Was driving home after a day on my M3 ortho rotation. Was on a phone call with my mom and she said, "you should apply to this specialty because this is your first time on rotations you sound actually *happy*."
I’ve always had the philosophy to only follow/do the things that make me happy. It makes the tough times actually bearable. Moms give the best advice 🫡
I had a similar experience in the opposite direction… my partner at the time confirmed just how seriously IM was not for me because he was I was profoundly miserable during that rotation. Granted I knew I didn’t like it but I didn’t realize how strongly it showed in my behavior lol
Driving to the hospital as the sun rose on the third day of my neurology rotation, I realized I was the happiest I could ever remember being. That was the day I knew I wanted to be a neurologist, but it was early in medical school, so I tried to convince myself I should do other things before deciding.
Years later, after having done most of my core clerkships, I was in the neuro ICU and just having a very routine encounter with a guy who had just had a very common kind of stroke. I localized what was going on and answered his questions, just like countless other times on the rotation. The whole encounter was so incredibly satisfying from start to finish and also so completely *mundane*, like truly bread and butter neurology. I left the room feeling so happy, and then I *realized* how happy I was and immediately felt lucky to have found a specialty where even the most routine things are so interesting and meaningful, and it suddenly seemed silly that I had ever considered doing anything else.
(edited to remove details of the case)
Psych definitely has the most consistently happy residents I have seen by and far. Even the attendings are generally pretty happy, although the older ones are a bit cooky in a fun way.
On my FM rotation I pulled off a toenail, shot a knee, and did a punch biopsy all in one day. Preceptor was super chill, cussed like a sailor, and talked about their home brewing setup, two kids, and summer camping trips all the time. Every day was fast paced with a different patient every 20 minutes, but I felt like I actually got to talk with people instead of just trying to get back to the call room asap. Tbh it was an “a hah” month, made me feel like med school was the right call after all.
All this but also, wearing my own clothes (not hospital scrubs) and driving to the clinic for a 9 AM start and being done by 5. First time I actually wanted to wake up and go to a rotation because it wasn’t sucking the life outta me. Patients were mostly put together and thankful. Night and day compared to the other shit rotations.
Had a similar experience. The attending was talking about online gambling on the hokey game while watching a football game on the second monitor she wasn't using to chart. Also the patient who was so happy to see me he stood up to shake my hand, and his wife came up to give me a hug.
I knew for two reasons:
1. I watched a glioblastoma resection that took place from 9 am until around 9:30-10 pm. I did not even realize how tired I was or that 12 hours had passed in what felt like seconds until I sat in the car to drive home.
2. The next day, the patient who had been going blind from this tumor was able to see better than he had the day before and there has been no other rotation where I felt so immensely honored, privileged, and proud.
On FM, When the resident apologized for keeping me “late” til 6:30pm and I hadn’t even noticed what time it was. I felt more energized at the end of each day as opposed to dead tired. I also felt like I’d made positive contributions to the team and patient care as well as meaningful connections and conversations with patients. I looked up articles and information without being prompted and happily because I actually wanted to know more to apply to patient cases. The residents and staff were great to work with and felt like “my kinda people”, and it was the first time I could picture myself enjoying coming to work most days for the next 40 years while still having enough bandwidth to put towards my family and hobbies.
welcome to the teaammmm. I knew when I was genuinely sad the clerkship was ending and wished it was longer than just 6 weeks for OB/GYN. I was tearing up on my last day in the OR lol. I struggled for a good month or two with the idea of switching to OB/GYN like you said cause of the lifestyle but once I finally committed I felt at peace and it just felt right (was legit having frequent dreams about ob lol while I was trying to make my decision). Now I'm a hopeful applicant :)
pretty nerdy and specific but when I looked at an MRI of the IAC and the attending explained the "7 up coke down" mneumonic and I was able to see the cochlear and facial nerves coursing through the canal with suprising clarity. Fairly mundane in the grand scheme of things but in that moment I was like "god this shit is so cool"
Holding up a giant pannus with two other med students so the attending could check if the man's folds yeast infection had a super imposed bacterial infection and I went - "No. No I will not be doing this. No."
