How are you guys managing the cost of living as residents

Despite the copium, it’s clear AI in medicine is here to stay.

Whether we as physicians really see job market impacts in 5, 10, or 20 (the timeline I personally foresee) years, which specialties do you think are first on the chopping block?

While some say rads/path given the pattern recognition basis of the fields, I actually think the more generalized, algorithm based specialties such as IM and EM could see the first squeeze from hyper-polished LLMs.

I’m imagining bare bones ERs where AI collects the history and suggests appropriate workup, treatment and dispo, and a midlevel spends their shift at a computer approving the output. Maybe at the start there will be a push for the provider to do some face to face history collection or explaining test results, but honestly AI could do such a better job at explaining it to the patients level, and offer ample room for questions and explanations. It obviously loses the empathy component, but tbh that’s not something I really care about when I have to go to the doc.

The counter argument for EM would be the need to respond to traumas, but even if AI isn’t involved much there, that still replaces a big chunk of their shift’s work.

Hi, I just submitted my application for my Illinois Medical License. Some people suggested driving down to Springfield to get it. How soon can one go? I submitted by application last week and my understanding is it takes some time for the fingerprints/criminal background to process as well. When is it recommended to drive to Springfield?

With due respect to both specialties, I’m trying to decide between MD Emergency Medicine and MD Anaesthesia. I’d really appreciate honest opinions from doctors in these fields about job satisfaction, work-life balance, stress levels and long-term career fulfilment. If you could choose again, would you still choose the same specialty? Thank you!

I know what the outpatient diabetes management looks like but curious about inpatient as I know they often have an inpatient diabates team they reach out to for consults.

Hi all,

I'm a final-year medical student in Europe and I've been yo-yoing about my specialty for weeks. My judgment feels clouded: I'm fairly sure I have ADHD, I'm burnt out, and I'm about to start SSRIs, mainly for anxiety.

I was/am torn between certain specialities:

\-Ophthalmology: the only specialty where I genuinely find the anatomy, pathophysiology and the physics/optics interesting. I've always loved the eye. But I'm unsure about surgery, and about whether I have the energy for a tough residency (late finishes, lots of studying, steep learning curve). People call it easy, but it isn't.

\-Occupational medicine (médecin du travail): I haven't done a placement yet, but the residency and lifestyle seem much better suited to me.

\-PM&R: I spent one day with a doctor who didn't seem passionate, and it put me off.

\-Dentistry: I've even thought about finishing this year and then doing 5 years of dentistry.

What I want: a 9-to-5 but also feel passionate about what I do, and feel like I'm making differences in people's lives (ophthalmology does certainly provide that) and some relaxation, at least for now.

I genuinely love people, talking to them and I find I truly do have a strong capacity to make a patient feel heard and reassured which is already part of the healing process in my options ... I'm a type B person, not a gunner. I've already struggled too much in med school as a last minute studier/heavy procrastinator, I'm not passionate about much else in medicine, and I don't want the responsibility of vast medical knowledge. At 26, I want to get on with life instead of staying in the rat race.

My questions are:

\-is my hesitation about ophthalmology just burnout, or should I genuinely avoid this specialty...Is my personality (type B) just not made for Opthalmology ? I genuinely don't care about making tons of money, I want to be passionate and fulfilled with my job whilst feeling like I'm making genuine differences in people's lives, all whilst the job not being my entire life (I want a family, to reconnect with friends to live)...

Can I realistically handle a demanding residency for several years while burnt out, has anyone managed?

Does attending life get much better, and is it worth it? Or will I be surrounded by type A people forever?

Would love to hear from anyone who's been through something similar.

In that case should I just go for the safer, more 'boring' option which is occupational health medicine, which is stable, 9-5 even in residency, no calls etc.

Thank you guys for your suggestions and time,

Have a nice day!

I start in a week and I'm so scared. I don't know what essentials to buy and also scared for the hectic work. I prayed for this but now I'm scared 😭😭😭

Hi guys, first off, this is jot a medical question, I would like to try ans dee if any of you have had any issues working surgical specialties with any joint issues present. Ill provide context for you, but I dont yet have a definitive diagnosis.

Ive been suffering from joint pain and swelling the past year, while dealing with rheumatologists. My diagnosis is still somewhat unclear, but it's literally the deadline to choose a specialty, which is forcing me to ask here. My hopes are, Ill get a definitive diagnosis this week.

A little backstory: A year ago, while still working as a physician aide in a pediatric ward (during medical school), my last year I developed pain in my wrists after a prolonged pneumonia, which at some point ( I decided to push through it) led to weakness and loss of coordination.I became unable to put IVs in - I could get the vein, but not remove the needle.

