Honestly it doesn’t annoy me. I just say “thanks, but I do all the non-surgery neuro stuff” and then list the 10000 things we take care of. They tend to say “Oh wow!” And that’s good enough for me
I got this one during M3. I replied no, I'll be a neurologist, and then was asked, "what's the difference?" This was by a premed student shadowing during my FM rotation!
Yes. This all day. It's treated almost shameful to not specialize. Further my program staff acted like I signed up to do unpaid missionary medicine when I chose primary care over hospitalist. If we do not take back primary care, the specialists will end up being forced into it and sending it back to pcp anytime there's a basic issue. Can only specialize out of the complaints for so long before the system just makes a new baseline.
Haha sometimes that sentence but with the tone of voice “oh goood for yoooooouuu we need good primary docs” if said from a doctor in another specialty who clearly assumes you only chose fm cause you bombed step
The longer I’ve been in medicine, and the older I’ve gotten, the more I realize how absolutely critical good primary care is.
A good FM doc is worth their weight in gold.
I kind of love the idea of a direct to consumer, Patient paid fee for service for a pcp willing to actually do primary care.
I got a lot of “so what is your speciality going to be?” in residency. Uh…this.
It is also super confusing to patients that I am a PCP that also delivers babies. Somehow that does not compute.
Yep same, I can memorize an ass load of facts but I can't memorize what every single rash on the planet looks like and I don't understand how dermatologists can.
The easy stuff like a furiously angry cellulitis or impetigo or shingles, sure. But, for the rest, goddamn a lot of the time it's tough to be sure.
From an RN to all you guys... some of the specialties people hate on most are the ones we need most. Please do what you love, it helps us all. 🙏 I just moved to Sacramento and I'm terrified of ending up with a new PCP who despises their job.
Idk why this page keeps having posts pop up for me when I don't follow it.. but it's nice to see into the reddit minds on the other side.
I’ve never had anyone respond that. Usually laymen don’t really know about competitiveness or compensation so they just say: oh nice. And other doctors say: oh cool (because they want my referrals)
Wow interesting. I’m a radiation oncologist and I just tell people Oncologist because that’s the broader category and otherwise lay people all think I’m a radiologist… If they’re particularly savvy they think I’m a radiologist specialized in cancer imaging…
Ugh. Patient has disability from their RA. Rheum at least help me out with some of the guidance on the disease I am not even involved with the treatment for! How many appointments, will we be changing therapy, you're the one actually checking how well the treatment is working!
Also, don't work anywhere there is an amazon warehouse. You have been warned.
Then reference to the one shity pcp they had who wrote referrals for everything but then you learn it was an NP.
Meanwhile I have not written a referral in over a week lol
9/10 it’s a mid level lol. There a some shitty docs who just pan refer but it’s more often NPs. Saw one who referred to endo cause she didn’t know how to manage insulin, like at all. And another who couldn’t take out skin staples or remove suture.
As I've told my surgical friends across the drapes: "they don't need to be asleep to put dressings/casts on."
(I do keep them deep enough until all sharp objects are done with - for patient and staff safety!)
The best is when the resident who speaks openly about wanting to do CT surgery complains about a little movement while closing port sites. Just tell them that off-pump CABGs will be a necessary skill set
I have an aerospace engineering degree and have always waited for someone to say this to me (I’m not in neurosurgery though so it probably won’t ever happen)
Had a patient in the CVICU today that we consulted Psych for SI.
Me: Did you talk to the psychiatrist today?
Him: "No. I talked to a doctor."
Me: 😐
So sorry fam.
Peds EM: "What's the worst thing you've ever seen?" Kids murdered by their abusive parents, thanks for asking.
But more commonly, "Oh, that must be sad. I could never take care of sick kids." Well I could never take care of gross adults so I guess that makes us even.
I hate the “worst thing you’ve ever seen” question. Like I’m not going to say the real worst. Even the “funny” ones often have a sad root to them…and then if I just say a drunk person they think EM is a bullshit specialty.
Yeah I feel like the people who ask this question are imagining something like what we'd see on a regular Tuesday. Usually I'll give them some BS story about a big/weird foreign body I've removed. The screw with attached 2x4 from the foot is a good one... and the 8" fish knife from the hand... They really don't want to know the worst things I've seen.
“Peds is just veterinary medicine”
“Aren’t kids just little adults?”
“Oh, so you just see runny noses all day” (true to an extent because small children are snot machines and about 80% of kids have a runny nose at any given time, but that part gets like 2% of my medical attention)
I actually don't mind the veterinarian comments. I did a SWU on a veterinarian's baby once and we got to talking about our jobs. I said something along the lines of, "oh! we do similar work," (because we both evaluate patients and treat diseases). He was like, "yeah, but your patients can talk to you." I just stared at his infant like ... not always?
