Hi,
I'm a current psych intern and just started medicine months. During the basic science years of medical school, my favorite subject was microbiology and antibiotics. During third and fourth year, my academic streak sort of lapsed because the clinical environment was overwhelming for me, the teaching was poor, and I didn't study guidelines and the practice of clinical medicine as much as I should have. I dislike multi-tasking, procedures, and emergency settings(ICU is out lol). I enjoyed my ID rotation but chose psychiatry because I found it to be a field where you can meld philosophy and medicine and truly help vulnerable patients during their most trying times.
I've enjoyed psychiatry thus far although the treatment provided on inpatient units is at times a disheartening experience for me as sometimes it appears that we haven't done much to help the patient(nor is there much that we can do, especially if their primary issues have to do with finances or housing which are major contributors for a lot of patients) and the evidence behind the pharmacology is still somewhat murky. I do appreciate the ability to speak at length with patients and get to the bottom of their mental health issues and life stressors though.
Now that I've spent a week on IM floors where every patient's active issues are discussed with good teaching directed towards what the issues are and what to do about them, I'm finding that I have a lot to learn but that it makes a lot more sense than things did during my clinical years in medical school.
I doubt I would ever switch but would it be worthwhile to change over to IM from psychiatry with the goal of specializing in ID knowing that I would be losing out on another year of training and likely earn less as an ID physician than as a psychiatrist? I do have a large number of student loans. Thoughts? Is the practice of ID not really as interesting as the study of microbiology/antibiotics?
I'm a current psych intern and just started medicine months. During the basic science years of medical school, my favorite subject was microbiology and antibiotics. During third and fourth year, my academic streak sort of lapsed because the clinical environment was overwhelming for me, the teaching was poor, and I didn't study guidelines and the practice of clinical medicine as much as I should have. I dislike multi-tasking, procedures, and emergency settings(ICU is out lol). I enjoyed my ID rotation but chose psychiatry because I found it to be a field where you can meld philosophy and medicine and truly help vulnerable patients during their most trying times.
I've enjoyed psychiatry thus far although the treatment provided on inpatient units is at times a disheartening experience for me as sometimes it appears that we haven't done much to help the patient(nor is there much that we can do, especially if their primary issues have to do with finances or housing which are major contributors for a lot of patients) and the evidence behind the pharmacology is still somewhat murky. I do appreciate the ability to speak at length with patients and get to the bottom of their mental health issues and life stressors though.
Now that I've spent a week on IM floors where every patient's active issues are discussed with good teaching directed towards what the issues are and what to do about them, I'm finding that I have a lot to learn but that it makes a lot more sense than things did during my clinical years in medical school.
I doubt I would ever switch but would it be worthwhile to change over to IM from psychiatry with the goal of specializing in ID knowing that I would be losing out on another year of training and likely earn less as an ID physician than as a psychiatrist? I do have a large number of student loans. Thoughts? Is the practice of ID not really as interesting as the study of microbiology/antibiotics?
