jmira Posted June 20, 2014 Report Share Posted June 20, 2014 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burrb Posted June 21, 2014 Report Share Posted June 21, 2014 zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellorie Posted June 21, 2014 Report Share Posted June 21, 2014 I can see why people like it - the medicine is complex and there are a lot of interesting psychosocial and multidisciplinary aspects. I don't think it would be for me, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavrik13 Posted June 21, 2014 Report Share Posted June 21, 2014 Not for me - but I can understand why people like it. It is multidisciplinary, you have the opportunity to get to know your patients really well, you can make a huge difference in their lives, it can be quite complex, you will never be out of a job... It is looked down upon from the rest of medicine for some reason... and in my opinion, unnecessarily. I have far more respect for a geriatricians than I do for other clinicians who solely focus on the one body part they have specialized in and refer everything else back to their GP/other docs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted June 21, 2014 Report Share Posted June 21, 2014 It was one of the subspecialties of internal medicine that I enjoyed most, having an affinity for elderly patients and appreciating the opportunity to improve the well-being of a segment of the population that sometimes does not receive the same attention as say, younger patients perhaps. However, while rewarding, the work was emotionally draining and, I felt, more difficult to sustain compared to what I do now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted June 21, 2014 Report Share Posted June 21, 2014 Not for me - but I can understand why people like it. It is multidisciplinary, you have the opportunity to get to know your patients really well, you can make a huge difference in their lives, it can be quite complex, you will never be out of a job... It is looked down upon from the rest of medicine for some reason... and in my opinion, unnecessarily. I have far more respect for a geriatricians than I do for other clinicians who solely focus on the one body part they have specialized in and refer everything else back to their GP/other docs. It is completely illogical but the further you are from personally fixing a particularly problem permanently the more "respect" often is given. A bit of hero worship I think on some level- saving lives and all that. It is silly of course as medicine is a huge system and a big team effort. I like geriatrics, very much in fact. Those in that field do a lot of good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-Stark Posted June 21, 2014 Report Share Posted June 21, 2014 Not for me - but I can understand why people like it. It is multidisciplinary, you have the opportunity to get to know your patients really well, you can make a huge difference in their lives, it can be quite complex, you will never be out of a job... It is looked down upon from the rest of medicine for some reason... and in my opinion, unnecessarily. I have far more respect for a geriatricians than I do for other clinicians who solely focus on the one body part they have specialized in and refer everything else back to their GP/other docs. I don't think many physicians people look down on geriatrics, though many of us do prefer a faster pace. It's certainly not the place for any procedurally-oriented. Yet it's immensely valuable for a lot of acute care (atypical presentations, delineating delirium vs dementia vs both) and relevant to almost every adult specialty. There are some who consider it "depressing" due to the focus on dementia and frailty - we don't always like to consider either as part of our possible future - but those aren't exactly something you're likely not to see in medicine. (Well, except for peds) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webshy Posted June 22, 2014 Report Share Posted June 22, 2014 The geriatricians here are very well respected, all-round, including at the medical school, among the residents and by the staff physicians. As someone in family, it is nice to have another resource to consult for the overly complicated complex older patients who don't fall into the realm of just one specialty. I wouldn't have chosen geriatrics, as I like all age groups in medicine. I don't want to have to give up delivering babies in order, providing preventative health for people through their lifetime, dealing with both acute and chronic illness and doing palliative care, just to focus on one time in a person's life. However, I do enjoy dealing with the geriatric population. It can be quite rewarding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmira Posted July 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2014 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerroger Posted July 15, 2014 Report Share Posted July 15, 2014 Personally I couldn't do this speciality. I would rather quit medicine. Back in the day I did some geriatrics electives. UofT has a group of academic MDs in geriatrics which are pretty active. Probably why you noticed what you noticed. This said, I can appreciate those that do it. Also the cognitively intact über geriatrics have the best stories and can be some of the most interesting people you will run into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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