2 mo ob-gyn, 2 mo psych, 2 mo elective.

Don’t give acgme any more ideas. Training is already too long for a lot of us.

 

[mike-sheree]

The cumulative arguments of y’all, my younger colleagues who must deal with today’s reality, have convinced me y’all are correct. Sad fact, but nonetheless, correct. The amount of material in the field has grown exponentially and the days of the do ( most of ) it all paths such as myself are dead or dying. We did a pretty good job with what we had. For example. when I trained, the immuno ”panel” for “what the hell is this” was vimentin, cytokeratin, S-100 and leukocyte common antigen. We could follow-up with a handful of others. Morphology was king.