I’m interested in pursuing a fellowship either in Interventional Pain or Sports Med (I come from PM&R).

I really enjoyed my Interventional Pain rotations, but after speaking with patients outside of clinic and looking at the
Chronic Pain subreddit, some patients just don’t get better unless it’s with opioids (most of the pain docs I know don’t prescribe opioids). So the patient is left unsatisfied with treatment and still has pain.

With that said, i’m only focusing on the negatives. I know there are a lot of positives aswell.

But yeah, i’m torn between Sports Med or Pain. Any insight?

My fellow anesthesia residents, I need help. I remember going to the gym regularly during my CB year, but stopped immediately when I became a CA1 due to massive schedule changes. How many days a week are y'all going to the gym (or exercising in general)? I think reading about how often my colleagues are going to the gym will help me get over myself and get back out there. I'd especially love to hear how y'all integrate going to the gym into your study schedule.

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.

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

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!

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 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.

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

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.

How are you guys managing the cost of living as residents

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 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 😭😭😭

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. 😂💀

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.

​

I’m working 80+ hours a week in residency, and I’m curious how this compares with other places, specialties and careers.

Recently, I told some of my non-medical friends about my work hours, and they were genuinely surprised. It made me think about work-life balance and the choices I want to make for my future career.

How many hours do you typically work per week? Does it get better after residency?

I'm an anesthesiology resident at a surgical icu and the surgery colleagues make one feel like a useless bug. It's not the questions that bother me but how they are asked and the complete lack of trust in our abilities and diagnostic workups. You are brought upon a hostile group of people after not sleeping for 24h and are not even allowed to speak your sentence to the end. Like let me speak I can answer all your questions for fuck's sake but stop interrupting me in a very humiliating tone. It completely lacks the minimum respect that should be in place in every human interaction.

Back to things I can change hopefully:

When this happens I get nervous and feel like I'm being examined so despite having done perfectly all night I can't present anything logically i get a shaky cracky voice and get red probably. I need advice to overcome this.

I feel like if your life isn't at least average (if not above average) in terms of having support and stability outside of residency then you're fucked.

I have dealt with a disproportionate amount of bad things during my medical education/training and I manage REALLY well all things considered!! But the other day I broke a bit and I haven't recovered

I was getting chewed out for not knowing a bunch of trials among some other petty things where my attending just wasn't giving me a break. I just had a significant loss in my family and had been having recurrent dreams about my close dead relatives, then got news my literal only remaining immediate family member is newly sick, developed worsening headaches which were BAD that day, and was having some GI upset that day too as a little icing on the cake lol.

In the same week, I also had abstracts due for a conference.. which I never submitted because I was so burnt out and the mere thought was inducing panic and anxiety in me.

That day, I never felt so much like genuinely wanting to ~end it~ during residency so far because both mentally and physically I was just spent. It actually scared me a bit, and I'm not a stranger to coping with depression and anxiety.

Residency is enough to burn out and break anyone for sure. Sometimes idk how we do it in general. But I do think of my coresidents with stable situations, siblings and/or a nuclear family unit that is alive (who can care for each other, because I've been my family's caretaker), and a live-in supportive significant other at home who helps cook, clean, laundry, etc. Those few things would help me SO much. ONE of those would help me so much.

I think about my co-residents who are able to read a lot outside of work, are up to date on everything, doing research, and get a lot of praise for it. But the ones who do that are also usually living in pretty ideal environments. Logically, I shouldn't beat myself up, but I don't *want* to slip up because of external factors either. I'm a doctor, I should be reading and learning and knowing stuff.

How do we do it, fellow People Like Me?

Hot take I know, but with the job market in shambles, and certain specialties booming or staying the same, we have it better than most

I’m starting to genuinely hate residency, and I can’t tell if it’s burnout or just the constant workload with very little appreciation. I have some issues with my program too, especially the backstabbing and the feeling that some people are willing to step on others to get ahead. I’m almost halfway through the year and feel like I can never catch a break. For those who have felt this way, how are y’all coping? Does it actually get better, or do we just get better at dealing with it?

In all seriousness - are there any residents/attendings that are actually loyal to their SO? I already know that when you go through this sub all you see are stories of cheating, especially surgeons and cardiologists leaving their wives and having an affair.

It’s lowkey soul crushing seeing so many posts and comments on this sub so I’m trying to see if the opposite exists - are there actually any folks remaining who are loyal and don’t even think about cheating?

Hey guys
Is it normal that i still hasn't received anything yet ? I only received acp mail saying that i can get a planned lessons based on my ite result

Current IM PGY-3 and got the worst ITE score throughout residency this year. I'm very worried I won't pass boards. I am a decent test-taker, have never failed any exams, and scored well on all 3 steps.

ITE scores:

PGY-1: 60% correct, 47th percentile

PGY-2: 71% correct, 75th percentile

PGY-3: 65% correct, 25th percentile

The night before, I got ~3 hours of sleep and was literally falling asleep during the first 2 blocks. I am otherwise a well-performing resident and have never had complaints regarding clinical skills. My program has us do a fixed number of board questions each block, which I do in a very nonchalant way since it's a requirement, and I get 60-70% correct. I don't understand how I did so much worse and feel horrible. Also, does the percent correct or percentile matter for board pass estimation? Feel like crap and would appreciate any advice!

I’ll be meeting up on google meet from 7 to 9pm CST daily between now and then if you’d like me to share screen as I do a block of 40 med study questions and then review the major points with my study partner aloud.

Sup, I am a rads resident with a QI project requirement that probably needs to start getting some of my attention, and I have an idea. If you are not a radiology resident, this is probably super irrelevant to you, may as well keep scrolling lol.

The best way I learn in residency is by reviewing my cases from overnight after my staff signs them final and makes edits. It’s great feedback, but I have some issues;

1) Many of the changes are insignificant and just wording differences, but it still takes me a while to go through all the text just to realize there is really no change. This may seem minor but when I am reviewing 120 studies the next day, it can really take time.

2) There is no way for me to track stats on my strengths and weaknesses unless I do it myself. I’ve read close to 5000 studies this academic year, and obviously I can tell that I am better as some studies compared to others, but in this day and age, it seems silly that there is not a system in place to track these trends for me. I.e: “MSK CT’s have significant changes to the report 12% of the time.”

We are a large university program with epic, visage, and powerscribe. If anyone has some kind of solution to this I would love to hear it and try to implement it at my program.

Sincerely,

A resident with a QI project requirement.