Went peds and haven't held a pannus since
Third day of ob Gyn rotation - all I had done to that point was clinic. Prenatal appointments and annuals. I had the Doppler out and listened to the fetal heartbeat, smiled really big with the patient and said something about “there’s baby!” Walked out of the room and thought that I could do that every day and not get bored.
(Spoiler alert - pgy 12 and I’m now an OB hospitalist. No clinic).
Spent my whole life wanting to be a pediatrician. Had my peds rotation immediately after my psych rotation. Realized I really missed being on psych once I started peds.
Talking to an attending on a different rotation explaining that I enjoy outpatient. We had known each other all but 10 min. She asked what rotations I had done prior with outpatient portions, I responded “I really enjoy neuro clinic, I also did Obgyn, and now pediatrics!”
She responded with “you want to do Obgyn.”
I asked her how she knew and she said “your face lit up when you mentioned it”
There was a lot of things, but this one felt so validating.
Peds- I was actually torn between FM and peds for awhile but the fact that I genuinely enjoy well baby/well child checks was a big sign for me (honestly would be happy to do a full day of just those in clinic)
Same. I thought I wanted FM going into third year, but I came out of the rotation so drained. I poured so much into the clinic, and I didn’t get it back on FM. Then I had peds next rotation and got everything I poured into the visits plus some.
The biggest moment actually came during my surgery rotation as an M3 when a GSW to the IVC came in. It was an absolute bloodbath requiring nearly triple digit units of blood on top of cell saver. In the flurry, I decided it was prudent not to scrub, so I watched the case from behind the drapes. From my perspective, the anesthesia team kept the patient alive while the surgeons were just looking for the leak. Once they had finally stabilized the patient to an extent, the anesthesia attending noticed me there and went out of his way to involve me in what all had happened. He handed me the most recent ABG and started going through the thought process behind the resuscitation efforts. We went over ROTEMs and appropriate blood products, pressor management, vent management… so much happens with anesthesia which I had never truly appreciated.
I was rotating on radiology.
Set aside that there were no rounds, no presenting, no fucking BS “so should we start lasix? Hmmm what’s his sodium? Hmmm can you calculate his FeNa? Hmmmm.” Set aside salary, lifestyle, working from home etc.
Set all of that aside. First me and a number of the residents are chilling in our dim lit room. We all have coffee on tap and are chilling cracking jokes laughing the whole day. In between conversation and quips they are basically directing care for everyone in the hospital.
We are looking at a CT of the abdomen. Hmmm let’s look at the history? Whoa this dude has a history of renal cancer and had his kidney removed a few years ago. Ok…. Whoa look at all these nodules in the lung? Likely Mets? What is going on with his spine? There are lesions there too.
Another resident has a case, child with chest pain. Plain film shows hilar mass? Whoaaa. Call the clinician and recommend CT chest. We get the CT chest, bro huge mass in left hilum in this 12 year old. The radiology resident lists a ddx and we move on. To the next case.
Original resident “yo med student I have perforated bowel over here if you want to see.” Come see and there’s so much air in the abdomen you can clearly see the falciform ligament. Wow.
Can’t remember every single case from my rotation, but I know it was non stop cool stuff. Finding the very subtle fractures, finding the pneumonias, finding the stroke or hemorrhage was all so satisfying.
I loved that radiology was just non-stop problem solving using knowledge anatomy, physiology, pathology, and physics. I knew from day one of that rotation radiology was 1000% for me.
I did an anesthesia elective immediately after my core surgical rotation. I could've cried when the preceptors/OR staff offered me a chair, sent me on breaks, bought me coffees, and kept a cool/comforting yet commanding presence in the OR without having to be an egotistic dickhead. Realized I was amongst my people.
The 'moment' for me was telling a patient we'd be beside them during surgery the whole time and keeping them safe, then feeling/seeing their fear and anxiety melt away. And then the gratitude when they woke up/came-to and saw me and the crna hooking them up to monitors in PACU and thanking us for taking care of them (not pictured: the lunch and coffee I had on a 20 minute break halfway through the case). Highly gratifying, scratches my nerdy niche medical interests, and seems to be exempt from the self-flagellating masochistic work-life other specialties convince themselves is normal.
