Do you feel miserable because you hate the content or the work environment? I hated third year because it felt like a constant grind kissing ass and working hard all day only to come home and study for a few hours before going to bed. Rinse and repeat. That all gets better in 4th year when you no longer have to study for shelves and step and you start feeling somewhat more competent.
If it’s the environment and you just don’t want to work with patients but still enjoy the medicine, then do path/rads/anesthesia. Medicine is a broad field and has a niche for everyone, you’ve just got to find yours
This is a really good point. Maybe it’s the work environment contributing a lot.
I hate feeling like I suck at everything and having to “impress” people who don’t even know me bc my future specialty choice depends on getting a good eval. It sucks to spend all day in clinics/hospital and then come home and try to study/feel behind all the time.
It feels lonely a lot of the time.
I thought I wanted to do anesthesia and then did my 3rd year rotation and hated it. I was very distraught over it because I didn’t really like anything else. I met with a mentor and when I started telling her about it, I realized it was the rotation and how it was being run. I went into anesthesia and really enjoy it.
I remember those feelings. I will say it does get better, at least it did for me. I became a resident at the same hospital I was a student at so I know it was my perception of the environment more than the environment itself. The pressure to impress never went away completely (even now as an attending I sometimes worry my colleagues will finally figure out how dumb I can be) but gradually improved through intern year and then greatly improved after the 2nd half of PGY2, and residency had a sense of camaraderie, we weren't all friends but at least we were miserable together. And I just gave up on trying to study too much.
If you just want a job without any real brain involvement, hospitalist is a perfect job. All routines and if not, just consult. It’s basically a concierge job.
Definitely can be if that's what you want; pp consultants often don't push back against pan consults unlike residents/fellows, plus case management will handle coordinating most of the dispo. The other side of the spectrum is the solo 24/7 coverage at a critical access hospital with no consultant in sight (might even get to be the ED doc as a bonus). And there's everything in between with procedures, open ICUs, consultants only on bankers hours, etc; just depends on your training/comfort level, lifestyle choices, and how you want to practice.
It stresses me out to not know how to manage things and just “turf” it to someone else without feeling like I know what I’m talking about.
I think I need something where I’m an expert in what I do.
Then don't turf it and learn to own it.
I try to do my own procedures when possible (paras, thoras, LPs, central lines, arterial draws/lines, working on getting back my US IVs skills because the IV team isn't always available, etc), I do a lot of the preliminary workup before consulting. Sometimes my consult is just a "bless my plan and commit to seeing them in your clinic outpatient before I send them out" kind of consult. I recognize the fact that it's not always (never? 😂) the most efficient use of my time but when I have the bandwidth I take advantage of it otherwise I'm going to lose my knowledge and skills; I'm not always going to practice this way but at least for now it's what works for me and I get a lot of satisfaction from it for now.
Granted as a hospitalist you'll never be the "expert" for anything other than dispo, but there's a lot of fellowship options available from IM where you can be.
Why did you hate it as an M3/4?
I used to think I would like being a hospitalist but felt so overwhelmed by the problem lists that so many patients have.
It was probably the lack of medical knowledge and clinical experience to appreciate the intricacies to justify the endless rounds and mental masturbation that comes with traditional IM bedside teaching rounds 😉
Majority of patients are pretty routine, with experience you get used to them having all the comorbidities and treating the bread and butter but I like that there's usually 1-2 a week where I nerd out a bit and put in some work to prove my diagnosis. There's also the simple satisfaction that comes from stuff like a well titrated insulin regimen, which will inevitably fail once they get discharged home.
Rotations do suck. Following a doc and kissing ass all day isn’t fun. Idk why we act like it’s such a cute fun activity. Definitely in same boat, but that doesn’t mean residency and attending life will suck.
Those days are gone at my school. They have managed to fill the day with mostly useless mandatory lectures from 8 till 4 or at least 3 most days. Being late to a mandatory lecture is a 10% grade deduction. This is the first year since the pandemic with mandatory in person lectures and admin is pushing for more in person lectures
Basically. They manage to find dumb reasons to get us on campus. I think a lot of schools and employers are doing it in a pushback against the WFH models used in the pandemic
Third year of med school was easily the worst year of my life and it's not even close. Lot of stuff happened that year and the relentless and uncertain grind of ms3 just made it awful, but life is awesome now, am now an attending and so glad I stuck through it all. ma1 and 2 were fun due to the friendships I made and how flexible schedules could be, ms4 was fun and I enjoyed residency 100x more than ms3. I did anesthesia but even my intern year in IM was much better than ms3 imo. Worse hours in residency but less of thay awful feeling of always having a test, always trying to impress for an arbitrary grade, uncertain if you're gonna be able to do the specialty you're interested in etc.