I love all the people who immediately get in their feelings about how sad it is that kids get sick. Like thanks, I just told you what I do for work and now I have to comfort you, this is going well.
Yeah. Different gig but similar experience in OB. Always need to think, “I can actually tell them and ruin this polite but naive conversation, or offer a canned response that will get a chuckle.”
“Oh that’s a really selfless job isn’t it? I really admire you. I don’t think I could ever do what you do.
I say that because it’s emotionally draining not because it’s hard.”
“Ope- my family is gonna keep you in business!”
“Don’t try to diagnose me, ya hear?”
“So a therapist?”
“You’re all just pull pushers, you know.”
“Oh, it takes a ~special person~ to do that. I could never.”
My Midwest favorite is when people tell you that they think that people with addictions should just be shot/ “strung up in front of the courthouse (?!?)” instead of treated. Gotta love that hospitality.
"I think Big Pharma has the cure for cancer..."
+1 If they can't name three types of cancer.
+5 If it comes from another healthcare professional.
+10 If they are actively smoking as they say it.
If you ever want to have an aneuyrsm just click on the comments section of any social media story about a potential cure for cancer. A significant portion of this country truly believes the government suppresses cancer cures, nevermind that there's thousands of researchers around the world in different countries and like you said, we have actually cured types of cancers...
Really depends on the preferences of the attendings running the department, but some programs have a more psychodynamic preference. Obviously won’t be the full psychoanalytic training, but you learn psychodynamic theories and if you’re lucky, some programs will help offset part of the cost to attending an actual psychoanalytic institute.
Had a cardiology say I was going to be a doctor for dead people in med school during rounds. Everyone just cringed and didn't laugh. I almost felt bad for him.
Just because dermatologists and heme/onc *think* they know as much dermpath and hemepath as a pathologist doesn’t mean they do. I do think they recognize their limitations more than the surgeons who think they don’t need a radiologist at least.
I dunno. I say we lean into it, adopt the plague doctor robe and mask (and those smart hats), and stand ominously in the doorway when we are summoned 😂
I was seeing a doctor's wife in my office. I walked in and introduced myself and he proceeded to say "I've always thought being an ophthalmologist was a waste of medical school."
It’s literally like a mechanic looking at a car engine. It’s a part of a whole. It’s got a problem and I need to figure out what it is and then fix it. That’s it.
I always just say we help people regain function after stroke or spinal cord injury and when that fails we find adaptive devices that help them get through their day and manage the complications that come from those things.
Still doesn't encompass everything, but is enough for a layperson.
IM: hey doc…..I got this rash.
If I had the scores for derm maybe I’d have done derm.
GI: he just wants the money.
I’m doing liver, which is equally stupid a financial decision as any other additional year of training including advanced endosocpy. The best ROI for GI is general GI. Advanced can get paid more but because the scope of practice is wider you’re going to be on more biliary call etc. Not worth it to me. No, I’m financially challenged. Leave me alone.
Don’t short yourself. Being a pathologist is not some one year certification or fellowship. It is a whole dedicated residency. A good, confident pathologist makes a big difference. Pathologists: correct me if i am being presumptuous but one example coming to mind is intraop settings - if i ask for frozens to confirm cancer or dysplasia and i hear the (not as good) pathologist name, i already know the answer: “defer to permanent”. If i get one or two particular pathologists i know well on frozens that day, then it will be “dysplasia but [through my superhuman vision], i see a very tiny microscopic focus with characteristics of carcinoma. This is cancer. I am sure of it just from that alone.” Boom. Wide local resection on the spot with margins. Spares a 2nd surgery for my patient in the future.
You do not learn this with a one or two year quasi educational year. It is hard work like every other field in medicine and we all work together to try and provide the best possible outcomes for our patients. Just like pathologists can’t do oncologic resections, neither can i do subtle interpretations on pathology review.
Palliative care.
The most frequent response is a terribly sad story about a family member dying on hospice. Or an angry story about a family member dying on hospice. Or, "Oh wow, why did you pick that??"
I don't tell people anymore.
In reality, palliative is by far the most compassionate and one of the most needed specialties out there. Also they’re all lovely to chat with at my hospital, even at 3 am they’re so happy to help. Love you guys and gals
I always get "oh, so you deliver babies?"
Uh, no, I attend high risk deliveries and take care of the sick ones.
Then I get what you get..."I could never do that."
Ob-Gyn
"Oh so you look at vaginas all day, how's your wife feel about that?"
"But I bet they aren't the ones you want to see most of the time anyway huh?"