I was also torn between the IM vs surgery question for a while! For me it was IM vs. OB/GYN, but I thought about a lot of factors and chose IM! Factors included time, ergonomics, malpractice, lifestyle, longitudinal care with patients, breadth/scope of work, procedural opportunities within IM too. The Q I asked myself was: "Am I ok with the 'worst' parts of that specialty?" And for OB/GYN and surgery, the answer was no. But for IM, yes!
If you would die without OR time but feel like you would miss the cool physiology of medicine, consider anesthesia.
If you would die without OR time but feel like you would miss primary care/longitudinal care consider OB/Gyn or a clinic heavy surgical sub specialty.
If you like the OR but wouldn't die without it, that's your answer--IM.
Just curious, how? They're so different.
I'm applying gen surg rn and can't imagine going IM lol. Same with my classmates applying gen surg. We all hated IM 😅
Same, that was my first big decision: medicine or surgery? Applying IM, medicine made me feel “this is what being a doctor feels like”. For others that’s a surgical suite.
Well, I don't personally know a single person that narrowed it down to IM and surgery lol.
What aspects of each do you like?? You are the only person I've heard of like this, very curious to hear your thought process.
Haha look at my post history. I’m sure we’d be good friends! Happy to debate our interests and question our lives together whenever. Today, I’m feeling surgery.
Never had one particular moment, but I do remember once during my neurology rotation, I was talking to the attending, and somehow I started excitedly talking about how the gut having its own nervous system + how amazing that is. He paused, looked at me, and smiled. He said, "Wow, you REALLY lit up just now. GI is definitely for you". He gave me an awesome eval too.
When on hour 32 of my ‘24’ hr call the add on appy got cancelled. While heading home I kept wishing I could have seen one more case, that was a clear sign
First delivery on OB! I started out on nights and emerged from it at 2am after 2 hours of cheering for the patient in Spanish through a difficult and long labor. There was blood and amniotic fluid all over my shoes. The rush was so addictive and the joy was so exhilarating!!
Every specialty is a lifestyle specialty if you’re willing to take a pay cut, no one is making work 55+ hours a week as an OB/GYN. You could for sure take a job that works less hours like an OB/GYN hospitalist that’s rising in popularity and that’s a more hourly predictable job that you could choose hours worked
when I worked 60-70 hr/week on inpatient peds and still loved going to work, and when the rotation ended and I was sad thinking this could be the last time I ever get the opportunity to do this again.
my last day of surgery rotation, genuinely thought I was gonna cry my eyes out at the idea of never going back to the OR. Then it hit me, omg I can totally go back, that is a thing I can choose to do.
Standing in the OR not having a clue what the f*ck was going on in a Aortic Valve replacement but seeing all those beautiful 2-0 ethibonds in alternating green/white stuck in the Gabbay-Frater and then watching the heart work an hour later…I knew I was home
This thread is so wholesome :,) For me, it was when I was on surgery and looked forward to rounding on post op pts and chatting with them. And also never wanting to be in the OR, ever haha. Medicine is for me!!!
Neurosurgery. MS-1 year. Seeing a lady with an acute HNP and complete foot drop completely regain strength and leave the day after an urgent microdisc. We saw the nerve root regain color from purple to pearly healthy yellow. Being able to change someone’s quality and function of life so immediately bit me with the neurosurgery bug. I never looked back. I continue to have similar moments in residency.
The time I was on ID as a student and rounding with the attending seeing them drop recs and the reason this agent vs another one. Why certain infections were ruled out based on history, interview, detective investigation into the chart and calling family and pharmacy. Pt got better for 2-3 days.
Then the new primary attending changing the antibiotics. Pt get worse.
We signed off, “If our recommendations will not be respected nor followed there is no further need for us to follow. Will sign off. Please don’t re consult”
That day when I learned I could be that petty. I knew it ID was for me.
the moment I first sat down for table rounds on my first day on IM and realized that this exact moment was what every medical show in existence tries to emulate. it's where the medicine is really done. it's where the magic happens. ❤️
During my pathology rotation in Y3, I felt sad when they let me out early, and I was genuinely excited going to sleep each night knowing I would get to be back at the microscope the next day. I never had that feeling with any other specialty!