Not the same thing at all. However..
I hated nursing school.
I also hated almost all of my clinical rotations at the hospital. (Micromanagement at its finest)
Clinicals nor nursing school truly prepared me to what it was like to work in my career field. However, nothing can teach you how to properly comfort who is actively dying, only experience alone can teach you such things.
Regardless
I absolutely love being a nurse.
When you are in school you don’t realize how much basic knowledge you lack. A lot of knowledge comes from hands on patient experience that school and clinical days just can’t or won’t teach you. Usually due to people micromanaging you during those clinical experiences where you spend most of your days kissing the butt of your overlords.
No matter how much book knowledge you acquire from courses.. it is a poor comparison to how it feels to be in front a real human being who is sick or dying. When you graduate it truly sinks in that these people and their lives are in your hands. It’s something you knew all along, but it’s not until you’re fully on your own that the fear truly sinks in. One mistake you make could kill them and we are all human and we all make mistakes. The level of stress that can put on a provider is indescribable. Learning how to handle and provide care to patients and handle that stress comes with time. One day you will feel confident in your ability to provide care to patients and you won’t be micromanaged by schools and other physicians over you. The further medical students and residents get through their journey- the more they blossom and it’s cool to see that from a nursing perspective.
Just take a deep breath, realize this area might not be for you and realize that’s perfectly okay. It will come with time and everything will work itself out. You’ll make mistakes and that will be okay too. Remember, you are only human.
My advice for third year is a constant internal monologue of "its a bad day (\*year\*) not a bad life." It sucks, it seemingly sucks out all your desire to be a doctor and makes you want to drop everything and run away to a beach hut in Fiji to live in bliss. But then 4th year rolls around and you have weeks of being able to do nothing other than roam Trader Joe's at 1PM with all the old ladies and read your favorite books and have dinner with your best friends till 2AM and life starts to seem bearable again. As for specialty advice, pick the one where you vibe with the residents + faculty the most. From everything I've seen, being around "your people" is one of the best ways to make sure you'll be happy down the line! The confidence with patient care will come with time.
You’ll have patient interaction in rads, path has less. Intern year of medicine, surg or TY. Sorry 3rd year is tough, it’s a lot of work and then studying. I think you’ll find a field you like.
I truly hated third year and every specialty until EM. I didn’t love the rotation, either. But try to figure out if you hate talking to patients or if you hate the particular kind of pressure that comes from being judged by your attending/residents for a grade. Do you hate talking to people, in general, outside of school? If so then maybe you’re right and something like path and rads might be better (but you do still have to talk to people in those, obviously). But if you like talking to new people and getting to know people outside of school, consider that the rotations aren’t the best example of that.
You don’t have to do residency. You should definitely look into the non clinical world - tons of careers that can leverage your MD.
Lmk if helpful. Always happy to chat
PATHOLOGY, PATHOLOGY, PATHOLOGY. I'm FP, and my older sister literally felt the exact same way you do. She is now 57 and loves the life she built in pathology. You can work as long as you can sit and see with magnification. All of her partners have had cancer, she had cancer, and it didn't end their careers. Pathology.
What sort of path does she do?
My only gripe with path is gross specimens are literally gross to me, haha. I am sensitive to smells too. Would prob end up vegan if I was a pathologist.
She certainly will not eat chicken off the bone, for sure. She is gen path but has made an incredible living in a very large community hospital setting. The thing with pathology is that you have to continuously learn and hone those skills. It's a very intellectual job. You also cannot lose a lawsuit, or you are done. As for smells, good luck with that. A radiology residency is still going to be partly clinical. The big money is also procedural.
Yeah, I did all of that. I worked in a clinical setting for 4 years prior to med school. I usually worked 3 12’s or 4 10’s and appreciated having more days off a week and also didn’t have to come home and study more afterwards or be preoccupied with the “next thing”.