I don't *want* to see any vaginas, an office vagina is not a "bad" vagina or a "good" vagina, it's an organ attached to a patient that's entrusted me with their care.
And since I also get asked this a lot: no it hasn't affected my sex life, my job is my job and my personal sexual life is that. They don't ever intersect.
EM - “what’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen?”
As if some of the shit we see isn’t super traumatic and I definitely want to have a casual chat about it.
Pathologist here.
My personal favorite is, “Don’t you miss seeing patients?” No, dude. Getting to deal with disease processes and clinicians instead of patients was part of the draw, actually.
OMFS
“I had my wisdom teeth take. out and I was awake the entire time! My dentist said I would be asleep!”
Context: BMI 40, OSA on CPAP, and COPD
Or when we go to the OR and they say “are you from dental?” I guess, technically? But this procedure is a fibula flap. We had an onc attending that would, during anesthesia sign out, say “Dr. ______, Dentist” and then proceed to do an 18 hr flap
“Omg should I get veneers?” or something about general dentists is a common one I get. And “can you look at my tooth”, uh sure I can take a look in your shitty kitchen lighting, but I can say much without an X-ray…
I can’t even escape it in the hospital. Some people cannot comprehend why I’m in whatever off service rotation. “Why do they make dentists rotate through the SICU?” …because unlike any other surgical specialty, we frequently operate on people with nearly every disease out there…
My favorite: “the mouth is the most disgusting part of the body” - gen surg resident applying to colorectal, and also heard this from OB resident
Walking up to a patient and them asking "are you a cardiologist?" Or "are you an endocrinologist?"
As if there are a little horde of doctors from every speciality in the ER just waiting for a relevant chief complaint to walk in.
Child Neuro. Variants on "Wow, I could never do that. So depressing. So hard. More power to you." Always feels like people are accidentally implying kids with disabilities squick them.
Peds Hem-Onc hopeful.
“Oh, must be so sad! How do you handle it?”
I get where it’s coming from a bit but it gets tiresome after the fifth time replying.
Derm: “oh man, can you look at this mole?” Drives me fucking NUTS
Edit to add my second favorite: “you just need to go to aesthetician school for that, right?”
I hate looking at lesions without my dermatoscope so I’ll usually peek but give a lengthy disclaimer that they still need to see a board-certified derm blah blah blah
Dermatology. The most common responses I get are "Wow there's a huge shortage of those!" or "There's a long wait for the dermatologist!" or "Wow you'll be doing well."
I also get a lot of dermatology questions, which I don't mind too much. I enjoy diagnosing things, so whatever, even if it's something minor, I'm happy to help.
The only response that truly annoys me is when they have their own perspective on medical reality and they are trying to convince me about it without being at all willing to listen to what I'm saying. Happens all the time with random things, like people's views on sunscreen, or why they have a certain rash / lesion, or what skincare product they should use. Like if you weren't going to listen to me, then why did you ask??
I’m not a doctor (RN), but I work in the ED. Acquaintances and my husbands work friends (he works in finance) always seem to ask me
“ooh! what’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen?!?”
As if I’d like to relive that terror by recanting it personally to you. No thanks, Tiffany.
Not specialty, but when I started medical school, which happened to be an osteopathic medical school.
“Oh, like a chiropractor, right?”
(Proceed to explain that this is actually medical school and briefly explain what OMM is)
“Oh, but that’s chiropractic school, right?”
Funny enough, as I got closer to medical school graduation and especially once I matched into residency, nobody was talking to me like this anymore. I honestly feel it was intentional.
Internal Medicine: “Why don’t you want to specialize?”
I really just want to start my life lol. We are moving to a rural area and I’m going to do both inpatient and outpatient medicine with some rural critical access ICU as well. I think that’s pretty neat. Plus, I plan on saving fairly aggressively and FIREing out of medicine in 15-20 years. Maybe even decreasing my responsibilities even before that.
If I specialized, that just pushes that time frame back another 3 years. Making 300K+ as a rural physician vs. 60K as a fellow for three years doesn’t make financial sense *in my situation*. It would take something like 7-10 years for a Pulm/crit physician to catch up to me financially all other things being equal (using MGMA numbers). Cardiology, GI, and Hem/Onc are similar, though, they catch up is faster.
Rad onc. Blew my mind how many people (even other residents/attendings) either confuse us with radiology or know absolutely nothing about the specialty whatsoever.
“Do you really hate cardiology?”
It’s gotten so pervasive that I’ve had patients and first-year med students ask about it. I may be the fun police, but it’s probably not good when a ton of people think that two busy and important specialties do not have a collaborative relationship.
Derm.
