Specialties with best lifestyle in residency

[colbgw02]

I have no idea what the percentages are, but it seems like a lot who I know did prelim years. I'd opt for a transitional year, too, but those can be pretty competitive, right?

Most radiology interns would prefer a transitional program as well, which is why they're so competitive. There are, of course, the masochistic few who do a preliminary medicine or surgery year because they think it'll make them a better radiologist. There's probably some truth to that, actually, at least regarding surgery. Preliminary medicine? Not so much, I think.

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[Neuronix]

I have no idea what the percentages are, but it seems like a lot who I know did prelim years. I'd opt for a transitional year, too, but those can be pretty competitive, right?

The 2009 Charting Outcomes lists Transitional Year program average step 1 score as 236 and the percentage with AOA as 24.9%. This is steep, but not so bad compared to Radiology (238, 23.2%) or Dermatology (242, 51.4%). However, there are only 208 TY positions compared to 1065 Radiology and 334 Dermatology positions. This also fails to take into account the other specialties that do transitional year programs: radiation oncology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology (some), and the occasional PM&R.

What I found applying to TY and prelim medicine programs was the following. Some TYs are essentially the same workload as heavy prelim med programs. What makes them different from prelim med programs is that they require surgery, peds, and/or OB/GYN instead of more ward medicine months. These programs are usually not so competitive unless they are in great locations (i.e. Intermountain in Utah). Then there are cush TY programs in nice locations (Colorado Health, Scripps Mercy in San Diego). These programs are extremely competitive. The last category, and the one I fell into, are the cush TY programs in less desirable locations. There are a number in out of the way locations that soak up the top students from nearby areas or take those who will go anywhere for a cush TY. I think if you are willing to move twice, you can get one of these positions if you are a solid candidate for things like radiology and dermatology. Heck, I even interviewed in Fargo, ND. That was a pretty cush program that almost nobody from the coasts will go to.

If you did your medical school training in a place with many medical schools like Philly, NYC, Chicago, etc... it will often be difficult to get a cush TY in those cities. They do exist (though cush in the cities vs. cush in the midwest are different), but those programs are extremely competitive due to location and there being many local medical students who want to compete for those local spots. Thus, many students going into ROAD specialties will take a prelim medicine spot to not have to move twice unless they are really top of the heap and can land the local cush TY.

That said, there are a few easier prelim medicine programs out there. Lankenau in Philadelphia is one such place that's known for being relatively easy for a prelim med with 6 months of electives. Not all prelim med programs are super difficult and not all TYs are super cush, though the stereotype that TYs are generally cushier is true in my experience.

 

[B-Bone]

Anesthesia: I don't know much about their residency.

I was at what I believe to be a relatively cushy residency for anesthesia and we worked ~60 hours a week on avg. Certainly there were some 80+ hour weeks (including 7 months of q3-4 call in the ICU), but also some 40 hour weeks. Generally worked 1-2 weekends/month. I did not find it particularly taxing at all. I echo the sentiment that 80 hours/week of something that interests you with people you enjoy is much preferable to 40 hours/week of something you deplore (i.e. clinic, rounding, conscious patients, etc).

 

[2012mdc]

Most radiology interns would prefer a transitional program as well, which is why they're so competitive. There are, of course, the masochistic few who do a preliminary medicine or surgery year because they think it'll make them a better radiologist. There's probably some truth to that, actually, at least regarding surgery. Preliminary medicine? Not so much, I think.

Yeah. I'm going into rads and I would prefer TY but there are prelim meds out there that aren't too bad. There aren't that many TY's in desirable locations so I probably will end up at a prelim med program. Location and not having to move twice are important to me.

I know I wouldn't be able to enjoy my off days in the middle of winter at a place somewhere like ND

 

[DocLan]

derm < radonc < path < optho <rads

Hmm someone listed these before as the order of hours. I have friends in each except rad-onc but all the others they do a lot of at home reading/studying. A friend who did IM before going to rads said he spends at least a few hours more each night reading vs IM. I don't know what's necessarily worse, memorizing facts from books (often not totally relevant, but important for exams) vs on the job work.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

derm < radonc < path < optho <rads

Hmm someone listed these before as the order of hours. I have friends in each except rad-onc but all the others they do a lot of at home reading/studying. A friend who did IM before going to rads said he spends at least a few hours more each night reading vs IM. I don't know what's necessarily worse, memorizing facts from books (often not totally relevant, but important for exams) vs on the job work.