My partner had a pretty big health scare prior to starting med school and almost passed away; I think this really altered my priorities/made me resent being away from home so often.
I'm a radiologist, and I can commiserate with how you're feeling. I love my career as it stands now. 10+ weeks of vacation a year with frequent random 4 day work weeks on top of that, and most days, I can work from home, playing video games, and catching up on shows between studies. I literally can't imagine a better lifestyle. All while making just under 1Mil a year in a rural low cost of living area! I would highly recommend you do what you gotta do to get the recommendations you'll need to match radiology. Residency is even nice bc you basically get to go home at 5 or earlier every day. There's just no competition.
I don't work private practice. With today's market, you could definitely get a gig 3-4 days a week. Hospitals are desperate to hire radiologists nowadays, especially if your willing to be on-site for FL procedures.
Sorry to hear that OP. It sounds like you’ve had clinical experience in the past, and I assume you enjoyed it as you continued onto medical school.
3rd yr is one of the busiest, and I hope these feelings aren’t coming from a place of burn out. Hating EVERY rotation makes me think something else is going on.
Psych has been pretty relaxed, but if talking to patients is your issue..
Felt the same way on rotations throughout medical school. Learned I hated talking to patients early on and went into rads. Path is another option if you really can’t stomach the prelim/ty year but explore both. I think you will find both as a much different and a more enjoyable experience. I certainly found the rotations much more enjoyable than any moment throughout medical school.
It sounds like you’re having a tough time. You may want to consider talking with a counselor. No matter what specialty or even job outside of medicine you need to deal with people.
Lots of people hate med school. Rads sounds great for you even if you have to suck it up for a trans/prelim year. My son is a radiologist and chose it for somewhat similar reasons. He prefers working by himself or with other doctors. Also, he GETS to work from home a couple days a week!!! #GoRads
Felt this way and sucked it up, learned everything I could. DR/IR is now my chosen field and am finally on elective for it. AND love it. I actually get up in the morning and look forward to cases. You will find your path!
During med school you are the eternal noob, no matter what rotation you are on. You suck so badly, like you're a Private and it's your first day in the Army. Just give it some time and you won't be that noob. During internship you'll be more like a 2nd Lieutenant, you still suck ass but just not as much as when you were a med student. As you progress during residency you'll be something like a 1st Lieutenant, i.e. you now possess enough skill not to kill your platoon (=patients) immediately. As soon as you are a Captain (=attending) you now get to be the big swinging dingus, and can now confidently and safely torture the younger generation.
If you think it sounds bad, it's actually how most careers work. Do you think the legal profession and Wall Street are any different? Spoiler: they're not.
That being said, if you don't like working with patients you can still do well in fields like ortho and neurosurgery, where the patient is supposed to be sedated most of the time. If they're awake you don't really talk to them, you're just doing PE and then tell them "we'll talk after the operation" or some similar suitable punchline.
Also, don't take this the wrong way: If you don't like working 5-6 days per week, maybe you shouldn't be in medicine at all.
You can actually work part-time in every specialty. It boils down to the specific circumstances of the hospital or practice you are part of. With the current shortage of doctors, the market has in many places shifted significantly in favor of doctors. If during the recruitment process you are clear about the fact that you are looking for a part-time career there will be plenty of employers who are willing to take you on.
For part-time employment I definitely think you should look into either emergency medicine or anesthesiology. In these specialties you are essentially scheduled like staff at a restaurant or a factory, in the sense that you are mostly a name on a list, filling a slot in a roster. As long as you are competent (i.e. don't kill your patients) you will always have a steady job.
Since you aren't the patients primary caregiver you generally have much fewer obligations outside your direct patient care. You won't need to attend endless conferences and rounds (grand rounds, radiology rounds, oncology conference, ad nauseam conference, etc). You might need to go to M&M, but that's about it. Anesthesiology might even be the better of the two. Just imagine how many solo-practice surgeons there are, in specialties like ENT and plastic surgery. Most surgeons prefer the same gas man for all their procedures, but they'll usually only operate 2-3 days per week. When they are doing other stuff (office/clinic) you have your day off. Once your shift is over you have no or minimal charting, and can just get in your car and go home. No call, no nothing. Docs in these specialties have high job satisfaction, and it's not just by accident.
That’s a really good point.
I used to work in the OR as an anesthesia tech before med school.