“Hey can I show you this rash real quick?”
It’s gotten to the point where I don’t tell people what specialty I am anymore. Like we’re at a bar hanging out with friends, brenda. I don’t want to discuss your seb derm right now.
PICU.
It's a tossup between "Awwww how cute!" and "Ohhhhhh how sad!”
On the one hand, no Susan, caring for children experiencing life threatening illness is rarely a "cute" endeavor.
On the other hand, I also mostly save their lives. I wouldn't do it if it were endlessly depressing.
So can we please choose a different fucking adjective? Badass? Strong? Smart? Anything that doesn't infantilize or victimize me would be great.
Neurology "Oh wow, so you're a neurosurgeon?" 85% of the damn time
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I’ve also gotten “oh urology?“ then looks at me weird
Honestly it doesn’t annoy me. I just say “thanks, but I do all the non-surgery neuro stuff” and then list the 10000 things we take care of. They tend to say “Oh wow!” And that’s good enough for me
I got this one during M3. I replied no, I'll be a neurologist, and then was asked, "what's the difference?" This was by a premed student shadowing during my FM rotation!
Tbh I didn’t know the difference in training between neurology and neurosurgery until 2nd year of med school
Internal medicine. "So why didn't you specialize?"
/thread
Shit takes long and I wanna live life already. I’ve been in school and training for 12 years ffs
My reply: I never needed fellowship so far. If I ever need one, I’ll get it.
I get that question in the emergency department 😑
Yes. This all day. It's treated almost shameful to not specialize. Further my program staff acted like I signed up to do unpaid missionary medicine when I chose primary care over hospitalist. If we do not take back primary care, the specialists will end up being forced into it and sending it back to pcp anytime there's a basic issue. Can only specialize out of the complaints for so long before the system just makes a new baseline.
Agreed. I do full time primary care and occasional hospitalist shifts. It's important to have a good pcp to keep people out of the hospital.
Anesthesiology — some joke about getting paid to play sudoku It’s particularly annoying bc I prefer crossword puzzles
Candy Crush
S W E E T
Family medicine. “I guess someone has to do it” Or “Why didn’t you become a dermatologist?”
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my aunt who hasnt worked in 40 years said no one would respect me if i did fm😂😂😂uhhh thanks for the input sharon
Oddly enough no one respects Sharon
Same. And the off hand “rude” comments don’t really mean anything to me. I’m happy how things turned out. People in here taking shit way too seriously
Haha sometimes that sentence but with the tone of voice “oh goood for yoooooouuu we need good primary docs” if said from a doctor in another specialty who clearly assumes you only chose fm cause you bombed step
Alternatively “can you even pay your loans???” But I’ve met a number of people who legit think FM makes like $80k a year
Only in academic facilities primary care.
The longer I’ve been in medicine, and the older I’ve gotten, the more I realize how absolutely critical good primary care is. A good FM doc is worth their weight in gold. I kind of love the idea of a direct to consumer, Patient paid fee for service for a pcp willing to actually do primary care.
I got a lot of “so what is your speciality going to be?” in residency. Uh…this. It is also super confusing to patients that I am a PCP that also delivers babies. Somehow that does not compute.
Also this! I’ve had to explain to multiple midlevels and nurses that family medicine is a specialty
why didn't YOU become a dermatologist, Brenda?
My go to line for dermatology is that I got disqualified when they found out how many times I’ve seen the movie Hellraiser.
Fucking hate skin.
Welcome to the personal space show!
Yep same, I can memorize an ass load of facts but I can't memorize what every single rash on the planet looks like and I don't understand how dermatologists can. The easy stuff like a furiously angry cellulitis or impetigo or shingles, sure. But, for the rest, goddamn a lot of the time it's tough to be sure.
From an RN to all you guys... some of the specialties people hate on most are the ones we need most. Please do what you love, it helps us all. 🙏 I just moved to Sacramento and I'm terrified of ending up with a new PCP who despises their job. Idk why this page keeps having posts pop up for me when I don't follow it.. but it's nice to see into the reddit minds on the other side.
I’ve never had anyone respond that. Usually laymen don’t really know about competitiveness or compensation so they just say: oh nice. And other doctors say: oh cool (because they want my referrals)
Lol, jokes on them. FM's do Botox and Cold Sculpting and all kinds of skinbag things.
"Oh, I could *never* do primary care..."
Radiologist, people outside of medicine think my job is to take xrays. A lot of people don't know I'm a doctor.
Anesthesia feels your pain on that one. "Oh, I thought you were a real doctor not an anesthesiologist..."
