Psychiatry vs Pediatric Intensive care.

[I love dogs27]

As the title says I’m interested in both of those fields of study. I know no matter what I will be working with kids since it’s my passion to do so. I know the pros and cons of each. I just can’t decide which.

What I like about the PICU is the intensity it gives. it allows for you to work with the most critical patients. It also allows for you to work in an in patient setting wich I really enjoy.

what I like about psychiatry is it’s diversity. There is also in patient options as well wich really stand out to me. I think if I where to go this route I would work with the severely mentally ill. Whilst that might not be as common working in a pediatric setting.

what do you guys think? I would like a work life balance since I want to have a family in the future. I’m aware the psychiatry is the better option on that front. By the way I’m only a junior in high school. ( not that that means anything )

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[NickNaylor]

As a psychiatrist: very different fields and paths in medicine. One of the challenges of going into psychiatry is a fear of "losing" what you spend most of medical school doing and the relative inability to do procedures. I mention that specifically given your interest in acute medicine, which typically includes a lot of bedside procedures. Psychiatry doesn't have that.

Working with the severely mentally ill is a challenging population to work with, and you will almost certainly end up working in some kind of public health system. There are opportunities to do more acute psychiatric care, but the overall "feel" is fundamentally different than what you see with acute medicine.

Depending on where you are in medical school, I'd suggest trying to find some people to talk about your interests with to see if you can get a better sense of what the career paths are like from people actually doing them.

 

[LunaOri]

Junior in high school? Other than doing some volunteer work to see what different fields are like, you should focus on getting into college. Med school will come later—much later. And residency will come much later than that. Your goals and interests will almost certainly change over the course of the years. Don’t try to figure out a specific career path at age 16!

 

[M&L]

yeah, the fact that you are not even in college DOES matter. Because the real advice that we could give you if you were an M4 or M3, would rely on the fact that you already learn basic medical sciences, and already did core clinical rotations. Right now you, - respectfully, - have no idea what working in a hospital as a doctor means, and the only insight you have into these two careers is not first hand knowledge.

Get into college, then into medical school, and then during M1/M2 year you can start shadowing and doing research, and then you start rotations, and THEN you decide which one of these you want to do.
You question is ridiculously premature (no pun intended). I do not doubt your ambition, but i definitely question your insight. BUt its ok, because at this point you are not supposed to have insight into these specialties.

Right now the only question you should be asking yourself: do i want to be a doctor? If yes, start working towards medical school. Thats it.

 

[M&L]

As a psychiatrist: very different fields and paths in medicine. One of the challenges of going into psychiatry is a fear of "losing" what you spend most of medical school doing and the relative inability to do procedures. I mention that specifically given your interest in acute medicine, which typically includes a lot of bedside procedures. Psychiatry doesn't have that.

Working with the severely mentally ill is a challenging population to work with, and you will almost certainly end up working in some kind of public health system. There are opportunities to do more acute psychiatric care, but the overall "feel" is fundamentally different than what you see with acute medicine.

Depending on where you are in medical school, I'd suggest trying to find some people to talk about your interests with to see if you can get a better sense of what the career paths are like from people actually doing them.

that person is not in medical school. THey are a junior in high school.

 

[NickNaylor]

that person is not in medical school. THey are a junior in high school.

Whoops, missed that in the OP.

In that case, this is all pre-mature. Get into medical school first, then you can start thinking about what you want to do.

 

[LunaOri]

Whoops, missed that in the OP.

In that case, this is all pre-mature. Get into medical school first, then you can start thinking about what you want to do.

Heck, get into college first LOL!