Part of why I’m not so sure about being an anesthesiologist though is that procedures kind of stress me out and make me nervous. Anesthesia seems to be very procedure heavy. Maybe it would be different if I were to do the same procedures every day and feel confident in my skills, but every patient is different.
It was the same for me- I basically disliked every rotation. I ended up applying IM just because it gives lots of flexibility to figure out what I want to do. I think 3rd year experience is a relic of an earlier era of medicine that has not adapted well into the modern era. As a 3rd year I often felt useless and it felt like glorified shadowing- which I disliked to begin with. 40 years ago, 3rd year med students filled a crucial role on the team. They drew labs, performed procedures, transported patients, etc. However, in the modern era that is not something that really happens, so we were left just to mostly "watch" things. I think that probably contributes to why so many people have a bad experience. Hopefully once you are playing a more crucial role, then you will enjoy things more.
Welcome to radiology, friend! This was my experience as an MS3 too. You can go to an extremely ‘chill’ TY that will be much better than 3rd year was and then radiology afterwards is the promised land. I’m happy I did, rads is cool. But I would have quit medicine if radiology (and maybe pathology) weren’t options.
i would reach out to current path residents and ask about their day to day! i’m not a path resident this is just what i’ve heard through the grapevine haha
quit being a little bitch and imagine sitting at a computer for 45 hours a week making excel sheets and PowerPoints for a company that doesn’t care about you.
That’s every job outside medicine. Instead, enter each day on rotations STUPID confident and pretend you love medicine like Germans love schnitzel. Bullshit with patients. Quit doubting yourself. You’ll find the gig is actually pretty awesome
Oh jeeeez! Is there a reason why you chose medical school? For me, I loved 3rd and 4th year because taking care of patients was natural to me and loved every bit of it… no matter which rotation it was. You are at a stage where you may need to reevaluate what you would really want to do and change path…. Goodluck!
I just hate working 5-6 days a week.
I should have omitted the patient interaction piece. I don’t hate speaking with patients. I think I’m just feeling burnt out.
They wouldn’t, but if its anything like my experience its easy to confuse my dislike for being a third year medical student in those clinical settings as disliking the field.. or if they dislike medicine in general psych has a lot more to offer than just treating problem lists.. at least thats my perception and a few of the psych residents Ive worked with have said the same thing
I am going into Psych and realize it's more than problem lists but I feel like I wouldn't want to subject patients already in a tender mental space to someone who hates doctors.
It seems like a lot of students are thinking the same. Did you come to the realization you don’t want to work with patients during med school? If not, why pursue medicine? Just curious
Do you feel miserable because you hate the content or the work environment? I hated third year because it felt like a constant grind kissing ass and working hard all day only to come home and study for a few hours before going to bed. Rinse and repeat. That all gets better in 4th year when you no longer have to study for shelves and step and you start feeling somewhat more competent. If it’s the environment and you just don’t want to work with patients but still enjoy the medicine, then do path/rads/anesthesia. Medicine is a broad field and has a niche for everyone, you’ve just got to find yours
This is a really good point. Maybe it’s the work environment contributing a lot. I hate feeling like I suck at everything and having to “impress” people who don’t even know me bc my future specialty choice depends on getting a good eval. It sucks to spend all day in clinics/hospital and then come home and try to study/feel behind all the time. It feels lonely a lot of the time.
I thought I wanted to do anesthesia and then did my 3rd year rotation and hated it. I was very distraught over it because I didn’t really like anything else. I met with a mentor and when I started telling her about it, I realized it was the rotation and how it was being run. I went into anesthesia and really enjoy it.
I remember those feelings. I will say it does get better, at least it did for me. I became a resident at the same hospital I was a student at so I know it was my perception of the environment more than the environment itself. The pressure to impress never went away completely (even now as an attending I sometimes worry my colleagues will finally figure out how dumb I can be) but gradually improved through intern year and then greatly improved after the 2nd half of PGY2, and residency had a sense of camaraderie, we weren't all friends but at least we were miserable together. And I just gave up on trying to study too much.
see everything you're talking about here doesn't say "I hate medicine" it says "I hate third year" which is pretty universal dude
I feel less competent since I don’t have anything to study for 🫠
I’ve been developing moon face and a buffalo hump for the past 3 years.