Hmm, I think I'd prefer the being at home reading. I'm one of those weirdos who liked basic sciences way more than 3rd year. Maybe I should have thought a little more about those specialties. I'd so much rather study than see drunk people (or people with chest pain) in the ED at 3 am.

 

[Mr. Freeze]

As an ortho resident working 110 hours a week, this post makes me sick.

 

[digitlnoize]

The specialty with the best lifestyle is the one you enjoy the most.

To me, 40 hours of Derm would feel like 100. Pick what you like and you'll enjoy your residency and life a lot more.

Also, to the ortho surgeon working 110 hours...ever heard of duty hour limits? Look at the literature, sleep deprivation is real and equivalent to being drunk. You (or your program) are endangering the lives of your patients and putting yourself at increased malpractice risk.

 

[90 diopter]

how do ophtho and psych compare?

The ophtho residency I did was one of the tougher ones with some long clinic days, but private practice has been awesome. I work 40 hours a week, half days every Friday, and take call once every 7 weekends for the practice only- no hospital call (hence, no trauma call) at all.

My specialty choice was heavily influenced by lifestyle considerations. I am not the type of person who can work 60 hours a week and be happy, regardless of what I'm doing. Best to figure that out about yourself as early as possible.

 

[DreamLover]

yeah i dont know why peopel think anesthesiology and rads is easy.. It seems like to me that they work pretty hard.

I worked my ever foresaken BUTT off in my anesthesiology residency...more years 1, 2 and 3 and less year 4 but still with quite a bit of call.

Lots of friends who were upper levels in other specialties...Urology, Derm, Path etc...no longer even took in house call after their 1st or 2nd years....Anesthesiology has multiple residents in House 24/7 from Trauma, to OB, to CV call, to Peds and several ICUs...a lot of places to cover and a lot of in house call all the way to the end of my residency. Great experience wise but not a cush "Call Free" residency

Just sayin'...

 

[Paddington]

Anesthesiology definitely isn't a "lifestyle" specialty. From what I've seen, it has one of the worst lifestyles, even as an attending.

 

[2012mdc]

Anesthesiology definitely isn't a "lifestyle" specialty. From what I've seen, it has one of the worst lifestyles, even as an attending.

Doesn't it depend on what exact area you practice in? Working as an attending at a major academic center that has a level trauma center versus working for a private practice plastic surgeon or GI doc? This has always been my assumption but maybe I'm wrong.

Obviously I don't know what the attendings are doing when they're not in the OR (or how many OR's they're responsible for) but for the large majority of cases I saw 3rd year the attending was only there for the beginning and end if at all.

 

[I'm No Superman]

Anesthesiology definitely isn't a "lifestyle" specialty. From what I've seen, it has one of the worst lifestyles, even as an attending.

I'll probably get flamed for being so young, but as far as lifestyle goes, it probably depends on where you work. I have an uncle that's an anesthesiologist that gets 12 weeks off a year, and also hardly works weekends.

 

[worfndata]

Why do people place so much emphasis on 3-5 yr residency rather than how you'll work for the next 30-40 yrs? Sure, in some fields like surg, you'll be working hard forever. But the derm I go to, who's a partner at the practice, works 60hr's/wk.
I'm doing an outpt FP clinic rotation now and the docs who own the clinic work 9-7 Mon-Sat (60hrs/wk). I think its safe to say, if you open up your own practice, you'll be working a lot.

Some people dont start med school till their mid 30s or later. So time becomes more of a factor. Though career students will probably not get this.

 

[styphon]

This doesn't answer the post but...

I think it is short sighted to base your career, which will be 30+ years, on 3-7 years of residency! Especially when that residency will NOT reflect the work environment/"lifestyle" of your career!

ex:
Most FM residencies do 60-80 hours a week - yet in the community we do on average 40-50 hours - you could even do 20-30 hours if you wanted.
Most ER residencies 50-60 hours a week - yet in the community here it is common to work 36-45 hours a week! Although it is hard to avoid shift work..

