- Joined
- Jan 10, 2019
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- 24
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IM intern here. I went into residency wanting GI since I enjoyed the pathology and learning about it in med school. I published 2 papers so far and currently working on multiple others, but I felt a little disappointed after my GI rotation this year- I found the content to be a little dry and the majority of consults boiled down to a decision about scoping. The people were also kinda toxic, badmouthing colleagues and other residents, and I think that soured my experience but I realize that's a program-dependent factor.
I went into my Cards rotation afterwards with low expectations and I thought the cases were ++ interesting and more relevant to my IM training. I liked that the consultant role in Cards was more "cerebral" (not to say that GI is not cerebral), putting together labs/EKG/echo to come to a diagnosis. I also liked that most things were not dependent on one diagnostic modality alone such as scoping.
My main concern at this point is the tough fellowship in Cards. As much as I liked the content I'm afraid that the hours and frequent high-stress situations in fellowship will burn me out. From what I've heard, GI can also be very busy/hectic, but it doesn't seem nearly as bad as Cards at my shop. I've spoken with some cards fellows who felt their first year of fellowship was worse than intern year, which sounds awful.
Changing to cards would also mean having to start new research from square one, build new connections, etc. which isn't impossible but I guess I would be disadvantaged from that perspective compared to other applicants.
I know the age old advice is to do what you like/the field where you can tolerate the bread and butter cases. I'm just not sure if the intense fellowship would still allow me to enjoy the field. Would love to hear your thoughts especially if you were in a similar scenario.
I went into my Cards rotation afterwards with low expectations and I thought the cases were ++ interesting and more relevant to my IM training. I liked that the consultant role in Cards was more "cerebral" (not to say that GI is not cerebral), putting together labs/EKG/echo to come to a diagnosis. I also liked that most things were not dependent on one diagnostic modality alone such as scoping.
My main concern at this point is the tough fellowship in Cards. As much as I liked the content I'm afraid that the hours and frequent high-stress situations in fellowship will burn me out. From what I've heard, GI can also be very busy/hectic, but it doesn't seem nearly as bad as Cards at my shop. I've spoken with some cards fellows who felt their first year of fellowship was worse than intern year, which sounds awful.
Changing to cards would also mean having to start new research from square one, build new connections, etc. which isn't impossible but I guess I would be disadvantaged from that perspective compared to other applicants.
I know the age old advice is to do what you like/the field where you can tolerate the bread and butter cases. I'm just not sure if the intense fellowship would still allow me to enjoy the field. Would love to hear your thoughts especially if you were in a similar scenario.