So, a pediatric rheumatologist did an ultrasound unofficially and purposed a Dx of rheumatoid arthritis. I went to an adult rheumatologist and it was a shitshow - since I was a 24F, I spent a year testing for everything from brucellosis to leukemia, I went to three different haematologists. Anyway, I finally got an MRI. There were enhanced signals all along my ligaments and a small intraosseus cyst.

I was put on a monotherapy of sulfasalazine. A year later, the pain is not as much, but squeezing things as hard as I can becomes impossible after 2-4 minutes, and standing upright for more than 3 hours without moving brings me pain.

Im going to a different rheumatologist to try and figure out what exactly is going on, what the prognosis might be and what to do.

I'm here to ask you - are you someone (or do you know someone) who did surgery/or just OBY/GYN while suffering similar issues? Worst case scenario is rheumatoid arthritis - does anyone have any experience with it while working any type of surgery?

Oby/Gyn is my dream specialty and Ive been accepted, however, Im also accepted for an Infectious disease specialty.

Hey all, hope this doesn’t count as a personal
agenda, if so obviously delete.

I am now an attending but found a job that gives me great work-life balance and job satisfaction that I would have never thought about had someone not told me, so I am telling you.

If you are FM or IM and want to practice outpatient but not get burnt out with 97,309 patients on your panel, consider providing non-psychiatric medical care at a state psychiatric hospital. These patients are usually there quite long-term, sometimes for years, so you end up functioning as their PCP while they are admitted.

I am in the midwest and work for one such hospital. I work M-F 8-4:30, never have to take call or work weekends, and get lots of paid holidays and great benefits. I also find it incredibly fulfilling, although I realize it is not for everyone.

Feel free to DM me if you want more info.

Hi everyone, I’m a medical student interested in neurointerventional medicine and trying to understand how the neurology, neurosurgery, and radiology pathways compare in practice.
I’m particularly interested in pursuing it through neurology and would appreciate insight into a few questions:
Job market: How is demand currently for interventional neurologists compared with neurosurgery- or radiology-trained neurointerventionalists? Does residency background affect hiring, practice opportunities, or geographic flexibility?
Compensation: For similar procedural workloads and call responsibilities, are there meaningful salary differences based on training background?
Call and lifestyle: How do call frequency, overnight procedures, work hours, and schedule predictability compare? How much depends on specialty versus group size and practice setting?
Practice mix: Outside of procedures, what does each pathway’s typical week look like? For those trained in neurology, how much time goes toward stroke service, general neurology, or clinic?
Future outlook: Over the next 5–10 years, do you expect demand to grow, or are there concerns about saturation and competition among the different pathways?

Lastly, For someone who enjoys neurology and endovascular procedures, is this still a worthwhile route? Are there limitations or tradeoffs you wish you had understood before committing?b

I know we joke around and commiserate about it, but has anyone been actually diagnosed with PTSD from their experiences as a resident?

I did a few years of surgery, and the whole experience was brutally traumatic for me. Not just the toxic residency itself, but also major issues in my personal life involving infidelity and domestic abuse. 4 years of yelling, crying in bathrooms, humiliation, physical exhaustion, substance abuse, emotional abuse, instability, lack of sleep, social isolation, etc. That time was just a total nightmare and did severe damage to my mental and physical health.

I've since changed specialties (OEM now!) and live in a completely new environment. Surrounded by nature (there are literal deer on my front lawn). Very low stress, amazing work-life balance. I have time and energy to take care of myself, to spend with my loved ones, for hobbies. I have a loving and supportive partner. I'm even slowly but surely enjoying seeing patients and going in to work again.

I feel better, but I still don't feel right. My biggest issue is that my stress response to certain situations is often excessive and inappropriate. It's like my body relives a similar situation back in surgical residency, and it just reacts negatively. It just feels so out of place and unnecessary in this new environment.

The other day I opened up to some friends about how I'm afraid to "make moves" in my new field and my struggles overcoming that. I'm just so risk averse with my career now, because I don't want to experience anything remotely close to what I experienced ever again.

A friend of mine made a joke the other day about PTSD. I knew I was recovering from burnout, but I never really thought about actual PTSD. I looked up the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, and I was like, damn lol -- maybe I do have this problem.

Anyway, just wanted to see if anyone else out there feels me.

Edit - And yeah I should talk to a therapist again at some point. My plan was to see how things go in a completely new environment first, give things a chance to heal and adjust.

If you have a chance to do an administrative duties in addition to patient care as a physician. What’s the pros and cons?

I love it when my paycheck gets wiped out by car trouble and pet expenses despite working 13-14 hours six days a week

I already bought a board review course last year and now I’m struggling to find ways to spend the rest of my CME money. There’s only so much study material a person can buy!

Any underrated purchases or things where I can use this money? I am not going for any conference.

I need to use this money before it mysteriously disappears into the hospital’s general fund. 😂💀