The time is rapidly approaching to start applying for residency. Why on earth is it so hard to figure out what I like? I like medicine; I like working with people. I've enjoyed just about every rotation I've done so far but no single one really jumps out at me as an area that gets me passionate. I could see myself as a surgeon, a pediatrician, an anesthesiologist, an internist, an obstetrician gynecologist, and a family doctor. Just about the only area that has been ruled out so far is radiology and that's mainly because I don't foresee having access to the technology on the medical mission field.
Certainly doing something in surgery seems the most obvious when it comes to medical missions. "A chance to cut is a chance to cure," as they say. You get definitive and nearly immediate results, which is great, and I am perpetually blown away by the fact that we are working on someone's insides! On the other hand (literally) my manual dexterity seems to be lacking, not something that couldn't be overcome with more practice, but it is disheartening when I'm trying to make a major career decision.
Anesthesia is really neat. Just about the only pharmacology I actually enjoy has to do with the autonomic system - sympathetics, parasympathetics, and the like - and it is really satisfying to see the immediate effect of pushing a liquid through a syringe to adjust the heart rate, blood pressure, consciousness level, etc... it's like magic! The downside is that you get relatively little interaction with conscious patients. To contrast with surgery, you see your patients in the office before and after the operation but, in anesthesia, you introduce yourself and then knock them out. As they say in anesthesia, "the best anesthesiologist is one the patient doesn't remember", because something likely didn't go so well if they do remember you.
I liked pediatrics because you are working for the most part with patients who are generally healthy save for whatever infection they are currently battling. You may give them medication but it is usually only temporary and they will go back to being their normal healthy selves before long. Also the pediatric population has not yet had a chance to cause their own medical issues through poor lifestyles. On the other hand, I have five fingers. :o) Seriously, though, I really dislike dealing with genetic diseases and most of them crop up in the pediatric population. I also don't know that I could emotionally handle the mortally ill children.
Obstetrics was a blast! I had so much fun and was so honored to be delivering babies. I enjoyed the variety of clinic, delivery, and surgery. However, I didn't get much exposure to the prenatal and gynecologic side of the profession and I don't think I would like that as much. Besides, here's a blinding glimpse of the obvious, being a guy I can't relate to my patients from personal experience. I can understand why the profession has so many female physicians although I have met a couple excellent male ob-gyn doctors.
I think, internal medicine probably exposed me to more consequences of poor lifestyles and got me to feeling more jaded about it all. The patient on oxygen who still smokes and the awful outcomes of unmanaged diabetes are just a few examples. Also, internists have a butt load of patients to see and do not seem to get much time to spend time with each.
Family medicine has the most potential for developing relationships with my patients. You get to take care of their overall health, which gives a nice broad subject matter. Unlike peds, I was frustrated though by how many troubles are caused by poor lifestyle habits. It seems like you are fighting an uphill battle with a mediocre arsenal of advice and drugs when the best cures are healthy eating and exercise. To be fair, I am probably honing in on a relatively smaller subset of patients with this complaint and most people really do take care of their bodies.
So, I'm still stuck. I like and dislike aspects of everything in medicine. Perhaps I should just stop waiting for that perfect area and pick one... perhaps God will give me some guidance soon!
If you read all of that, kudos for sticking with me and please send out a prayer for direction in this decision.
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2 comments:
Hi Jon!
Jen's friend from Sweden here. I could have written that myself some time ago. :) However, I decided that since I like so many different fields (except perhaps internal medicine, which is quickly turning into geriatrics here in Sweden), I might as well pick with my brain. :) After having had a struggle to chose between psych (incl child and adolescent) and radiology, I have now matched into radiology and feel really satisfied about it. I think you should really chose with the mission part as the most important factor, since that seems to be important to you. I think it also depends on if you want to live in areas where there are active wars going on, or in a more peaceful, but in need of mission, country.
I'm saying some prayers for you and hope God gives you guidance!
I will be praying for you.
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