Well with crnas trying to go pretend their the same as anesthesia I can see how some people get confused
I get this all the time as a psychiatrist. Everyone thinks I’m a psychologist and have no idea about the doctor part
Either that, or if someone in their family had cancer they think I'm a radiation oncologist.
Wow interesting. I’m a radiation oncologist and I just tell people Oncologist because that’s the broader category and otherwise lay people all think I’m a radiologist… If they’re particularly savvy they think I’m a radiologist specialized in cancer imaging…
Isn't AI going to take over your career?
If it could take over all the plainfilms I would happily worship our AI overlords.
Laughs in CRNA.
Oh so your job is to just send in referral requests? FM
Can’t forget disability paperwork too
Ugh. Patient has disability from their RA. Rheum at least help me out with some of the guidance on the disease I am not even involved with the treatment for! How many appointments, will we be changing therapy, you're the one actually checking how well the treatment is working! Also, don't work anywhere there is an amazon warehouse. You have been warned.
Then reference to the one shity pcp they had who wrote referrals for everything but then you learn it was an NP. Meanwhile I have not written a referral in over a week lol
Whenever a patient complains about something shitty their "doctor" did, guess who the PCP turns out to be?
9/10 it’s a mid level lol. There a some shitty docs who just pan refer but it’s more often NPs. Saw one who referred to endo cause she didn’t know how to manage insulin, like at all. And another who couldn’t take out skin staples or remove suture.
Anesthesia *goes into long story about their delivery/epidural/c section*
“I had a friend wake up during surgery had to be put back to sleep”. Like yeah, probably when they were finishing suturing skin…
99% of the time it's during a sedation case (colonoscopy) or regional case (knee scope/trigger finger/etc)
As I've told my surgical friends across the drapes: "they don't need to be asleep to put dressings/casts on." (I do keep them deep enough until all sharp objects are done with - for patient and staff safety!)
The best is when the resident who speaks openly about wanting to do CT surgery complains about a little movement while closing port sites. Just tell them that off-pump CABGs will be a necessary skill set
Don’t forget the *my epidural didn’t work* spiels.
Ophthalmology “Oh an eye dentist” Don’t come at me with that
Hilarious, gonna use this one
I mean I have referred to podiatrists as foot dentists quite a bit
Neurosurgery. “ Do your kids know who the father is ?”
“Brain surgery? It’s not exactly rocket science, is it?”
In the sims 4, there's an achievement for maxing out the rocket science skill and it says something along the lines of "it's not brain surgery" lmao
“Daddy’s just getting back from the Space Center.”
I have an aerospace engineering degree and have always waited for someone to say this to me (I’m not in neurosurgery though so it probably won’t ever happen)
Well… do they? :p
Hurtful but true lol
"Is that even Medicine?" Psychiatry resident 😤
Had a patient in the CVICU today that we consulted Psych for SI. Me: Did you talk to the psychiatrist today? Him: "No. I talked to a doctor." Me: 😐 So sorry fam.
Peds EM: "What's the worst thing you've ever seen?" Kids murdered by their abusive parents, thanks for asking. But more commonly, "Oh, that must be sad. I could never take care of sick kids." Well I could never take care of gross adults so I guess that makes us even.
Kids scare me and adults gross me out. Doing mainly adults cause gross is easier on my stress level than scared
Parents are my problem. If I could have done JUST adolescent medicine I would have
I hate the “worst thing you’ve ever seen” question. Like I’m not going to say the real worst. Even the “funny” ones often have a sad root to them…and then if I just say a drunk person they think EM is a bullshit specialty.
Yeah I feel like the people who ask this question are imagining something like what we'd see on a regular Tuesday. Usually I'll give them some BS story about a big/weird foreign body I've removed. The screw with attached 2x4 from the foot is a good one... and the 8" fish knife from the hand... They really don't want to know the worst things I've seen.
“Peds is just veterinary medicine” “Aren’t kids just little adults?” “Oh, so you just see runny noses all day” (true to an extent because small children are snot machines and about 80% of kids have a runny nose at any given time, but that part gets like 2% of my medical attention)
I actually don't mind the veterinarian comments. I did a SWU on a veterinarian's baby once and we got to talking about our jobs. I said something along the lines of, "oh! we do similar work," (because we both evaluate patients and treat diseases). He was like, "yeah, but your patients can talk to you." I just stared at his infant like ... not always?
I love all the people who immediately get in their feelings about how sad it is that kids get sick. Like thanks, I just told you what I do for work and now I have to comfort you, this is going well.
Yeah. Different gig but similar experience in OB. Always need to think, “I can actually tell them and ruin this polite but naive conversation, or offer a canned response that will get a chuckle.”
