During our roundtable lunch today, we were asking each other about why we chose, or would choose, our specialty. Our Medicine includes a few third- and fourth-year students as well as interns and a senior resident. The third-year medical students were asked if they have a specialty of interest in mind by this time of the year (almost into the 4th or 5th rotation for most third-year students). The fourth-year students were asked about which specialty they are applying, or being interviewed, for. And the residents were asked, by the students, why they chose to go into their current residency program.
The common theme among us was obvious: we like what we do. However, along into the discussion, other details started to emerge. Some are choosing the specialty because of the working hours, “ER is shift work and I don’t have to work overtime,” a third-year student declared. “I love the nine-to-five daily schedule without any on-call on the weekend,” says a 4th-year medical who is applying for a radiology program. An interns and the senior resident further shared that they went into Internal Medicine because it allows them to be constantly stimulated by the complexity and variety of disease states that they can be exposed to. For another intern, he chose to go into Medicine because that is a stepping-stone to enter a cardiology fellowship, his ultimate interest.
These lunch conversations have always been fascinating for me as I always gain more insights about the perks and attractions about each specialty but more interestingly, I learn about the reasons why we choose a certain path in medicine. What is your reason to pursue, or to have chosen, a certain residency?
You can follow Jimmy on Twitter @JimmyTamHuyPham or at his website: jimmytamhuypham.com.
**The original post appeared on Medscape "The Differential" on Oct 22, 2015.
The common theme among us was obvious: we like what we do. However, along into the discussion, other details started to emerge. Some are choosing the specialty because of the working hours, “ER is shift work and I don’t have to work overtime,” a third-year student declared. “I love the nine-to-five daily schedule without any on-call on the weekend,” says a 4th-year medical who is applying for a radiology program. An interns and the senior resident further shared that they went into Internal Medicine because it allows them to be constantly stimulated by the complexity and variety of disease states that they can be exposed to. For another intern, he chose to go into Medicine because that is a stepping-stone to enter a cardiology fellowship, his ultimate interest.
These lunch conversations have always been fascinating for me as I always gain more insights about the perks and attractions about each specialty but more interestingly, I learn about the reasons why we choose a certain path in medicine. What is your reason to pursue, or to have chosen, a certain residency?
You can follow Jimmy on Twitter @JimmyTamHuyPham or at his website: jimmytamhuypham.com.
**The original post appeared on Medscape "The Differential" on Oct 22, 2015.