When did you "know?"

[Primate]

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There have been a couple scattered threads where individuals said when/how they made the decision to pursue EM, but I thought it'd be interesting to hear from more people.

When did you decide EM? 4th year? 3d year? Premed? At birth? 23P + 23M?

 

[DrQuinn]

Originally wanted to be an EP as a wee lad/lass. I was always in the ED for my asthma exacerbations...

College thought about "internal medicine" because it just sounded cool... and ER was big on TV and I thought there was no way I could perform a heart transplant in the ED while 20 traumas came in at the same time. Volunteered in the ED and realized it was for me.

Never hesitated about not doing EM during medical school...

But if I didn't absolutely love EM, I would consider Psychiatry and then perhaps Anesthesiology or Family Practice (and crack necks all day as a DO and make 500k a year).

Q, DO

 

[ERMudPhud]

I was torn during 3rd year. My wife was an EP and it seemed pretty cool but I was MD/PhD and thought IM was the only way to go. Plus my school was very unfriendly to EM. I did an EM rotation during the summer of 4th year and loved it but I still wasn't sure it would work for me. I met a few MD/PhD's in EM including one who was doing bench research so that was encouraging. I still wasn't convinced and it didn't help that several advisors at my med school told me that if I did EM I would be turning my back on academic medicine and research forever in favor of "band-aid medicine". I interviewed in both EM and IM. Finally on the day I turned in my match list I took a deep breath and ranked the EM programs first followed by the IM programs. One of the best decisions I ever made.

 

[EM STUD 3000]

I worked in an ER as a PCA while still pursuing undergraduate studies. This solidified my interest in medicine, and I thought then that I wanted to be an EP. I tried to keep an open mind in med school, and even considered other specialties. But I kept coming back to EM.

I hate rounding, I hate call. I like seeing diverse pathology and seeing people of all ages. I hate to see the same patient day after day in the hospital. I like the pace of the ED, and the fact that when you go home, you don't have to be bothered all night and carry a pager.

In your 3rd year clerkships, you will soon realize what you like and don't like. I think that that is when most people know what they want to be when they grow up.

 

[roja]

Prior to my decision to entertain EM at the end of my 3rd year, my only thoughts about EM had been as a premed when I was trying to figure out where to volunteer. Everyone where I was volunteered at Parkland ER. All I said was, I don't ever want to be an ER doc and volunteered at a childrens hospital instead.

I intended to do pedi rheumatology all through medical school. Then during my 3rd year, I realized I absolutely did not like pediatrics as a career. And I knew I really didn't want the lifestyle of any of the other careers. I entertained almost everything but I didn't know exactly. I was on my last rotation (medicine) which I was *not* loving and a guy I was rotating with wanted to EM. We were slow a while and we spent some time in the ED. He started telling me about it and I got interested. I did a few shadow shifts, talked to some EPs and then did a formal rotation. I was hooked. I knew immediately it was what I wanted to do.


So, never say never.

 

[Coleman]

During my post-graduate pre-med years I worked as a clincial tech in an ED after getting EMT training. It was in an acdemic center so I got the best of all worlds, EM exposured, patient care, and teaching by residents and attendings. This has also stuck with me in my decision to go into academic EM.

I never waivered on my decision, the closest I came was adding on additional residencies (em/peds) or am still thinking about fellowships later.

 

[Chris_Topher]

When I saw ER on TV. Dr. Ross gets ALL the ladies!