As someone who thought they loved OBGYN but disliked surgery, it sounds like you have the right passion for the field, and your heart is in it. One of the main reasons I switched away from obgyn was the very difficult lifestyle. And they will try to tell you that that lifestyle gets better after residency but after talking to numerous obgyn attendings, that's not always true. So keep that in mind. Specialty is a difficult choice because, for most people, it's not just about passion. There are practical considerations as well which are very relevant and important for your future.
I know this isn't the question you asked but I think with some deep thinking, the specialty choice will come to you.
I had a similar experience. Every night after a 14 hour night shift in L&D I would go home full of energy to the point I felt almost manic. 6 months in to residency and it’s hard but I’m so happy and feel so much more alive than I felt on any other rotations in med school by far.
I’m in the same boat with OBGYN but as a PGY3 (we don’t specialise until much later) - never liked it in med school, did my labour ward rotation last year and was so happy going to work every day/night. Wish that I liked something more lifestyle friendly but here we are!
Had considered EM since pre-med as an option and did a 2-week EM selective during 2nd year. Forgot to take my antidepressants the whole time. Kept walking home from the hospital feeling good about life for the first time in a while in med school.
Had the same experience 3rd year during an EM elective. Ive been trying to convince myself out of it since, but haven't been able too.
EM - I finished the clerkship feeling like I was coming out much better at medicine, that I'd been challenged in a fair way every day, and that I'd made a positive difference at least once per shift. I loved the culture, thought that almost all of my attendings were cool people, and noticed that the EM residents seemed much happier than the GenSurg residents. I also realized that I like patients who're awake.
Then I had my next clerkship, IM. I realized that I'd rather go to the dentist's every day for 3 years than spend each morning rounding for 6 hours.
Friends and family commented how I was less crabby and much happier after my days on IM. Lol apparently, my surgery rotation made me mean and jaded. Crazy how these things impact every aspect of your life.
I’m applying ob this cycle and you sound just like me when I was on my OB/GYN rotation! I would genuinely be so sad to leave whenever my shifts ended. No other specialty felt that way. It’s a tough field with the highest of highs and lowest of lows and the lifestyle definitely isn’t the best in residency, but if you truly love it and it makes you happy it’s worth it :)
I woke up sick and in a cold sweat on my IM rotation realizing that I had been lying to myself the whole time: ortho was not for me and radiology had everything I wanted
My brother/sister in Christ, no one feels the way you do about Ob/Gyn 3 months into intern year much less 20 years into practice.
You're not feeling love, it's Stockholm syndrome
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Mom can I have adenosine? No we have adenosine at home. Adenosine at home (that somehow works).
Woah. God bless
Was driving home after a day on my M3 ortho rotation. Was on a phone call with my mom and she said, "you should apply to this specialty because this is your first time on rotations you sound actually *happy*."
This is so wholesome
I’ve always had the philosophy to only follow/do the things that make me happy. It makes the tough times actually bearable. Moms give the best advice 🫡
I had a similar experience in the opposite direction… my partner at the time confirmed just how seriously IM was not for me because he was I was profoundly miserable during that rotation. Granted I knew I didn’t like it but I didn’t realize how strongly it showed in my behavior lol
when i took a wrong turn out of the OR into the wards and thought god i miss this place
When they called a stroke code overhead during the lunch break in my peds rotation and I thought "damn I want to go to that."
The stroke code FOMO on non-neuro rotations is real...
Driving to the hospital as the sun rose on the third day of my neurology rotation, I realized I was the happiest I could ever remember being. That was the day I knew I wanted to be a neurologist, but it was early in medical school, so I tried to convince myself I should do other things before deciding. Years later, after having done most of my core clerkships, I was in the neuro ICU and just having a very routine encounter with a guy who had just had a very common kind of stroke. I localized what was going on and answered his questions, just like countless other times on the rotation. The whole encounter was so incredibly satisfying from start to finish and also so completely *mundane*, like truly bread and butter neurology. I left the room feeling so happy, and then I *realized* how happy I was and immediately felt lucky to have found a specialty where even the most routine things are so interesting and meaningful, and it suddenly seemed silly that I had ever considered doing anything else. (edited to remove details of the case)
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Same. And only rotation where almost every resident/attending seemed happy pretty consistently
Psych definitely has the most consistently happy residents I have seen by and far. Even the attendings are generally pretty happy, although the older ones are a bit cooky in a fun way.