 

[Winged Scapula]

Some people dont start med school till their mid 30s or later. So time becomes more of a factor. Though career students will probably not get this.

You're responding to a post made 3 years ago.

 

[sampler]

This doesn't answer the post but...

I think it is short sighted to base your career, which will be 30+ years, on 3-7 years of residency! Especially when that residency will NOT reflect the work environment/"lifestyle" of your career!

ex:
Most FM residencies do 60-80 hours a week - yet in the community we do on average 40-50 hours - you could even do 20-30 hours if you wanted.
Most ER residencies 50-60 hours a week - yet in the community here it is common to work 36-45 hours a week! Although it is hard to avoid shift work..

In FM (or Internal Med also, I assume you meant), is doing 20-30 hrs possible to do if you want to as you say? I hope so, but sometimes I get the feeling that it is hard to find a job if you only want to work that little, or if you own your practice, working 20-30 hrs barely covers your overhead and you have very little net income. I don't really know though, what do you think?

Also, what exactly does 60-80hrs in residency really mean? 80 hrs over 7 days averages to about 11.5 hrs per day. Add in time to sleep, eat, shower and groom, etc., and it seems every hour of your life 7 days per week for 3 years is consumed. Is it humanly possible to endure this for 3 years? There is literally no time for relaxing even for 1 hr, talking to friends or family on the phone even a little bit, going to the grocery store, going to another state for a wedding once a year, etc.? Or does that 80 hrs include time that you are on call, which you can still spend sleeping, eating, etc, but just need to be ready to go if you are paged? Also, Is there additional studying you have to do on the side in addition to the 80 hrs of "working"?

 

[colbgw02]

Also, what exactly does 60-80hrs in residency really mean? 80 hrs over 7 days average to about 11.5 hrs per day. Add in time to sleep, eat, shower and groom, etc., and it seems every hour of you life 7 days per week for 3 years is consumed. Is it humanly possible to endure this for 3 years? There is literally no time for relaxing even for 1 hr, talking to friends or family on the phone even a little bit, going to the grocery store, going to another state for a wedding once a year, etc.? Or does that 80 hrs include time that you are on call, which you can still spend sleeping, eating, etc, but just need to be ready to go if you are paged? Also, Is there additional studying you have to do on the side in addition to the 80 hrs of "working"?

If you're in the hospital, on duty, then it counts.

Also, do you realize there are thousands upon thousands of practicing surgeons that trained before work hour restrictions? Working north of 100 hours a week was given for many of them, and it was for more than 3 years. Heck, I was an intern after the initial work hour restrictions, but before the updated ones, and even then some of my classmates in surgery would routinely clear 120 hours a week.

 

[Raryn]

In FM (or Internal Med also, I assume you meant), is doing 20-30 hrs possible to do if you want to as you say? I hope so, but sometimes I get the feeling that it is hard to find a job if you only want to work that little, or if you own your practice, working 20-30 hrs barely covers your overhead and you have very little net income. I don't really know though, what do you think?

Also, what exactly does 60-80hrs in residency really mean? 80 hrs over 7 days averages to about 11.5 hrs per day. Add in time to sleep, eat, shower and groom, etc., and it seems every hour of your life 7 days per week for 3 years is consumed. Is it humanly possible to endure this for 3 years? There is literally no time for relaxing even for 1 hr, talking to friends or family on the phone even a little bit, going to the grocery store, going to another state for a wedding once a year, etc.? Or does that 80 hrs include time that you are on call, which you can still spend sleeping, eating, etc, but just need to be ready to go if you are paged? Also, Is there additional studying you have to do on the side in addition to the 80 hrs of "working"?

80 hours is over 6 days, not 7.

 

[worfndata]

Hopefully one day in American sacrificing ones health for a career will not be something to be admired. I think the Dalai Lama put it best


"(Man) sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;
the result being that he does not live in the present or the future;
he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

 

[QofQuimica]

In FM (or Internal Med also, I assume you meant), is doing 20-30 hrs possible to do if you want to as you say? I hope so, but sometimes I get the feeling that it is hard to find a job if you only want to work that little, or if you own your practice, working 20-30 hrs barely covers your overhead and you have very little net income. I don't really know though, what do you think?

