RCP90 Posted February 20, 2011 Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 Hi there, I'll be applying to CaRMS next year, and I really don't know what field is best suited to what I want in a career. I'd appreciated if I could please get some opinions on what I should explore while still in medical school. I'm in a 3yr medical program, and its a challenge to explore your options while still putting in enough time for a given specialty to make yourself competitive. A bit about my experience: - On elective I've tried gen surg, ortho, optho, ent and plastics. I liked Ortho most of the surgical specialties, but the lifestyle really scares me. I also hate the battles for OR time, and the difficulty of finding a job. Hospital admin politics also kills me. - I want to be able to make a difference in the life of my patients. I don't want everyone getting sicker, or just managing them until they go somewhere else (worse). That's what i liked about Ortho. Take pride in your work, make a difference, be thanked by your patients. - Lifestyle matters to me because there are many other commitments I have to manage in my life. (you don't need the details ) - I don't really care much about money. I know I'll never be making the $1000K of an ophthalmologist, and I can live with that. That's life. Making $200K would be nice though. - I've talked to friends and they recommend I try something like Anasthesia or another procedure based specialty of Internal Medicine. I would like something hands on at the end of the day. I would appreciate if the residents and those who have been in the same position as me can share their thoughts. Thanks for your time!! - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted February 20, 2011 Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 Have you read some of the books on choosing a medical specialty? For example: http://www.amazon.ca/Ultimate-Guide-Choosing-Medical-Specialty/dp/0071479414 I think you've made a good start in identifying the factors that are important to you. Now you have to clarify them and determine their relative importance, and tally how each specialty fulfills them overall - e.g. "making a difference" - do you prefer short term interactions? how much hands on time would you like? how important is it to be thanked by patients? (eg Anesthesia - ++hands on, controllable lifestyle, but less of a relationship with your patients) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCP90 Posted February 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 Thanks LF. Helpful as always. I think it's geared towards US students, since it comments on things like USMLE scores, private ORs, etc. I guess you feel its still pretty relevant to Canadians, otherwise you wouldn't have suggested it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olecranon Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 what about family?? fits all the criteria above except procedures. emerg fits them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satsuma Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 anesthesia is something worth exploring if you want hands-on and a decent lifestyle and like physiology - you will be comitting yourself to a lifetime of call however (not the end of the world so long as you know, whereas some specialties you wouldn`t really need to be doing call eg. rheum). It isn`t the greatest if you want recognition though. Often your pts don`t even realize you're a physician! How hands on would you like to be - would you consider emerg? You get to do alot of procedures (depending on the day - but they are quick ones - which is good if you don`t have the patience for long OR days but still like to sew things up etc now and then). Some pts will thank you, other will yell at you or try and throw things at you, and yet others will be unconscious when you see them and never know you were involved in saving their lives. When those pts go home, they'll give cards and thanks to the ICU docs etc. and never to the ER docs, and you just have to be ok with that! Now, you mentioned how you didn`t want to be taking care of pts just to send them somewhere else - obviously that may be a problem for you. Since you will take care of the initial management of many pts who then go on to ICU, medicine floor, surgery etc. So if a long term relationship with your pt is what you are after then emerg is not for you. The shift work in real life is harder than it looks on paper. But manageable, more so once you become staff than as a resident. So it offers a decent lifestyle with no call, if you can manage shift work (not everyone can). One of the cool things I like about emerg is that you see undifferentiated pts, and get to figure out what is wrong with them. And I do think in emerg you make a difference in people's lives - since you are the gateway to the healthcare system, you can open doors and advocate for your pts, they don`t always follow through, and you may not know the final outcome, but you got them off in the right direction (hopefully). Someone mentionned family...could be a good option, and you can do OR assists if you like the OR but don`t want the surgeon lifestyle/responsibility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCP90 Posted February 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 olecranon, I've got my family rotation coming up soon thankfully. I'm looking forward to working hard during that time and figuring out if its for me. Haven't discounted it at all. Satsuma, thanks for the tips about ER., but I know I can't do shift work, and for the time I've been there, I haven't really liked ER. Great place to learn though. Thanks for the contributions guys. Happy to hear more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olecranon Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 i'll just add that with family you can choose to work as a hospitalist if you don't want to run a practice, do walk ins if you don't want to follow patients, you can do surgical assists, you can do deliveries, you can go on to do an R3 in emergency so that you can go back to family if you want when you're older or do sports med or do anesthesia if you go rural, in which case you can do them all ie run your own practice, do emerg, do anesthesia. Anesthesia is tons of fun as a med student but i don't know about the long term satisfaction from it. Lots of soul searching here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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