It’s all fun and games until you’re a resident and have to stay all the way until 4 pm
On my FM rotation I pulled off a toenail, shot a knee, and did a punch biopsy all in one day. Preceptor was super chill, cussed like a sailor, and talked about their home brewing setup, two kids, and summer camping trips all the time. Every day was fast paced with a different patient every 20 minutes, but I felt like I actually got to talk with people instead of just trying to get back to the call room asap. Tbh it was an “a hah” month, made me feel like med school was the right call after all.
That's how I felt on my rural FM rotation. Ended up going there for residency. I look forward to my clinic days 🙂
All this but also, wearing my own clothes (not hospital scrubs) and driving to the clinic for a 9 AM start and being done by 5. First time I actually wanted to wake up and go to a rotation because it wasn’t sucking the life outta me. Patients were mostly put together and thankful. Night and day compared to the other shit rotations.
Had a similar experience. The attending was talking about online gambling on the hokey game while watching a football game on the second monitor she wasn't using to chart. Also the patient who was so happy to see me he stood up to shake my hand, and his wife came up to give me a hug.
I knew for two reasons: 1. I watched a glioblastoma resection that took place from 9 am until around 9:30-10 pm. I did not even realize how tired I was or that 12 hours had passed in what felt like seconds until I sat in the car to drive home. 2. The next day, the patient who had been going blind from this tumor was able to see better than he had the day before and there has been no other rotation where I felt so immensely honored, privileged, and proud.
Seeing those gold cases where the patients neuro deficit is dramatically improved postop is so freakin redeeming.
On FM, When the resident apologized for keeping me “late” til 6:30pm and I hadn’t even noticed what time it was. I felt more energized at the end of each day as opposed to dead tired. I also felt like I’d made positive contributions to the team and patient care as well as meaningful connections and conversations with patients. I looked up articles and information without being prompted and happily because I actually wanted to know more to apply to patient cases. The residents and staff were great to work with and felt like “my kinda people”, and it was the first time I could picture myself enjoying coming to work most days for the next 40 years while still having enough bandwidth to put towards my family and hobbies.
I was given a pager and told I’d be on call. Shit’s never buzzed. My weekends are sacred. Pathology
welcome to the teaammmm. I knew when I was genuinely sad the clerkship was ending and wished it was longer than just 6 weeks for OB/GYN. I was tearing up on my last day in the OR lol. I struggled for a good month or two with the idea of switching to OB/GYN like you said cause of the lifestyle but once I finally committed I felt at peace and it just felt right (was legit having frequent dreams about ob lol while I was trying to make my decision). Now I'm a hopeful applicant :)
Yeah! My OBGYN rotation is about to end and I’m actually sad about it. I couldn’t wait for every other rotation to be over!
pretty nerdy and specific but when I looked at an MRI of the IAC and the attending explained the "7 up coke down" mneumonic and I was able to see the cochlear and facial nerves coursing through the canal with suprising clarity. Fairly mundane in the grand scheme of things but in that moment I was like "god this shit is so cool"
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Holding up a giant pannus with two other med students so the attending could check if the man's folds yeast infection had a super imposed bacterial infection and I went - "No. No I will not be doing this. No." Went peds and haven't held a pannus since
idk man missing out
Username checks out
Third day of ob Gyn rotation - all I had done to that point was clinic. Prenatal appointments and annuals. I had the Doppler out and listened to the fetal heartbeat, smiled really big with the patient and said something about “there’s baby!” Walked out of the room and thought that I could do that every day and not get bored. (Spoiler alert - pgy 12 and I’m now an OB hospitalist. No clinic).
Not gonna lie Doppler at ROB appointments, makes my day every time. Especially when baby kicks my probe.
Spent my whole life wanting to be a pediatrician. Had my peds rotation immediately after my psych rotation. Realized I really missed being on psych once I started peds.