I'd advise against going to med school if working part time is your goal. Some people do manage it, but it's not the norm. And assuming someone will even hire you to work part time, you should expect to take a big pay cut. That's painful when you have six figure loans. But as you pointed out, you have to work enough to be worth them paying the overhead.

Also, what exactly does 60-80hrs in residency really mean? 80 hrs over 7 days averages to about 11.5 hrs per day. Add in time to sleep, eat, shower and groom, etc., and it seems every hour of your life 7 days per week for 3 years is consumed. Is it humanly possible to endure this for 3 years? There is literally no time for relaxing even for 1 hr, talking to friends or family on the phone even a little bit, going to the grocery store, going to another state for a wedding once a year, etc.? Or does that 80 hrs include time that you are on call, which you can still spend sleeping, eating, etc, but just need to be ready to go if you are paged? Also, Is there additional studying you have to do on the side in addition to the 80 hrs of "working"?

It's 80 hours per week averaged over four weeks, with one 24 hour period off per week. So typically you are working more like 13 hours x 6 days. Most programs give three weeks of vacation per year. Yes, it's humanly possible, but it sucks. That being said, being a resident for twice as long in order to have a forty hour work week would also suck. Because you have to put in the time somewhere along the line if you're going to learn how to be a doctor.

 

[Raryn]

I'd advise against going to med school if working part time is your goal. Some people do manage it, but it's not the norm. And assuming someone will even hire you to work part time, you should expect to take a big pay cut. That's painful when you have six figure loans. But as you pointed out, you have to work enough to be worth them paying the overhead.

I remember an article a few years ago comparing working part time as an MD after undergoing full training to doing the same as a PA. The pay differential at that few hours is low enough that you actually come out *ahead* as the PA, with a lot less grief to show for it.

 

[styphon]

In FM (or Internal Med also, I assume you meant), is doing 20-30 hrs possible to do if you want to as you say? I hope so, but sometimes I get the feeling that it is hard to find a job if you only want to work that little, or if you own your practice, working 20-30 hrs barely covers your overhead and you have very little net income. I don't really know though, what do you think?

Also, what exactly does 60-80hrs in residency really mean? 80 hrs over 7 days averages to about 11.5 hrs per day. Add in time to sleep, eat, shower and groom, etc., and it seems every hour of your life 7 days per week for 3 years is consumed. Is it humanly possible to endure this for 3 years? There is literally no time for relaxing even for 1 hr, talking to friends or family on the phone even a little bit, going to the grocery store, going to another state for a wedding once a year, etc.? Or does that 80 hrs include time that you are on call, which you can still spend sleeping, eating, etc, but just need to be ready to go if you are paged? Also, Is there additional studying you have to do on the side in addition to the 80 hrs of "working"?

I meant family medicine, as that was my training.

It is possible to do 20-30 hours AFTER residency - you can work at a practice (that you don't own) or be a part time hospitalist. I think it would be harder with a practice you own - as you would have to find only employees who want to work part time - but then again, may you can avoid giving them benefits(a high cost when you pay it yourself).

80 hours over 4 weeks with an average of one full day off each week. This may or may not include 24 hour shifts. If you have 24hr shifts - your day off comes after the shift. I have been on q3 24hr call - and you get every third day off, but you are exhausted.

During residency I still found time for occasional movie, raising my young son, and even went to a few weddings. I had 3 weeks of vacation (after 1st year). Also - if you are in a pure clinic rotation, you would often get weekends off (unless you are on OB or hospital call - which you have to stay in/near the hospital).

You will have to do additional studying for the yearly test (called different things but different residencies "in service exam" is what we called it) - step 3, and for the specialty Boards. You will also have to study if you are not sure about your patients condition, diagnosis, treatment, previous hx, etc.

 

[worfndata]

Id wager 40-45 hours at the average crappy office job is far more mentally taxing and soul crushing than any 80 hr residency. I think the people that complain about residency never had a crappy full time job in the real world, i call them life time academics. For example right now in my chem class all the young pre-meds whine and complain about the most trivial things, I just sometime want to slap some sense and perspective into them. I have a feeling other than physically aging their mentality does not change much and they join the circus of whiny physicians that post on sdn.