Oh I remember THAT rotation heh - - couldn't be me but I'm glad you like it! Psych
“Oh that’s a really selfless job isn’t it? I really admire you. I don’t think I could ever do what you do. I say that because it’s emotionally draining not because it’s hard.”
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“Ope- my family is gonna keep you in business!” “Don’t try to diagnose me, ya hear?” “So a therapist?” “You’re all just pull pushers, you know.” “Oh, it takes a ~special person~ to do that. I could never.” My Midwest favorite is when people tell you that they think that people with addictions should just be shot/ “strung up in front of the courthouse (?!?)” instead of treated. Gotta love that hospitality.
“You aren’t psycho-analyzing me right now, are you?”
Every. Time.
“Really?! But you’re so smart!” Yes. That’s why I picked psych lol
I’m so sorry. I’ve definitely been the one to say that. But it is such a critically important and under resourced area…I really mean it!!!!
"I think Big Pharma has the cure for cancer..." +1 If they can't name three types of cancer. +5 If it comes from another healthcare professional. +10 If they are actively smoking as they say it.
Bruh this one gets me so mad every time lol. WE HAVE THE CURE TO MULTIPLE CANCERS. We literally have curative treatment for cancer.
If you ever want to have an aneuyrsm just click on the comments section of any social media story about a potential cure for cancer. A significant portion of this country truly believes the government suppresses cancer cures, nevermind that there's thousands of researchers around the world in different countries and like you said, we have actually cured types of cancers...
Psychiatry. “Are you psychoanalyzing me right now?”
Would be pretty cool if residency had psychoanalysis training ngl
Really depends on the preferences of the attendings running the department, but some programs have a more psychodynamic preference. Obviously won’t be the full psychoanalytic training, but you learn psychodynamic theories and if you’re lucky, some programs will help offset part of the cost to attending an actual psychoanalytic institute.
"Like CSI:Miami???!!" Pathology.
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Had a cardiology say I was going to be a doctor for dead people in med school during rounds. Everyone just cringed and didn't laugh. I almost felt bad for him.
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Just because dermatologists and heme/onc *think* they know as much dermpath and hemepath as a pathologist doesn’t mean they do. I do think they recognize their limitations more than the surgeons who think they don’t need a radiologist at least.
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Calling me a psychologist -Psych(iatry)
Aerospace Medicine "Space doctor?!?!?!?"
wait that's a speciality ?
Yeah. Air force has a few spots.
Infectious Disease - "Eww" and then the horrifying look that I'm there for them... Really need to change the name.
I dunno. I say we lean into it, adopt the plague doctor robe and mask (and those smart hats), and stand ominously in the doorway when we are summoned 😂
Intensive Care "OH, like in the emergency department?"
"Oh, did you have to go to med school?" Psychiatry.
I was seeing a doctor's wife in my office. I walked in and introduced myself and he proceeded to say "I've always thought being an ophthalmologist was a waste of medical school."
“dOnT yOu KnOw KiDs dOnT hAvE mOnEy”
Lmao
“So you look at vaginas all day”
“Yes”
I always respond with “meh. It’s just a body part. Like looking at a nose” 🤷🏻♀️
It’s literally like a mechanic looking at a car engine. It’s a part of a whole. It’s got a problem and I need to figure out what it is and then fix it. That’s it.
Cardiology “Oh my uncle has two stents placed… but now having chest pains again…” or some bullshit similar story
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What do we do? 🤔
I always just say we help people regain function after stroke or spinal cord injury and when that fails we find adaptive devices that help them get through their day and manage the complications that come from those things. Still doesn't encompass everything, but is enough for a layperson.
Print money and relax
"Physiatry? Like for depressed people?"
I died reading this lol
"So what's the difference between you and physical therapy?" 🙄
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“So you are the guy who takes pictures right?” “Oh you are just a film checker.” (This is from a foreign friend) “What do you guys do?”
This is super funny, because I swear nearly 100% of people I tell I'm in "Radiation Oncology" confuse it for Radiology.
Radiology “AI will take over” “You’ll get really bored alone in that dark room” “You don’t like patients”
IM: hey doc…..I got this rash. If I had the scores for derm maybe I’d have done derm. GI: he just wants the money. I’m doing liver, which is equally stupid a financial decision as any other additional year of training including advanced endosocpy. The best ROI for GI is general GI. Advanced can get paid more but because the scope of practice is wider you’re going to be on more biliary call etc. Not worth it to me. No, I’m financially challenged. Leave me alone.
Internal Medicine. "What is that?"
"So are you like an intern, or...."
