Starting M1 soon. Vaguely interested in EM. Should I check back next year?

[sargon2123]

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With all the talk of CMGs and increasing residencies, it seems like the future of EM is uncertain. Maybe the presidential election next year will sway things one way or another. Should I check back next year and see what’s happened to the field before investing in it in any way?

 

[gro2001]

With all the talk of CMGs and increasing residencies, it seems like the future of EM is uncertain. Maybe the presidential election next year will sway things one way or another. Should I check back next year and see what’s happened to the field before investing in it in any way?

Wait until you start third year and really start getting a sense of what you like and don't like. You just don't know at this stage. You may very well come back to EM, or fall in love with the OR, or decide you actually hate the ED, or whatever.

Also don't let the doom and gloom on this board worry you too much. It's been around since at least as long as I've been on here (2006), and EM is still an awesome specialty. The opinions and concerns here are worth knowing about, but there is much less consensus out in the real world about whether the sky is falling.

 

[deleted859535]

With all the talk of CMGs and increasing residencies, it seems like the future of EM is uncertain. Maybe the presidential election next year will sway things one way or another. Should I check back next year and see what’s happened to the field before investing in it in any way?

You basically have to. Take your time and see what you like across the specialties for the specialties themselves. Better to sort out the pros/cons -- like CMG/SDG -- after you know what you want to do and not do.

 

[sargon2123]

Alright. I’ll just focus on step, research, networking, etc. for now. Just that if a specialty has no hope (rad onc, pathology) it’s better to know sooner

 

[GonnaBeADoc2222]

Alright. I’ll just focus on step, research, networking, etc. for now. Just that if a specialty has no hope (rad onc, pathology) it’s better to know sooner

EM has lots of hope, despite all our B and Ming here. If EM tanks, it's likely that the rest of medicine has tanked already or is concurrently tanking. If you check out the other speciality forums on here they all have the same or similar concerns about their respective fields.

The better question is, do you really want to embark on this road (medicine)? It's a pretty good job. Frustrating a lot, but still good. Are you prepared to sacrifice a lot over the next 7 plus years (med school and residency)? Are you prepared for the reality of paying back 200k of debt (I'm assuming you are taking out loans). Are you ready to work wonky hours and miss family and friend stuff?

I'm a young attending and have paid back my loans while living pretty damn comfortably. I deal with a fair amount of BS but I also feel like I make a difference here and there.

 

[deleted497653]

EM has lots of hope, despite all our B and Ming here. If EM tanks, it's likely that the rest of medicine has tanked already or is concurrently tanking. If you check out the other speciality forums on here they all have the same or similar concerns about their respective fields.

The better question is, do you really want to embark on this road (medicine)? It's a pretty good job. Frustrating a lot, but still good. Are you prepared to sacrifice a lot over the next 7 plus years (med school and residency)? Are you prepared for the reality of paying back 200k of debt (I'm assuming you are taking out loans). Are you ready to work wonky hours and miss family and friend stuff?

I'm a young attending and have paid back my loans while living pretty damn comfortably. I deal with a fair amount of BS but I also feel like I make a difference here and there.

They are an M1, one can probably assume they are fairly committed to taking out the loans to pay for med school.

To answer the original question, everything changes in life. You can’t escape change just try to be resilient no matter what field you choose.

 

[gamerEMdoc]

No matter what field of medicine you choose, it’s going to change throughout your lifetime. It doesn’t matter who is elected. Medicine changes over time. The funding of medicine changes over time. There’s nothing you can do about it. Choosing what field to go into based on who is getting elected president is foolish. Healthcare funding will eventually change in America, only because we can’t afford the spiraling costs. It’s inevitable. But when the time comes, it will likely be a bipartisan solution.

I haven’t seen a drastic difference in my job in healthcare across the last three presidential administrations. Electing a different president isn’t going to change that. The president doesn’t decide on what type of healthcare system we have. Congress does, and it took an immense amount of wheeling and dealing just with in the Democratic Party itself to get Obamacare done, and Obamacare wasn’t very radical. Healthcare is likely to change in dribs and drabs over a long period of time. Not all at once, and not buy one political administration or party.

Go into a field of medicine that interest you. Don’t try to guess the future because that’s all it is, a guess. You may make more than you anticipated in the end, you may make less. But if you go into a field of medicine that interests you and you like doing, you’ll have a more rewarding career. If you choose a career based around maximizing profit, then you’re going to be miserable when the bottom falls out if it should.

 

[Tenk]

Nice part about checking out EM early is if you hate it and find something else you like more you can tell that specialty how much you hate EM and they will be like hey me too, you’re in.

 

[sargon2123]

Nice part about checking out EM early is if you hate it and find something else you like more you can tell that specialty how much you hate EM and they will be like hey me too, you’re in.

I thought that was just surgery

 

[Tenk]

I thought that was just surgery

Na