Preventing current burn out from effecting lifelong decision

[ortho2014]

---

Members do not see this ad.

anyone have any experience on being burned out and preventing it from affecting future career decisions?

i love ortho but am considering some more life-style friendly careers due to current burn out (nothing too severe, not affecting my performance or anything but I am definitely feeling it and motivation is slowly decreasing, definitely not as enthusiastic and energetic as I once was). At the same time I dont want my current, hopefully transient burnout phase to dictate my entire future..any advice?

 

[John Lannister]

I say pick lifestyle.

 

[DOogie1]

Chances are, ortho can be a very lifestyle oriented specialty after residency if you pick your battles accordingly. So the burnout now should not change your affect your career, if you can stick it out. Maybe talk with a life coach or a motivational speaker. They can hopefully pump some enthusiasm back into your system.

 

[red10]

Do you think an ortho residency is gonna burn you out worse? Do you think the lifestyle after will be worth the residency or will you be too burnt out to enjoy it?
Can you be happy doing something else with a better lifestyle? Will more free time make you more enthusiastic about the alternate career or will you just dread the days you do have to work because they're boring and you'd rather be ortho?

Only you can figure this stuff out. Another good thing to figure out is what recharges your batteries when they're low. working out? reading? golf? that way the next time you feel like hell you have a way to get yourself recharged instead of continuing to spiral into burnout

 

[Kaustikos]

Don't make any decisions until 3rd/4th year... Deciding what you want this early is kind of pointless because you may develop a stubborn attitude in 3rd/4th year.

I burned out first semester of med school because I was trying so hard to keep my honors/high pass. I burned out at the end and realized how dumb I was.


To answer your other question -

Picking a specialty has a lot to do with what aspect of medicine you enjoy. Do you enjoy the imaging? Do you enjoy the dissections you did in anatomy/the surgical procedures? Do you like medicinal approaches to medicine?

I love oncology/hematology. I like learning about cancers. But I don't know what aspect of oncology I'll do, honestly. Surgical Onc? Heme/Onc? Rad/Onc? I'm not picking it based on lifestyle, but the enjoyment I'll get. I'm waiting for next year to see what I'll do, because I also have an interest in Emergency Med w/ a Tox fellowship. I also know I have a huge love for pharmacology...

I told my friend about how I was contemplating Rad/Onc and he told me "You're not fit for that. That's not you AT ALL. You love drugs and patients, which is not Rad/Onc"

So, sometimes it's actually helpful to get an outsiders perspective.

 

[John Lannister]

Do you think an ortho residency is gonna burn you out worse? Do you think the lifestyle after will be worth the residency or will you be too burnt out to enjoy it?
Can you be happy doing something else with a better lifestyle? Will more free time make you more enthusiastic about the alternate career or will you just dread the days you do have to work because they're boring and you'd rather be ortho?

Only you can figure this stuff out. Another good thing to figure out is what recharges your batteries when they're low. working out? reading? golf? that way the next time you feel like hell you have a way to get yourself recharged instead of continuing to spiral into burnout

Free time is always good.

 

[DOogie1]

How come the ortho residents are so commonly in great shape? It seems like they've got plenty of time to work out and worry about their figure. Sounds a lot better than the condition of general surgery residents I come across.

 

[Kaustikos]

How come the ortho residents are so commonly in great shape? It seems like they've got plenty of time to work out and worry about their figure. Sounds a lot better than the condition of general surgery residents I come across.

Ortho peeps tend to be from a niche variety of people who work out. Jocks, if you will. I've not met one Ortho who didn't do sports/work out.

 

[ArcGurren]

How come the ortho residents are so commonly in great shape? It seems like they've got plenty of time to work out and worry about their figure. Sounds a lot better than the condition of general surgery residents I come across.

Because ortho is a bunch of jocks and their social circle revolves around working out and sports. Also typically tends to center their social circle around the other residents.

 

[ArcGurren]

Don't make any decisions until 3rd/4th year... Deciding what you want this early is kind of pointless because you may develop a stubborn attitude in 3rd/4th year.

I burned out first semester of med school because I was trying so hard to keep my honors/high pass. I burned out at the end and realized how dumb I was.


To answer your other question -

Picking a specialty has a lot to do with what aspect of medicine you enjoy. Do you enjoy the imaging? Do you enjoy the dissections you did in anatomy/the surgical procedures? Do you like medicinal approaches to medicine?

I love oncology/hematology. I like learning about cancers. But I don't know what aspect of oncology I'll do, honestly. Surgical Onc? Heme/Onc? Rad/Onc? I'm not picking it based on lifestyle, but the enjoyment I'll get. I'm waiting for next year to see what I'll do, because I also have an interest in Emergency Med w/ a Tox fellowship. I also know I have a huge love for pharmacology...

I told my friend about how I was contemplating Rad/Onc and he told me "You're not fit for that. That's not you AT ALL. You love drugs and patients, which is not Rad/Onc"

So, sometimes it's actually helpful to get an outsiders perspective.

I agree. I think you can't really know if you want to do a specialty until you've rotated through it. I think every med school starts off with like 40 people in each class who want to do ortho and that gets quickly whittled down when they realize picking a specialty is more than just money, prestige, and coolness.

 

[235009]

I say pick lifestyle.

i hope this is sarcasm because otherwise it would be terrible advice. a couple of the "lifestyle" specialties are in trouble (radiology and anesthesia).

in the case of radiology if teleradiology is shown to be more cost-effective with equal outcomes you'll find yourself doing the same or more work for less money as the market opens up domestically and internationally (american trained radiologists overseas would likely be willing to do the same work for less money because the cost of living would be significantly cheaper). for anesthesia CRNAs are beginning to flood the market and hospitals realize they can get away with having a CRNA for many straightforward cases. anesthesiologists will likely be cornered into subspecialties, be forced to take less pay, or will see a smaller job market as hospitals look for CRNA supervisors. the critical care push in anesthesia is a complete joke.

if you decide on one of these "lifestyle" specialties without considering these aspects then you're doing yourself a huge disservice.