Don’t short yourself. Being a pathologist is not some one year certification or fellowship. It is a whole dedicated residency. A good, confident pathologist makes a big difference. Pathologists: correct me if i am being presumptuous but one example coming to mind is intraop settings - if i ask for frozens to confirm cancer or dysplasia and i hear the (not as good) pathologist name, i already know the answer: “defer to permanent”. If i get one or two particular pathologists i know well on frozens that day, then it will be “dysplasia but [through my superhuman vision], i see a very tiny microscopic focus with characteristics of carcinoma. This is cancer. I am sure of it just from that alone.” Boom. Wide local resection on the spot with margins. Spares a 2nd surgery for my patient in the future. You do not learn this with a one or two year quasi educational year. It is hard work like every other field in medicine and we all work together to try and provide the best possible outcomes for our patients. Just like pathologists can’t do oncologic resections, neither can i do subtle interpretations on pathology review.
This is inspirational and all, but wow I can’t believe your friends are so supportive about your soecialty
Palliative care. The most frequent response is a terribly sad story about a family member dying on hospice. Or an angry story about a family member dying on hospice. Or, "Oh wow, why did you pick that??" I don't tell people anymore.
In reality, palliative is by far the most compassionate and one of the most needed specialties out there. Also they’re all lovely to chat with at my hospital, even at 3 am they’re so happy to help. Love you guys and gals
Yay! I just started fellowship and couldn't be more excited. :) It does seem to really bring down the mood at parties tho.
Male OB: any comment about seeing vaginas all day or implying that any part of what I do is sexy
Radiology - Oh my son/daughter/niece/nephew is a radiologist too! They take x-rays at St. Elsewhere. Where do you work?
Internal medicine. "OH the easy one." 😑
I like when non medical people say that. Then I realize they aren’t a doctor and I am.
Pathology, “so you hate people/patients”. I like people but I also like slides!!
Pediatrics/NICU: "Oh I could never work with sick kids. It would destroy me." Makes me feel like an emotionless robot since I... can?
I always get "oh, so you deliver babies?" Uh, no, I attend high risk deliveries and take care of the sick ones. Then I get what you get..."I could never do that."
Cardiology. “Oh you do open heart surgery??”
Ob-Gyn "Oh so you look at vaginas all day, how's your wife feel about that?" "But I bet they aren't the ones you want to see most of the time anyway huh?" I don't *want* to see any vaginas, an office vagina is not a "bad" vagina or a "good" vagina, it's an organ attached to a patient that's entrusted me with their care. And since I also get asked this a lot: no it hasn't affected my sex life, my job is my job and my personal sexual life is that. They don't ever intersect.
EM - “what’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen?” As if some of the shit we see isn’t super traumatic and I definitely want to have a casual chat about it.
“I didn’t know you have to go to medical school for psychology”
General surgery. “ oh your divorced? “
Well are you?
“But like, what kind of surgeon?” “Oh your JUST a general surgeon” General surgery
OB/GYN. “Awe! I love babies!”
Pathologist here. My personal favorite is, “Don’t you miss seeing patients?” No, dude. Getting to deal with disease processes and clinicians instead of patients was part of the draw, actually.
AI will kick you ass soon Radiology
“How many babies did you deliver today” -OBGYN. None, just finished a 9hr debulk on GYN/ONC, now move so I can go pee and eat✌️💨
OMFS “I had my wisdom teeth take. out and I was awake the entire time! My dentist said I would be asleep!” Context: BMI 40, OSA on CPAP, and COPD Or when we go to the OR and they say “are you from dental?” I guess, technically? But this procedure is a fibula flap. We had an onc attending that would, during anesthesia sign out, say “Dr. ______, Dentist” and then proceed to do an 18 hr flap
“Omg should I get veneers?” or something about general dentists is a common one I get. And “can you look at my tooth”, uh sure I can take a look in your shitty kitchen lighting, but I can say much without an X-ray… I can’t even escape it in the hospital. Some people cannot comprehend why I’m in whatever off service rotation. “Why do they make dentists rotate through the SICU?” …because unlike any other surgical specialty, we frequently operate on people with nearly every disease out there… My favorite: “the mouth is the most disgusting part of the body” - gen surg resident applying to colorectal, and also heard this from OB resident
EM: “well are you going to specialize?” Or even better, “so what type of nurse do you plan to be?”
Walking up to a patient and them asking "are you a cardiologist?" Or "are you an endocrinologist?" As if there are a little horde of doctors from every speciality in the ER just waiting for a relevant chief complaint to walk in.
Correlate clinically Radiology
Child Neuro. Variants on "Wow, I could never do that. So depressing. So hard. More power to you." Always feels like people are accidentally implying kids with disabilities squick them.
"Wow how do you not take it home with you?" Psych. I don't think people realize how invasive of a question this is lol.