I could be wrong though...

 

[DermViser]

Id wager 40-45 hours at the average crappy office job is far more mentally taxing and soul crushing than any 80 hr residency. I think the people that complain about residency never had a crappy full time job in the real world, i call them life time academics. For example right now in my chem class all the young pre-meds whine and complain about the most trivial things, I just sometime want to slap some sense and perspective into them. I have a feeling other than physically aging their mentality does not change much and they join the circus of whiny physicians that post on sdn.

I could be wrong though...

Uh, no...Just..no.

 

[blebb]

Id wager 40-45 hours at the average crappy office job is far more mentally taxing and soul crushing than any 80 hr residency. I think the people that complain about residency never had a crappy full time job in the real world, i call them life time academics. For example right now in my chem class all the young pre-meds whine and complain about the most trivial things, I just sometime want to slap some sense and perspective into them. I have a feeling other than physically aging their mentality does not change much and they join the circus of whiny physicians that post on sdn.

I could be wrong though...

status: pre-medical

you are wrong.

 

[rokshana]

Uh, no...Just..no.

uh…yes…been there, done that..80 hours in the hospital is waaay better than some robotic office job...

 

[rokshana]

status: pre-medical

you are wrong.

your status say that you have no idea...

 

[blebb]

your status say that you have no idea...

I'm a resident you silly goose.

 

[rokshana]

I'm a resident you silly goose.

oops!

 

[Leo Aquarius]

To answer the OP, I'm surprised nobody has talked about Psychiatry yet. At my hospital we have the best lifestyle, and I go to one of the famous West coast programs.

As a PGY2, my day starts around 8:30 am. I work about 35 to 40 hours a week not including call, plus an extra 7 (if weekday) to 12 (if weekend) hours of call. We have call on average once every 10 days. As a PGY3, I will have call only twice a month - no weekends. There's no pressure in psych like you face in acute specialties, no life-or-death situations. In fact, taking extra time to analyze situations is highly valued. The emphasis is on face-to-face time with your patients. Our attendings give us lots of autonomy. If we finish morning work early we can relax and study. In the afternoons we have patients to see and once we are done we can do whatever we want. If you are efficient like me, I can finish an entire day's worth of work in 6 to 7 hours and have free time to study. Make no mistake there's a lot to study. By the time I get home around 5pm I can focus all my time and attention to hobbies and family. I love it. No wonder psychiatry has the second highest satisfaction rating among specialties.

 

[Leo Aquarius]

Id wager 40-45 hours at the average crappy office job is far more mentally taxing and soul crushing than any 80 hr residency. I think the people that complain about residency never had a crappy full time job in the real world, i call them life time academics. For example right now in my chem class all the young pre-meds whine and complain about the most trivial things, I just sometime want to slap some sense and perspective into them. I have a feeling other than physically aging their mentality does not change much and they join the circus of whiny physicians that post on sdn.

I could be wrong though...

I came from the business world before med school. As a business person in marketing and sales, my job required very little of my mind or talents. It was torture knowing I'm wasting my mind away. Driving to work was mentally taxing. Work was mentally taxing. The direction of my life was mentally taxing. Now, as a resident I don't have those deep down feelings of despair. Tough times on call are a treat compared to mindless office work that never ends with an aggressive boss looking over your shoulder, feeling you're wasting your life. I lived the real world. To get anywhere in the real world requires years of mindlessness. Medicine in definitely NOT a real world job.

 

[QofQuimica]

Id wager 40-45 hours at the average crappy office job is far more mentally taxing and soul crushing than any 80 hr residency. I think the people that complain about residency never had a crappy full time job in the real world, i call them life time academics. For example right now in my chem class all the young pre-meds whine and complain about the most trivial things, I just sometime want to slap some sense and perspective into them. I have a feeling other than physically aging their mentality does not change much and they join the circus of whiny physicians that post on sdn.

I could be wrong though...