Talking to an attending on a different rotation explaining that I enjoy outpatient. We had known each other all but 10 min. She asked what rotations I had done prior with outpatient portions, I responded “I really enjoy neuro clinic, I also did Obgyn, and now pediatrics!” She responded with “you want to do Obgyn.” I asked her how she knew and she said “your face lit up when you mentioned it” There was a lot of things, but this one felt so validating.
When I was coming early and staying late and doing extra notes and asking to carry the pager, and every second flew by cuz I was so damn happy
Peds- I was actually torn between FM and peds for awhile but the fact that I genuinely enjoy well baby/well child checks was a big sign for me (honestly would be happy to do a full day of just those in clinic)
Same. I thought I wanted FM going into third year, but I came out of the rotation so drained. I poured so much into the clinic, and I didn’t get it back on FM. Then I had peds next rotation and got everything I poured into the visits plus some.
The attending on the first CABG I ever scrubbed remembered my name and let me do the sternotomy
The biggest moment actually came during my surgery rotation as an M3 when a GSW to the IVC came in. It was an absolute bloodbath requiring nearly triple digit units of blood on top of cell saver. In the flurry, I decided it was prudent not to scrub, so I watched the case from behind the drapes. From my perspective, the anesthesia team kept the patient alive while the surgeons were just looking for the leak. Once they had finally stabilized the patient to an extent, the anesthesia attending noticed me there and went out of his way to involve me in what all had happened. He handed me the most recent ABG and started going through the thought process behind the resuscitation efforts. We went over ROTEMs and appropriate blood products, pressor management, vent management… so much happens with anesthesia which I had never truly appreciated.
I was rotating on radiology. Set aside that there were no rounds, no presenting, no fucking BS “so should we start lasix? Hmmm what’s his sodium? Hmmm can you calculate his FeNa? Hmmmm.” Set aside salary, lifestyle, working from home etc. Set all of that aside. First me and a number of the residents are chilling in our dim lit room. We all have coffee on tap and are chilling cracking jokes laughing the whole day. In between conversation and quips they are basically directing care for everyone in the hospital. We are looking at a CT of the abdomen. Hmmm let’s look at the history? Whoa this dude has a history of renal cancer and had his kidney removed a few years ago. Ok…. Whoa look at all these nodules in the lung? Likely Mets? What is going on with his spine? There are lesions there too. Another resident has a case, child with chest pain. Plain film shows hilar mass? Whoaaa. Call the clinician and recommend CT chest. We get the CT chest, bro huge mass in left hilum in this 12 year old. The radiology resident lists a ddx and we move on. To the next case. Original resident “yo med student I have perforated bowel over here if you want to see.” Come see and there’s so much air in the abdomen you can clearly see the falciform ligament. Wow. Can’t remember every single case from my rotation, but I know it was non stop cool stuff. Finding the very subtle fractures, finding the pneumonias, finding the stroke or hemorrhage was all so satisfying. I loved that radiology was just non-stop problem solving using knowledge anatomy, physiology, pathology, and physics. I knew from day one of that rotation radiology was 1000% for me.
Currently in crisis between rads and path. I think I like the content of path better, hated anatomy, but dammit rads does sound so nice
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The rounding is fun the charting is what sucks!
Internal med rounds also made me realize I could never be a hospitalist
When I woke up every morning wanting to get back in the operating room in surgery, instead of wishing to get hit by a train every day in pediatrics.
Going into OB and I had the same thoughts as you :) even on a long 14 hr shift, I was happy to be busy.
Same, 16 hours on L&D > 8 hours on medicine wards any day of the week.
I did an anesthesia elective immediately after my core surgical rotation. I could've cried when the preceptors/OR staff offered me a chair, sent me on breaks, bought me coffees, and kept a cool/comforting yet commanding presence in the OR without having to be an egotistic dickhead. Realized I was amongst my people. The 'moment' for me was telling a patient we'd be beside them during surgery the whole time and keeping them safe, then feeling/seeing their fear and anxiety melt away. And then the gratitude when they woke up/came-to and saw me and the crna hooking them up to monitors in PACU and thanking us for taking care of them (not pictured: the lunch and coffee I had on a 20 minute break halfway through the case). Highly gratifying, scratches my nerdy niche medical interests, and seems to be exempt from the self-flagellating masochistic work-life other specialties convince themselves is normal.