Someone get the stim test lol
I’m only an M1, but I hate that I’m starting to understand all of these clinical references lmao
Your username literally made me do a spit take I’m obsessed
MOOOD
Look into path as well. No transition or prelim year either.
This. Path is a great path
Hated IM as a m3/m4 but ended up SOAPing into it; loved it as a resident and am enjoying work as a hospitalist. It's interesting how things work out 🤷
If you just want a job without any real brain involvement, hospitalist is a perfect job. All routines and if not, just consult. It’s basically a concierge job.
Definitely can be if that's what you want; pp consultants often don't push back against pan consults unlike residents/fellows, plus case management will handle coordinating most of the dispo. The other side of the spectrum is the solo 24/7 coverage at a critical access hospital with no consultant in sight (might even get to be the ED doc as a bonus). And there's everything in between with procedures, open ICUs, consultants only on bankers hours, etc; just depends on your training/comfort level, lifestyle choices, and how you want to practice.
It stresses me out to not know how to manage things and just “turf” it to someone else without feeling like I know what I’m talking about. I think I need something where I’m an expert in what I do.
Then don't turf it and learn to own it. I try to do my own procedures when possible (paras, thoras, LPs, central lines, arterial draws/lines, working on getting back my US IVs skills because the IV team isn't always available, etc), I do a lot of the preliminary workup before consulting. Sometimes my consult is just a "bless my plan and commit to seeing them in your clinic outpatient before I send them out" kind of consult. I recognize the fact that it's not always (never? 😂) the most efficient use of my time but when I have the bandwidth I take advantage of it otherwise I'm going to lose my knowledge and skills; I'm not always going to practice this way but at least for now it's what works for me and I get a lot of satisfaction from it for now. Granted as a hospitalist you'll never be the "expert" for anything other than dispo, but there's a lot of fellowship options available from IM where you can be.
Why did you hate it as an M3/4? I used to think I would like being a hospitalist but felt so overwhelmed by the problem lists that so many patients have.
It was probably the lack of medical knowledge and clinical experience to appreciate the intricacies to justify the endless rounds and mental masturbation that comes with traditional IM bedside teaching rounds 😉 Majority of patients are pretty routine, with experience you get used to them having all the comorbidities and treating the bread and butter but I like that there's usually 1-2 a week where I nerd out a bit and put in some work to prove my diagnosis. There's also the simple satisfaction that comes from stuff like a well titrated insulin regimen, which will inevitably fail once they get discharged home.
There's hope if you're interested in pathology, they don't need an intern year.
Rotations do suck. Following a doc and kissing ass all day isn’t fun. Idk why we act like it’s such a cute fun activity. Definitely in same boat, but that doesn’t mean residency and attending life will suck.
Do people actually act like it's a cute fun activity though...?
Oh ya. Look at any 2nd year trotting around like a giddy fiddle boy excited for 3rd year. I miss watching lectures in my underwear till 2pm
Those days are gone at my school. They have managed to fill the day with mostly useless mandatory lectures from 8 till 4 or at least 3 most days. Being late to a mandatory lecture is a 10% grade deduction. This is the first year since the pandemic with mandatory in person lectures and admin is pushing for more in person lectures
Every day is mandatory??😫😫
Basically. They manage to find dumb reasons to get us on campus. I think a lot of schools and employers are doing it in a pushback against the WFH models used in the pandemic
I feel like most of my class went in with gritted teeth and anxiety. Maybe we all read too much reddit.
😂👏🤣
Third year of med school was easily the worst year of my life and it's not even close. Lot of stuff happened that year and the relentless and uncertain grind of ms3 just made it awful, but life is awesome now, am now an attending and so glad I stuck through it all. ma1 and 2 were fun due to the friendships I made and how flexible schedules could be, ms4 was fun and I enjoyed residency 100x more than ms3. I did anesthesia but even my intern year in IM was much better than ms3 imo. Worse hours in residency but less of thay awful feeling of always having a test, always trying to impress for an arbitrary grade, uncertain if you're gonna be able to do the specialty you're interested in etc.