It will be interesting to see how you feel about what you said in this post if and when you become a resident. But even if you still think that residency is less mentally taxing and soul crushing than your former office job was, hopefully you'll at least gain enough insight into the aspects of residency that are mentally taxing and soul crushing where you can develop some empathy for the psychic struggles that other people have.

I'm going to be 40 years old next year. I've had some crappy prior jobs that were soul crushing, and some crappy prior jobs that were mentally taxing, but usually not both at the same time. (I'd argue that one of the things that makes a crappy full time job so soul-crushing is that it is generally *not* mentally taxing. You're just a cog in the wheel.) Residency takes the worst aspects of both: it's mentally taxing, emotionally taxing, highly stressful, a lot of hours, *and* soul-crushing, especially earlier on when you're kind of a grunt and have very limited autonomy or input. Add on the extra stresses that many residents have over family planning, debt, limited ability for self care, inability to change jobs, and a semi-nomadic lifestyle, and you've got the perfect storm for disgruntledness. And I think the final straw for a lot of people is that they find this job wasn't what they thought they had signed up for. But once you're a few years into med school, most people can't afford to quit even if they want to. That leads to a lot of disgruntledness too.

Hence the emphasis on getting clinical experience for premeds. I don't think clinical experience is useful for teaching premeds about medicine per se. What's useful about it is that it helps weed out the premeds who would most hate being in medicine early on, while they still have low enough debt to get out.

 

[worfndata]

I came from the business world before med school. As a business person in marketing and sales, my job required very little of my mind or talents. It was torture knowing I'm wasting my mind away. Driving to work was mentally taxing. Work was mentally taxing. The direction of my life was mentally taxing. Now, as a resident I don't have those deep down feelings of despair. Tough times on call are a treat compared to mindless office work that never ends with an aggressive boss looking over your shoulder, feeling you're wasting your life. I lived the real world. To get anywhere in the real world requires years of mindlessness. Medicine in definitely NOT a real world job.

Glad to see other people can relate.

 

[drstar842]

Glad to see other people can relate.

I worked at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Wachovia Bank, Bank of America Credit Card Services before changing my career....I'll take the 80 hour work week, please. Yeah, I'm neck-deep in debt and I don't get to spend close to the amount of time I'd like to spend with my children and wife...Also, I can barely put a sentence together after four weeks of an 80 hr/wk MICU rotation...but, I love the grind. I love the mind explosion that occurs daily from all of the clinical knowledge gained. and, I'll tell you what...it sure beats getting a tie sucked up into a vacuum cleaner when attempting to clean out the filth that accumulates inside a rental car after a 1 week rental, or getting cursed out daily by random people because the company you work for charges some ridiculous overdraft fee that you can barely explain let alone justify yourself, or having to actually tell someone they can't say "it's not like I have a gun" in a bank....again, I'll take the 80 hour work weeks

 

[DermViser]

It will be interesting to see how you feel about what you said in this post if and when you become a resident. But even if you still think that residency is less mentally taxing and soul crushing than your former office job was, hopefully you'll at least gain enough insight into the aspects of residency that are mentally taxing and soul crushing where you can develop some empathy for the psychic struggles that other people have.

I'm going to be 40 years old next year. I've had some crappy prior jobs that were soul crushing, and some crappy prior jobs that were mentally taxing, but usually not both at the same time. (I'd argue that one of the things that makes a crappy full time job so soul-crushing is that it is generally *not* mentally taxing. You're just a cog in the wheel.) Residency takes the worst aspects of both: it's mentally taxing, emotionally taxing, highly stressful, a lot of hours, *and* soul-crushing, especially earlier on when you're kind of a grunt and have very limited autonomy or input. Add on the extra stresses that many residents have over family planning, debt, limited ability for self care, inability to change jobs, and a semi-nomadic lifestyle, and you've got the perfect storm for disgruntledness. And I think the final straw for a lot of people is that they find this job wasn't what they thought they had signed up for. But once you're a few years into med school, most people can't afford to quit even if they want to. That leads to a lot of disgruntledness too.

Hence the emphasis on getting clinical experience for premeds. I don't think clinical experience is useful for teaching premeds about medicine per se. What's useful about it is that it helps weed out the premeds who would most hate being in medicine early on, while they still have low enough debt to get out.

