Stressful Career?

[Jack Napier]

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Is neuro a stressful career? How about compared to psych or internal med?

 

[typhoonegator]

Well, having never had a career in psychiatry or internal medicine, it is a little hard to answer that question.

Also, it depends on what you consider stressful. If you don't like seeing neurology patients, then yeah, it could get pretty stressful. If you mean call during residency, then it depends on where you go. I had a lot of call during residency, and yeah, that can get stressful. But residency is temporary. I know plenty of neurologists who live a nice humane life. Then again, I also know plenty of psych and IM attendings who live nice humane lives.

If I had to work in a psychiatry clinic, then I would be horribly stressed, even if I were working 6 hour days. You shouldn't worry about stress so much as doing something you want to do. That's what'll get you out of bed in the morning...even if its 4AM and you've already worked 96 hours this week.

 

[Jack Napier]

Well, I'm trying to get a feel of what the life of a Neurologist is like, what kind of patients they see, so on etc.

I'm a AMG M3 and am debating between the 3 specialties, but the exposure to Neuro at our school is pretty horrible...so I'm kind of oblivious as to what the day to day life of a Neurologist is like. Is it like Internal Med where you spend a lot of time on rounds? Somewhere in between?

How can I flush out the specialty to see if it would be a good fit?

 

[typhoonegator]

You might find these threads interesting (courtesy of the search function):

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=709933&highlight=neurology+day+in+the+life

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=651277&highlight=neurology+day+in+the+life

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=599223&highlight=neurology+day+in+the+life

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=445134&highlight=neurology+day+in+the+life

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=457746&highlight=neurology+day+in+the+life

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=383612&highlight=neurology+day+in+the+life

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=300095&highlight=neurology+day+in+the+life

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=122526&highlight=neurology+day+in+the+life

If you are interested in neurology and are concerned about the quality of your home program, do an away rotation early in your MS4 year.

Neurology services round like medicine services for the most part. Floor services tend to do a lot of standing and talking. At my program, we rounded from 8 to noon as a team, usually seeing the overnight admits and anyone who was sick, then noon conference, then the juniors go do work and the senior+attending see the entire service together.

 

[95439]

Well, I'm trying to get a feel of what the life of a Neurologist is like, what kind of patients they see, so on etc.

I'm a AMG M3 and am debating between the 3 specialties, but the exposure to Neuro at our school is pretty horrible...so I'm kind of oblivious as to what the day to day life of a Neurologist is like. Is it like Internal Med where you spend a lot of time on rounds? Somewhere in between?

How can I flush out the specialty to see if it would be a good fit?

I went through a similar dilemma, except I was trying to figure out if I should go for Neuro, IM, or ER. I did get my undergraduate degree in Psychology, and after working at a house for schizophrenic patients, overnights, alone, at 21 years old..I never wanted part of the field again..
Having said that - if you're wondering 'what field will give me the best lifestyle?' - it's got to be Psychiatry. I know Psychiatrists making close to 400k who have very decent hours. But Typhoonnegator is right, Psychiatry can be stressful, you're dealing with insanity all day, every day. And no offense to any Psychiatrists out there, but in general those are some weird people lol.
IM is a more difficult lifestyle than Neurology from what I've seen. You're basically a primary care physician if you do outpatient, and are often (I think) underpaid at the hospital. Plus if you want to specialize that's a couple more years of fellowship.

Neurology isn't a cakewalk, but it's not the 'most difficult' field in medicine (in terms of work schedule etc). Expect to work hard but not an insane amount (take this with a grain of salt, I'm not speaking from experience as I start residency in June, but I've talked with a ton of practicing Neurologists about the lifestyle etc). Basically, in terms of difficulty it's IM, then Neuro, then Psych.

And definitely the most important thing is if you have a passion for the field of Neurology. You're specializing, so you better enjoy the subject! If you're not fascinated, or at least interested, when reading about Neurology, go another route...

Hope that helps!