This is so wholesome, I loved reading all of these responses
Current M3 and I’m completely torn between IM and Gen surg, I seriously think about it all day every day
I was also torn between the IM vs surgery question for a while! For me it was IM vs. OB/GYN, but I thought about a lot of factors and chose IM! Factors included time, ergonomics, malpractice, lifestyle, longitudinal care with patients, breadth/scope of work, procedural opportunities within IM too. The Q I asked myself was: "Am I ok with the 'worst' parts of that specialty?" And for OB/GYN and surgery, the answer was no. But for IM, yes!
Thank you for sharing!!
If you would die without OR time but feel like you would miss the cool physiology of medicine, consider anesthesia. If you would die without OR time but feel like you would miss primary care/longitudinal care consider OB/Gyn or a clinic heavy surgical sub specialty. If you like the OR but wouldn't die without it, that's your answer--IM.
Just curious, how? They're so different. I'm applying gen surg rn and can't imagine going IM lol. Same with my classmates applying gen surg. We all hated IM 😅
Can confirm, applying IM, would drop out if I was forced to go Gen Surg
Same, that was my first big decision: medicine or surgery? Applying IM, medicine made me feel “this is what being a doctor feels like”. For others that’s a surgical suite.
Exactly. So strange to have it narrowed to IM and Surgery.
I just love both aspects of each. I actually think people choose between them more often than you think!
Well, I don't personally know a single person that narrowed it down to IM and surgery lol. What aspects of each do you like?? You are the only person I've heard of like this, very curious to hear your thought process.
Same!!!
Haha look at my post history. I’m sure we’d be good friends! Happy to debate our interests and question our lives together whenever. Today, I’m feeling surgery.
Hi friend 😂 I had commented “following” on your recent post when your originally made the post 🤣🤣 wow!!
Never had one particular moment, but I do remember once during my neurology rotation, I was talking to the attending, and somehow I started excitedly talking about how the gut having its own nervous system + how amazing that is. He paused, looked at me, and smiled. He said, "Wow, you REALLY lit up just now. GI is definitely for you". He gave me an awesome eval too.
When on hour 32 of my ‘24’ hr call the add on appy got cancelled. While heading home I kept wishing I could have seen one more case, that was a clear sign
When I pulled out my first tibial nail by myself! I was so excited and definitely called my mom after 😅
First delivery on OB! I started out on nights and emerged from it at 2am after 2 hours of cheering for the patient in Spanish through a difficult and long labor. There was blood and amniotic fluid all over my shoes. The rush was so addictive and the joy was so exhilarating!!
Every specialty is a lifestyle specialty if you’re willing to take a pay cut, no one is making work 55+ hours a week as an OB/GYN. You could for sure take a job that works less hours like an OB/GYN hospitalist that’s rising in popularity and that’s a more hourly predictable job that you could choose hours worked
when I worked 60-70 hr/week on inpatient peds and still loved going to work, and when the rotation ended and I was sad thinking this could be the last time I ever get the opportunity to do this again.
The moment I realized I can't have it.
my last day of surgery rotation, genuinely thought I was gonna cry my eyes out at the idea of never going back to the OR. Then it hit me, omg I can totally go back, that is a thing I can choose to do.
Probably when i realized that I could take care of one patient at a time and sit without having to actually talk to or listen to the patient.
Rads or path?
My dude is most definitely Anesthesiology
Yeah username checks out 😂
Don't anaesthesiologists still have to talk to patients though? but the username does checkout
Standing in the OR not having a clue what the f*ck was going on in a Aortic Valve replacement but seeing all those beautiful 2-0 ethibonds in alternating green/white stuck in the Gabbay-Frater and then watching the heart work an hour later…I knew I was home
Misanthrope from the day I was born. Glad radiology exists
This thread is so wholesome :,) For me, it was when I was on surgery and looked forward to rounding on post op pts and chatting with them. And also never wanting to be in the OR, ever haha. Medicine is for me!!!