THIS.

 

[rokshana]

THIS.

really? you did a derm residency, right? did you every even work 80 hours in a week?

 

[DermViser]

really? you did a derm residency, right? did you every even work 80 hours in a week?

@rokshana, so I can't agree with something that's 100% true? You know those who do specialties have to do an internship and work with PGY-2 and PGY-3 categoricals right?

 

[deleted116380]

I basically just finished intern year as I just have a few weeks of clinic left (IM prelim, not in a cush TY). Used to have a deskjob prior to med school that was statistical/research based and we were the only group in the country doing that specific research. Intern year was not mentally stimulating to me whatsoever. Hundreds of microtasks a day that anyone could be taught. The problem solving didn't involve much critical thinking...it's not like you were faced with a problem no one had been faced with before (I did run into stuff like that with my old job where no book had the answer or guideline suggestion). Intern year (and med school for that matter) were not hard, but rather time consuming. It doesn't really take as much skill as some would like to believe imo as long as you can memorize quickly and well and talk to another person/patient and not come off crazy. If you have a poor memory or problems talking with colleagues or patients....good luck with that.

Maybe I'm different because I also had an hour commute each way during this year and people had no idea how I could maintain that with 70+ hour work weeks, find time to workout, have a personal life, etc. Just manage your time well and intern year is not a problem.

Btw, most cush job may be rhuem, derm, or pm&r.

 

[Leo Aquarius]

As a resident who has a little more experience and have worked for a pain clinic run by PM&Rs, have advisors in private practice Psychiatry who get paid $300 cash per hour, and have worked with dermatologists, and talked to lots of residents and attendings along the way, I'd say #1 you can turn almost any specialty into a "cush" job by cutting back your hours and the riskiness of procedures you choose to do so you can't really claim any spciality to have a cush job over any other, and #2 the best lifestyle specialties where you make good money, are in high demand, have low stress, low malpractice rates, and typically work 8 hours a day are: Allergy, Derm, Psych, and PM&R. The old thinking that rads, anesthesiology, and ophtho have it good is much less true because those market are SATURATED.

 

[worfndata]

I worked at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Wachovia Bank, Bank of America Credit Card Services before changing my career....I'll take the 80 hour work week, please. Yeah, I'm neck-deep in debt and I don't get to spend close to the amount of time I'd like to spend with my children and wife...Also, I can barely put a sentence together after four weeks of an 80 hr/wk MICU rotation...but, I love the grind. I love the mind explosion that occurs daily from all of the clinical knowledge gained. and, I'll tell you what...it sure beats getting a tie sucked up into a vacuum cleaner when attempting to clean out the filth that accumulates inside a rental car after a 1 week rental, or getting cursed out daily by random people because the company you work for charges some ridiculous overdraft fee that you can barely explain let alone justify yourself, or having to actually tell someone they can't say "it's not like I have a gun" in a bank....again, I'll take the 80 hour work weeks

Awesome , sounds like my experiences. I always felt I was not supposed to be there.

 

[rokshana]

@rokshana, so I can't agree with something that's 100% true? You know those who do specialties have to do an internship and work with PGY-2 and PGY-3 categoricals right?

eh, i've seen the rotations that the prelims do, depending on where you are they can be treated very differently (icu and service months at the lower census hospitals, more elective time, no continuity clinics, just urgent care, so forth…and of course there is the TY year)…so yeah may be you had a FEW weeks that were 80 hours…but that much angst about one year?

 

[DermViser]

eh, i've seen the rotations that the prelims do, depending on where you are they can be treated very differently (icu and service months at the lower census hospitals, more elective time, no continuity clinics, just urgent care, so forth…and of course there is the TY year)…so yeah may be you had a FEW weeks that were 80 hours…but that much angst about one year?

Angst? Hardly. More like acknowledgement that what he said was true. Also, it depends very much on the program whether prelims are treated differently than categoricals. Most prelims give you more service months bc they'll never see you again. What part of what @QofQuimica said is untrue?

