So as I start a new rotation this week (OB/GYN) and try to get to
know a new preceptor, I inevitably get the question, “So…what field do
you want to go into?” Hey, I’m just gonna put it out there…I don’t know
what branch of medicine I’m going into. NO IDEA. I like doing OMM, but
thats not ALL I want to do. Physical Medicine & Rehab sounds
interesting, but I don’t have any experience in it, so who knows if I’d
actually like it. I like working with babies, but being a Pediatrician
is 90% cough & colds & paranoid parents, 10% serious and
heartbreaking. I sometimes think I’m the right personality to do
Oncology, but again, no real experience. So far, the only rotation that
I was excited to get up at 4am for everyday was Internal
Medicine-Cardiology. So, if I had to say where I am leaning, its IM.
Well I can’t exactly launch into this diatribe everytime I’m asked
this. So I’ve had to come up with a quick answer and b/c I’m not sure
what I want to be, I don’t think its a lie. IT does actually interest
me, so maybe it could happen. I mentioned this conundrum to another
medstudent today…
Other medstudent: “So what do you tell docs you want to be then?”
Me: “Interventional Cardio”
Other medstudent: “Why that?”
Me: “Well if I say anything primary, including IM, I get the speech
about how I’ll never make enough money to pay off my loans. If I say
PM&R, they might ask me why, and all I can say is “I just think it
sounds neat.” If I say Oncology, they’ll ask if there is a story there
and then I have to launch into my mom’s story and its just such a
serious conversation when first meeting someone. So I say IM- Intervent
Cardio, b/c 1) IM is general enough to where whatever the rotation is,
it could apply somehow and they don’t feel like they are wasting their
time teaching me, 2) “Cardio” makes me sound smart, and 3)
“Interventional” b/c they always respect the desire to do billable
procedures.”
I’ll have alot of time to ponder my future, while I do this for the next month…
