Procedures in EM?

[2nd year]

I'm just finishing up my first rotation of 3rd year (still technically a 2nd year until Step 1 scores are in) and it was surgery. I loved the O.R. The hands on aspect of medicine is definitely more appealing to me than an office setting where you spend much of your time adjusting/ prescribing meds. On the other hand, I also value spare time and surgery residents/attendings don't seem to have a hell of alot of that. I definitely got along well with the residents and attendings in surgery, but I just think it would prove to be a situation where as much as I love the work, I'd learn to resent it because that seems to be all they do. I haven't had much of a chance to be in the ER yet, but I'm hoping I'll find EM to be a nice alternative. While I realize that EM is highly variable from place to place, I'm curious to know how much hands on/procedual work is done by emergency physicians in general? Also, with so many med students and residents in this forum, I think there is a tendency to look at the field through rose-colored glasses. What is the general opinion on the field from attendings who are 10-15 years deep? Do they, in general, still seem to encourage students to go into EM? Thanks for any input.

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[Febrifuge]

Well, in my experience (as a tech who drinks beers with residents, gets to see a lot of students come through, and is on the med school track myself), people who can demonstrate they are genuinely interested in EM, and demonstrate that they understand what that entails, are never discouraged from pursuing it. Plenty of people practice for 20 years or more and show no signs of slowing down (though their schedules do seem to get sweeter with time).

On the other hand, I've never heard anyone, from intern up to attending, encourage someone into EM by calling it "a good alternative" to some other field. You go into EM because you love EM, and no other reason is going to satisfy. That resentment you talk about, where work you love becomes a drag, can crop up anytime. There's no sure-fire remedy or prophylaxis, except to make sure that what you do for 80 hours a week (or more, or less) is at least the best thing for you, among the other choices.

In other words, hang in there until you do your ER rotation. To answer the question, there are plenty of cool procedures. Which ones are cool and which are boring varies (and the biggest variable seems to be which doc you ask).

 

[roja]

there are multiple threads on this, including a list of all the different procedures we do. check it out! and do a rotation.

 

[USCDiver]

First of all, don't dismiss Surgery so easily based on the practice of residents/attendings at a teaching institution. My hometown is very small. There are 3 general surgeons in the town in group practice. They generally operate 3 days a week, starting at 8am. But they are typically done around 1-2pm depending on the number of cases scheduled. They are in the office one day a week, and they take off one day a week. Call is every third night, obviously, but they rarely get called in and they can arrange for extended breaks for vacations and whatnot with their partners.

As for EM, it is a procedure based specialty. See other threads for details.