 

[rokshana]

Angst? Hardly. More like acknowledgement that what he said was true. Also, it depends very much on the program whether prelims are treated differently than categoricals. Most prelims give you more service months bc they'll never see you again. What part of what @QofQuimica said is untrue?

Residency takes the worst aspects of both: it's mentally taxing, emotionally taxing, highly stressful, a lot of hours, *and* soul-crushing…
this part.

 

[DermViser]

Residency takes the worst aspects of both: it's mentally taxing, emotionally taxing, highly stressful, a lot of hours, *and* soul-crushing…
this part.

Yes, if it was a 3 year categorical, it would be soul-crushing. I very much agree with that sentiment as did many of the categoricals, which is why they specialized.

 

[rokshana]

Yes, if it was a 3 year categorical, it would be soul-crushing. I very much agree with that sentiment as did many of the categoricals, which is why they specialized.

funny, 3 (2 of which i'm presuming are/were categoricals, i'm the 3rd) seem to say no…only 2 others seem to agree with you…seems like that is a draw at best...

 

[angel20]

im a med student thinking about what specialties would be good to consider. i know the things that i don't like thus far (like OB, Psych, family med)
we dont have derm rotation at my school, but just from lectures and such seeing pics I was grossed out. so i ruled out derm like that. im thinking radiology or path since im good with pattern recognition and have engineering background, but i have been told by some advisers that "your chance of cancr goes up if you do radiology esp interventional". then i thought to myself so every year many radiologist would die or would be diagnosed with cancer....so not sure how this statement is accurate.
I don't like peds either bc i dont like seeing kids sick, plus i have to deal with 2 types of pts 1)the kid 2) the parent. Its not that im not people person, im just being logical with myself.

I like general sugery or working with my hands and some but limited pt contact (not like internal). but then its a long road and i wont have a life.
i joined ortho group at our school, and was told by a couple of board members its not a good idea bc im super petite and its strenuous so i gave that up too.

sorry for the long story, i thought i seek some advice from seasoned people with experience here. i would appreciate it greatly.

 

[colbgw02]

im a med student thinking about what specialties would be good to consider. i know the things that i don't like thus far (like OB, Psych, family med)
we dont have derm rotation at my school, but just from lectures and such seeing pics I was grossed out. so i ruled out derm like that. im thinking radiology or path since im good with pattern recognition and have engineering background, but i have been told by some advisers that "your chance of cancr goes up if you do radiology esp interventional". then i thought to myself so every year many radiologist would die or would be diagnosed with cancer....so not sure how this statement is accurate.
I don't like peds either bc i dont like seeing kids sick, plus i have to deal with 2 types of pts 1)the kid 2) the parent. Its not that im not people person, im just being logical with myself.

I like general sugery or working with my hands and some but limited pt contact (not like internal). but then its a long road and i wont have a life.
i joined ortho group at our school, and was told by a couple of board members its not a good idea bc im super petite and its strenuous so i gave that up too.

sorry for the long story, i thought i seek some advice from seasoned people with experience here. i would appreciate it greatly.

You need to get new advisors.

 

[Silent Cool]

If people are looking for "cush" jobs.....why didn't you just attend dental school and become an Orthodontist?

*crickets*

 

[RadOncDoc21]

im a med student thinking about what specialties would be good to consider. i know the things that i don't like thus far (like OB, Psych, family med)
we dont have derm rotation at my school, but just from lectures and such seeing pics I was grossed out. so i ruled out derm like that. im thinking radiology or path since im good with pattern recognition and have engineering background, but i have been told by some advisers that "your chance of cancr goes up if you do radiology esp interventional". then i thought to myself so every year many radiologist would die or would be diagnosed with cancer....so not sure how this statement is accurate.
I don't like peds either bc i dont like seeing kids sick, plus i have to deal with 2 types of pts 1)the kid 2) the parent. Its not that im not people person, im just being logical with myself.

I like general sugery or working with my hands and some but limited pt contact (not like internal). but then its a long road and i wont have a life.
i joined ortho group at our school, and was told by a couple of board members its not a good idea bc im super petite and its strenuous so i gave that up too.

sorry for the long story, i thought i seek some advice from seasoned people with experience here. i would appreciate it greatly.

I heard you will also turn green when you get angry!