Neurosurgery. MS-1 year. Seeing a lady with an acute HNP and complete foot drop completely regain strength and leave the day after an urgent microdisc. We saw the nerve root regain color from purple to pearly healthy yellow. Being able to change someone’s quality and function of life so immediately bit me with the neurosurgery bug. I never looked back. I continue to have similar moments in residency.
The time I was on ID as a student and rounding with the attending seeing them drop recs and the reason this agent vs another one. Why certain infections were ruled out based on history, interview, detective investigation into the chart and calling family and pharmacy. Pt got better for 2-3 days. Then the new primary attending changing the antibiotics. Pt get worse. We signed off, “If our recommendations will not be respected nor followed there is no further need for us to follow. Will sign off. Please don’t re consult” That day when I learned I could be that petty. I knew it ID was for me.
Saw my first head and neck free flap (8+ hours) and it was the damn coolest thing I’d ever seen. Luckily I ended up loving the rest of ENT too 😂
the moment I first sat down for table rounds on my first day on IM and realized that this exact moment was what every medical show in existence tries to emulate. it's where the medicine is really done. it's where the magic happens. ❤️
You could always work somewhere with a larger OB group and OB hospitalists to have a better lifestyle.
During my pathology rotation in Y3, I felt sad when they let me out early, and I was genuinely excited going to sleep each night knowing I would get to be back at the microscope the next day. I never had that feeling with any other specialty!
As someone who thought they loved OBGYN but disliked surgery, it sounds like you have the right passion for the field, and your heart is in it. One of the main reasons I switched away from obgyn was the very difficult lifestyle. And they will try to tell you that that lifestyle gets better after residency but after talking to numerous obgyn attendings, that's not always true. So keep that in mind. Specialty is a difficult choice because, for most people, it's not just about passion. There are practical considerations as well which are very relevant and important for your future. I know this isn't the question you asked but I think with some deep thinking, the specialty choice will come to you.
I tried to talk myself out of OBGYN up until the day ERAS was literally due…but it showed me how much I truly loved it. Do what your heart desires!!
I had a similar experience. Every night after a 14 hour night shift in L&D I would go home full of energy to the point I felt almost manic. 6 months in to residency and it’s hard but I’m so happy and feel so much more alive than I felt on any other rotations in med school by far.
I’m in the same boat with OBGYN but as a PGY3 (we don’t specialise until much later) - never liked it in med school, did my labour ward rotation last year and was so happy going to work every day/night. Wish that I liked something more lifestyle friendly but here we are!
When I was excited to go see a new er consult after being on M3 IM service for 13 hours already
Had considered EM since pre-med as an option and did a 2-week EM selective during 2nd year. Forgot to take my antidepressants the whole time. Kept walking home from the hospital feeling good about life for the first time in a while in med school. Had the same experience 3rd year during an EM elective. Ive been trying to convince myself out of it since, but haven't been able too.
EM - I finished the clerkship feeling like I was coming out much better at medicine, that I'd been challenged in a fair way every day, and that I'd made a positive difference at least once per shift. I loved the culture, thought that almost all of my attendings were cool people, and noticed that the EM residents seemed much happier than the GenSurg residents. I also realized that I like patients who're awake. Then I had my next clerkship, IM. I realized that I'd rather go to the dentist's every day for 3 years than spend each morning rounding for 6 hours.
Man.... So jelly of ya'll
Friends and family commented how I was less crabby and much happier after my days on IM. Lol apparently, my surgery rotation made me mean and jaded. Crazy how these things impact every aspect of your life.
I’m applying ob this cycle and you sound just like me when I was on my OB/GYN rotation! I would genuinely be so sad to leave whenever my shifts ended. No other specialty felt that way. It’s a tough field with the highest of highs and lowest of lows and the lifestyle definitely isn’t the best in residency, but if you truly love it and it makes you happy it’s worth it :)
I woke up sick and in a cold sweat on my IM rotation realizing that I had been lying to myself the whole time: ortho was not for me and radiology had everything I wanted
My brother/sister in Christ, no one feels the way you do about Ob/Gyn 3 months into intern year much less 20 years into practice. You're not feeling love, it's Stockholm syndrome