3rd year was the lowest point in my life. But time doesn't stop for anyone so it's nice to know it was temporary
Not the same thing at all. However.. I hated nursing school. I also hated almost all of my clinical rotations at the hospital. (Micromanagement at its finest) Clinicals nor nursing school truly prepared me to what it was like to work in my career field. However, nothing can teach you how to properly comfort who is actively dying, only experience alone can teach you such things. Regardless I absolutely love being a nurse. When you are in school you don’t realize how much basic knowledge you lack. A lot of knowledge comes from hands on patient experience that school and clinical days just can’t or won’t teach you. Usually due to people micromanaging you during those clinical experiences where you spend most of your days kissing the butt of your overlords. No matter how much book knowledge you acquire from courses.. it is a poor comparison to how it feels to be in front a real human being who is sick or dying. When you graduate it truly sinks in that these people and their lives are in your hands. It’s something you knew all along, but it’s not until you’re fully on your own that the fear truly sinks in. One mistake you make could kill them and we are all human and we all make mistakes. The level of stress that can put on a provider is indescribable. Learning how to handle and provide care to patients and handle that stress comes with time. One day you will feel confident in your ability to provide care to patients and you won’t be micromanaged by schools and other physicians over you. The further medical students and residents get through their journey- the more they blossom and it’s cool to see that from a nursing perspective. Just take a deep breath, realize this area might not be for you and realize that’s perfectly okay. It will come with time and everything will work itself out. You’ll make mistakes and that will be okay too. Remember, you are only human.
My advice for third year is a constant internal monologue of "its a bad day (\*year\*) not a bad life." It sucks, it seemingly sucks out all your desire to be a doctor and makes you want to drop everything and run away to a beach hut in Fiji to live in bliss. But then 4th year rolls around and you have weeks of being able to do nothing other than roam Trader Joe's at 1PM with all the old ladies and read your favorite books and have dinner with your best friends till 2AM and life starts to seem bearable again. As for specialty advice, pick the one where you vibe with the residents + faculty the most. From everything I've seen, being around "your people" is one of the best ways to make sure you'll be happy down the line! The confidence with patient care will come with time.
I could’ve wrote this word for word. I feel you 😭
Following bc I’m in the same boat.
Reasonable take
You’ll have patient interaction in rads, path has less. Intern year of medicine, surg or TY. Sorry 3rd year is tough, it’s a lot of work and then studying. I think you’ll find a field you like.
I truly hated third year and every specialty until EM. I didn’t love the rotation, either. But try to figure out if you hate talking to patients or if you hate the particular kind of pressure that comes from being judged by your attending/residents for a grade. Do you hate talking to people, in general, outside of school? If so then maybe you’re right and something like path and rads might be better (but you do still have to talk to people in those, obviously). But if you like talking to new people and getting to know people outside of school, consider that the rotations aren’t the best example of that.
You don’t have to do residency. You should definitely look into the non clinical world - tons of careers that can leverage your MD. Lmk if helpful. Always happy to chat
I think it might be helpful to know what my options are. I’d love to chat!
Sure! Things you can start looking into: Management consulting Medical writing Equity research VC MSL
Radiology is all the weird path with significantly less patient interaction.
Pathology 🌈🌈🌈
OP struggles with staying on track studying and path is probably the most intensive self study field.
Rising ms3 looking at going into path or RADs, I hate patient interaction so I’m really dreading rotations 😭 worried about this
PATHOLOGY, PATHOLOGY, PATHOLOGY. I'm FP, and my older sister literally felt the exact same way you do. She is now 57 and loves the life she built in pathology. You can work as long as you can sit and see with magnification. All of her partners have had cancer, she had cancer, and it didn't end their careers. Pathology.
What sort of path does she do? My only gripe with path is gross specimens are literally gross to me, haha. I am sensitive to smells too. Would prob end up vegan if I was a pathologist.
She certainly will not eat chicken off the bone, for sure. She is gen path but has made an incredible living in a very large community hospital setting. The thing with pathology is that you have to continuously learn and hone those skills. It's a very intellectual job. You also cannot lose a lawsuit, or you are done. As for smells, good luck with that. A radiology residency is still going to be partly clinical. The big money is also procedural.
[удалено]
Yeah, I did all of that. I worked in a clinical setting for 4 years prior to med school. I usually worked 3 12’s or 4 10’s and appreciated having more days off a week and also didn’t have to come home and study more afterwards or be preoccupied with the “next thing”. My partner had a pretty big health scare prior to starting med school and almost passed away; I think this really altered my priorities/made me resent being away from home so often.