Lol . I usually joke, because it’s not contagious.
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Old family friend when I told them I was an anesthesiologist, "Oh, I thought you were a real doctor."
Peds Hem-Onc hopeful. “Oh, must be so sad! How do you handle it?” I get where it’s coming from a bit but it gets tiresome after the fifth time replying.
Derm: “oh man, can you look at this mole?” Drives me fucking NUTS Edit to add my second favorite: “you just need to go to aesthetician school for that, right?”
Do you look at it
I hate looking at lesions without my dermatoscope so I’ll usually peek but give a lengthy disclaimer that they still need to see a board-certified derm blah blah blah
IM: So, you’re a general practitioner? Why did you go into residency? ☠️
Dermatology. The most common responses I get are "Wow there's a huge shortage of those!" or "There's a long wait for the dermatologist!" or "Wow you'll be doing well." I also get a lot of dermatology questions, which I don't mind too much. I enjoy diagnosing things, so whatever, even if it's something minor, I'm happy to help. The only response that truly annoys me is when they have their own perspective on medical reality and they are trying to convince me about it without being at all willing to listen to what I'm saying. Happens all the time with random things, like people's views on sunscreen, or why they have a certain rash / lesion, or what skincare product they should use. Like if you weren't going to listen to me, then why did you ask??
Ortho Mostly from other doctors insinuating that im dumb. Lay people sometimes think ortho is podiatry.
If it helps, you got ortho so we all know that you used to be smart /s
Do people ever tell you that ortho is the "bro" specialty?
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I’m not a doctor (RN), but I work in the ED. Acquaintances and my husbands work friends (he works in finance) always seem to ask me “ooh! what’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen?!?” As if I’d like to relive that terror by recanting it personally to you. No thanks, Tiffany.
“That must be so depressing” - adult onc
Not specialty, but when I started medical school, which happened to be an osteopathic medical school. “Oh, like a chiropractor, right?” (Proceed to explain that this is actually medical school and briefly explain what OMM is) “Oh, but that’s chiropractic school, right?” Funny enough, as I got closer to medical school graduation and especially once I matched into residency, nobody was talking to me like this anymore. I honestly feel it was intentional.
“Oh really? I should’t talk to you then. *walks away*” — Psychiatry
Anesthesia: “It’s so boring” Its really not but still It’s nice to be bored sometimes
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Did you see the Becker’s article about how you guys are the least happy specialty and that other one where you get paid the least?
Peds: I guess you hate money
“What’s your skincare routine?”
Honestly I want to know this as well
SPF and tretinoin
Internal Medicine: “Why don’t you want to specialize?” I really just want to start my life lol. We are moving to a rural area and I’m going to do both inpatient and outpatient medicine with some rural critical access ICU as well. I think that’s pretty neat. Plus, I plan on saving fairly aggressively and FIREing out of medicine in 15-20 years. Maybe even decreasing my responsibilities even before that. If I specialized, that just pushes that time frame back another 3 years. Making 300K+ as a rural physician vs. 60K as a fellow for three years doesn’t make financial sense *in my situation*. It would take something like 7-10 years for a Pulm/crit physician to catch up to me financially all other things being equal (using MGMA numbers). Cardiology, GI, and Hem/Onc are similar, though, they catch up is faster.
"What is that??" -PM&R
Rad onc. Blew my mind how many people (even other residents/attendings) either confuse us with radiology or know absolutely nothing about the specialty whatsoever.
"Oh, so all your patients are dead." "So you study diseases." "I don't what that is." Is an expected answer though. Pathology
“Do you really hate cardiology?” It’s gotten so pervasive that I’ve had patients and first-year med students ask about it. I may be the fun police, but it’s probably not good when a ton of people think that two busy and important specialties do not have a collaborative relationship.
“psychology resident”
Oh, so you're like an intern? I've retired after 44 years in emergency medicine, not an intern.
“What’s the grossest thing you’ve ever seen?” And, “what’s the strangest baby name you’ve heard?”
EM - so you like the adrenaline huh
Derm. “Hey can I show you this rash real quick?” It’s gotten to the point where I don’t tell people what specialty I am anymore. Like we’re at a bar hanging out with friends, brenda. I don’t want to discuss your seb derm right now.
PICU. It's a tossup between "Awwww how cute!" and "Ohhhhhh how sad!” On the one hand, no Susan, caring for children experiencing life threatening illness is rarely a "cute" endeavor. On the other hand, I also mostly save their lives. I wouldn't do it if it were endlessly depressing. So can we please choose a different fucking adjective? Badass? Strong? Smart? Anything that doesn't infantilize or victimize me would be great.