I imagine ER is prob pretty terrible right?
On par with pathology patients.
One of my students told me once that they liked OB/Gyn because the patients weren't sick (as in maternity).
I actually had someone pull a knife out on me.
That would depend on if you’re doing inpatient at a state hospital with psychotic patients, or doing cash pay private practice for high functioning worried (basically) well.
I'm not even a med student yet, but I was shadowing a surgeon in my small hometown, and every black patient we interacted with at the hospital was proud of me. I was very confused because I was just a premed student shadowing, but it did make me happy and motivated me some more.
ESRD patients that come to the ED for "chest pain" right before they're about to get their dialysis which would have likely lessened their pain so they could go home and take their oral narcotics but they don't hit as well as IV so they gotta come in...and then get admitted for DIALYSIS. Man, I'll never understand how some people can be so non-compliant with their treatment when they're so close to dying without it.
I imagine those are both very taxing emotionally.
Not that I am really talking from experience here but I would say that psych is inherently a very non compliant group by nature; it would also I imagine differ greatly if you are doing in patient vs out patient because in the former patients are more likely to be aggressive (although I get the impression that many are not and are very nice people just struggling). In the latter you will get a mix of people some will be very appreciative and others....
This thread aint that deep lol. You took it from worst/best patient populations to dissecting entire specialties.Anyone have input on infectious diseases?
While definitely there's a difference in the crowd "politeness" between specialties I think you have to ask yourself the following questions.
- what types of medicine do you like to practice (eg procedures, no procedure, operation, how much patient contact, whether verbal or hands on etc)
- what age population do you want to work with
- healthy or sick people and are you okay with the areas that have a higher mortality rate because of the condition or age of the group
- interaction with colleagues, what is the mentality
- work place environment do you like the hospital, or prefer your own practice, do you prefer high pressure like er or something much more even pace and a little more predictable
- salary (does it matter to you within the field of being an MD what your salary is)
- time in school
- do you prefer your patience to be unconscious or conscious most of the time lol
I think between the above and what you feel yourself drawn to will answer what you might be interested in specializing in. You probably won't feel drawn to a specialty where the patient population is not considered to be pleasant as is seems that is something important to you.
Also I'll add that you can probably manipulate to a certain degree the pleasantness of your patients based on the setting, if you specialize in your specialty, location, population you try to attract and so on because disease doesn't discriminate based on how nice a person is or isn't
Although I will say as a caveat that some specialties are more akin to more cranky, rude, appreciative patients by nature.
Hope this was helpful and good luck!
Lol, so sue me!
Oh and don't forget lifestyle like schedule and whether you'd be likely called at home to come in etc.Anyone have input on infectious diseases?
While definitely there's a difference in the crowd "politeness" between specialties I think you have to ask yourself the following questions.
- what types of medicine do you like to practice (eg procedures, no procedure, operation, how much patient contact, whether verbal or hands on etc)
- what age population do you want to work with
- healthy or sick people and are you okay with the areas that have a higher mortality rate because of the condition or age of the group
- interaction with colleagues, what is the mentality
- work place environment do you like the hospital, or prefer your own practice, do you prefer high pressure like er or something much more even pace and a little more predictable
- salary (does it matter to you within the field of being an MD what your salary is)
- time in school
- do you prefer your patience to be unconscious or conscious most of the time lol
I think between the above and what you feel yourself drawn to will answer what you might be interested in specializing in. You probably won't feel drawn to a specialty where the patient population is not considered to be pleasant as is seems that is something important to you.
Also I'll add that you can probably manipulate to a certain degree the pleasantness of your patients based on the setting, if you specialize in your specialty, location, population you try to attract and so on because disease doesn't discriminate based on how nice a person is or isn't
Although I will say as a caveat that some specialties are more akin to more cranky, rude, appreciative patients by nature.
Hope this was helpful and good luck!
Thanks, I appreciate your input. Gives me a lot to think about as I progress through the next few years of med school!Anyone have input on infectious diseases?
While definitely there's a difference in the crowd "politeness" between specialties I think you have to ask yourself the following questions.
- what types of medicine do you like to practice (eg procedures, no procedure, operation, how much patient contact, whether verbal or hands on etc)
- what age population do you want to work with
- healthy or sick people and are you okay with the areas that have a higher mortality rate because of the condition or age of the group
- interaction with colleagues, what is the mentality
- work place environment do you like the hospital, or prefer your own practice, do you prefer high pressure like er or something much more even pace and a little more predictable
- salary (does it matter to you within the field of being an MD what your salary is)
- time in school
- do you prefer your patience to be unconscious or conscious most of the time lol
I think between the above and what you feel yourself drawn to will answer what you might be interested in specializing in. You probably won't feel drawn to a specialty where the patient population is not considered to be pleasant as is seems that is something important to you.
Also I'll add that you can probably manipulate to a certain degree the pleasantness of your patients based on the setting, if you specialize in your specialty, location, population you try to attract and so on because disease doesn't discriminate based on how nice a person is or isn't
Although I will say as a caveat that some specialties are more akin to more cranky, rude, appreciative patients by nature.
Hope this was helpful and good luck!
I had a school mandatory in a nephrology wing during M1... from what I saw it just seemed to be a somewhat depressing subspecialty in a lot of ways. yeah there's some real noncompliance but I can't imagine the toll dialysis or treatment in general takes on patients. lots of comorbidities and coordination with other specialties too, which can lead to miscommunications with other necessary doctors
For nsg.ime
Yes I oversimplified to make a point. Between being a correctional officer, a nursing student, an RN, a medical student, and having a schizophrenic mother, I have had a variety of experience with psychiatric patients in many settings. Since you are in Psychiatry I appreciate you expanding on this for the person who asked.
Agreed for the most part. In addition, neurosurgical patients who are not comatose or close to it are often exceedingly (excessively, really) deferential and almost reverent because of the nature of the work and the mystique of brain surgery. This is especially true for tumor and aneurysm surgery—"brain tumor" and "aneurysm" are highly charged terms in the lay lexicon. I've been watching the Lenox Hill documentary, and the near-idolatry you see from most of the patients and their families is real. One of the confounding things about it is that when patients do really poorly, their loved ones are almost always still grateful.
Is this your personal statement
No but I'll chuckle if any of you kids copy it and I read it in your application (kidding, nobody reads them anyway).