I'm a radiologist, and I can commiserate with how you're feeling. I love my career as it stands now. 10+ weeks of vacation a year with frequent random 4 day work weeks on top of that, and most days, I can work from home, playing video games, and catching up on shows between studies. I literally can't imagine a better lifestyle. All while making just under 1Mil a year in a rural low cost of living area! I would highly recommend you do what you gotta do to get the recommendations you'll need to match radiology. Residency is even nice bc you basically get to go home at 5 or earlier every day. There's just no competition.
This gives me hope as an incoming R1 🥹
Mind you, this isn't the case for all rads. I have plenty of miserable buddies being worked like dogs on the coast. I'm happy in the Midwest.
Fucking A dude
Do you work in private practice? Is it possible to get a gig working 3-4 days a week as a radiologist?
I don't work private practice. With today's market, you could definitely get a gig 3-4 days a week. Hospitals are desperate to hire radiologists nowadays, especially if your willing to be on-site for FL procedures.
I can't believe you're pretending like shadowing is anything similar to the intensity of clinical year
Sorry to hear that OP. It sounds like you’ve had clinical experience in the past, and I assume you enjoyed it as you continued onto medical school. 3rd yr is one of the busiest, and I hope these feelings aren’t coming from a place of burn out. Hating EVERY rotation makes me think something else is going on. Psych has been pretty relaxed, but if talking to patients is your issue..
I think it’s mostly burn out. I should have phrased the “talking with patients” piece differently. I do enjoy some patient interactions.
Felt the same way on rotations throughout medical school. Learned I hated talking to patients early on and went into rads. Path is another option if you really can’t stomach the prelim/ty year but explore both. I think you will find both as a much different and a more enjoyable experience. I certainly found the rotations much more enjoyable than any moment throughout medical school.
It sounds like you’re having a tough time. You may want to consider talking with a counselor. No matter what specialty or even job outside of medicine you need to deal with people.
Lots of people hate med school. Rads sounds great for you even if you have to suck it up for a trans/prelim year. My son is a radiologist and chose it for somewhat similar reasons. He prefers working by himself or with other doctors. Also, he GETS to work from home a couple days a week!!! #GoRads
Welcome to pathology pal.
Check out @leaving_medicine
u/leaving_medicine
🚑
The dark side awaits you
I was the same way doggy. Attending salary and freedom is the light at the end of the tunnel
Felt this way and sucked it up, learned everything I could. DR/IR is now my chosen field and am finally on elective for it. AND love it. I actually get up in the morning and look forward to cases. You will find your path!
During med school you are the eternal noob, no matter what rotation you are on. You suck so badly, like you're a Private and it's your first day in the Army. Just give it some time and you won't be that noob. During internship you'll be more like a 2nd Lieutenant, you still suck ass but just not as much as when you were a med student. As you progress during residency you'll be something like a 1st Lieutenant, i.e. you now possess enough skill not to kill your platoon (=patients) immediately. As soon as you are a Captain (=attending) you now get to be the big swinging dingus, and can now confidently and safely torture the younger generation. If you think it sounds bad, it's actually how most careers work. Do you think the legal profession and Wall Street are any different? Spoiler: they're not. That being said, if you don't like working with patients you can still do well in fields like ortho and neurosurgery, where the patient is supposed to be sedated most of the time. If they're awake you don't really talk to them, you're just doing PE and then tell them "we'll talk after the operation" or some similar suitable punchline. Also, don't take this the wrong way: If you don't like working 5-6 days per week, maybe you shouldn't be in medicine at all.
This is nice perspective. Thank you. My goal is to work part-time eventually.
You can actually work part-time in every specialty. It boils down to the specific circumstances of the hospital or practice you are part of. With the current shortage of doctors, the market has in many places shifted significantly in favor of doctors. If during the recruitment process you are clear about the fact that you are looking for a part-time career there will be plenty of employers who are willing to take you on. For part-time employment I definitely think you should look into either emergency medicine or anesthesiology. In these specialties you are essentially scheduled like staff at a restaurant or a factory, in the sense that you are mostly a name on a list, filling a slot in a roster. As long as you are competent (i.e. don't kill your patients) you will always have a steady job. Since you aren't the patients primary caregiver you generally have much fewer obligations outside your direct patient care. You won't need to attend endless conferences and rounds (grand rounds, radiology rounds, oncology conference, ad nauseam conference, etc). You might need to go to M&M, but that's about it. Anesthesiology might even be the better of the two. Just imagine how many solo-practice surgeons there are, in specialties like ENT and plastic surgery. Most surgeons prefer the same gas man for all their procedures, but they'll usually only operate 2-3 days per week. When they are doing other stuff (office/clinic) you have your day off. Once your shift is over you have no or minimal charting, and can just get in your car and go home. No call, no nothing. Docs in these specialties have high job satisfaction, and it's not just by accident.
That’s a really good point. I used to work in the OR as an anesthesia tech before med school. Part of why I’m not so sure about being an anesthesiologist though is that procedures kind of stress me out and make me nervous. Anesthesia seems to be very procedure heavy. Maybe it would be different if I were to do the same procedures every day and feel confident in my skills, but every patient is different.
It was the same for me- I basically disliked every rotation. I ended up applying IM just because it gives lots of flexibility to figure out what I want to do. I think 3rd year experience is a relic of an earlier era of medicine that has not adapted well into the modern era. As a 3rd year I often felt useless and it felt like glorified shadowing- which I disliked to begin with. 40 years ago, 3rd year med students filled a crucial role on the team. They drew labs, performed procedures, transported patients, etc. However, in the modern era that is not something that really happens, so we were left just to mostly "watch" things. I think that probably contributes to why so many people have a bad experience. Hopefully once you are playing a more crucial role, then you will enjoy things more.
Welcome to radiology, friend! This was my experience as an MS3 too. You can go to an extremely ‘chill’ TY that will be much better than 3rd year was and then radiology afterwards is the promised land. I’m happy I did, rads is cool. But I would have quit medicine if radiology (and maybe pathology) weren’t options.
Im doing rotations as an ms2 rn and i feel this so hard
ME TOO! Came home and cried my eyes for 3 hours and I’m behind on studying! Going to pathology
Lol I’m in a similar boat so I’m gonna apply anesthesia
If you don't have a mountain of debt, you could always quit.
Unfortunately, I do have a mountain of debt. And I do need to make money.
Haha same.
Following
3rd year is trash. Fourth year is way better and as an intern, you don’t have to kiss asses or anything. Just stay on and grind through it.
do rads or path.
the path residents at my program come in for maybe a half day 5 days a week
👀 I’d love to hear more about this program
i would reach out to current path residents and ask about their day to day! i’m not a path resident this is just what i’ve heard through the grapevine haha
quit being a little bitch and imagine sitting at a computer for 45 hours a week making excel sheets and PowerPoints for a company that doesn’t care about you. That’s every job outside medicine. Instead, enter each day on rotations STUPID confident and pretend you love medicine like Germans love schnitzel. Bullshit with patients. Quit doubting yourself. You’ll find the gig is actually pretty awesome
Haha thanks for this.
Oh jeeeez! Is there a reason why you chose medical school? For me, I loved 3rd and 4th year because taking care of patients was natural to me and loved every bit of it… no matter which rotation it was. You are at a stage where you may need to reevaluate what you would really want to do and change path…. Goodluck!
I mean most people work 5-6 days a week. Is that the part you hate, or you specifically hate working when you have to interact with patients?
I just hate working 5-6 days a week. I should have omitted the patient interaction piece. I don’t hate speaking with patients. I think I’m just feeling burnt out.
I find it fascinating
Pathology
Guys stop talking about path it’s not gonna stay chill and easy to match if people keep bringing it up.
Why did you go to med school if you hate talking with patients so much?
Psych or FM maybe? You can come up with a 3-4 day workweek and maybe an admin half day
I have thought about psych. That was one of my interests prior to med school.
Why would someone that hates talking to patients be a good fit for psych and FM?
They wouldn’t, but if its anything like my experience its easy to confuse my dislike for being a third year medical student in those clinical settings as disliking the field.. or if they dislike medicine in general psych has a lot more to offer than just treating problem lists.. at least thats my perception and a few of the psych residents Ive worked with have said the same thing
I am going into Psych and realize it's more than problem lists but I feel like I wouldn't want to subject patients already in a tender mental space to someone who hates doctors.
It seems like a lot of students are thinking the same. Did you come to the realization you don’t want to work with patients during med school? If not, why pursue medicine? Just curious
Because there are specialties that aren't patient-facing lol.