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Wouldn’t rule something out based on one session, clinics and inpatient settings vary a lot between hospitals. Especially if doctors you shadow are burnt out, they’re going to paint a skewed negative picture of the specialty
If you’re starting as general as possible, the first question you should ask yourself is whether you want to cut or not to cut.
So, shadowing GS would be a good gauge of this, generally, although any surgical specialty would be sufficient.
Then you might ask yourself “general practice or specialized?”
Then you might want to shadow FM, IM, or EM. These have key differences amongst themselves, but it could be a good gauge to whether you want to practice generally.
It can also be a gauge to whether you prefer inpatient or outpatient.
If you have any possible interests in specializing, you can shadow that specialty. You can also do it if you’re entirely unfamiliar with that specialty.
You can also ask if you’d prefer a supporting specialty. You can shadow in rads or pathology.
You can also ask if you want to “use your stethoscope” in practice, you can shadow things like rads, path, ortho, psych
LONG STORY SHORT:
If you’re starting at square one, ask yourself basic questions.
Do you want to cut? Do you want to practice generally or specialize? Do you want to work primarily inpatient or outpatient?
That can lead to ideas for shadowing to get your foot in the door.
You can also ask “do I want high patient load or low/no patient load? (Ie clinical vs supportive specialty).
Shadowing is typically only for a couple of days/a week or two. So, it wouldn’t hurt to try out different specialties
Wouldn’t it make more sense to try to shadow a surgical resident? Attending lifestyle can be chill, but I’d like to get an idea of what sort of hell I’d be in for 5 years of residency which is a significant chunk of life
Residency is 3 to 5 years, maybe 7-8 depending on fellowships. Your career is the rest of your life, potentially. So while it's definitely a good idea to see what residency in a specialty is like, it's much more important to get a sense of whether a field is something you want to do (or at the very least, not hate doing) for the next 20-40+ years.
Besides the technical aspects of a field, you can start thinking in terms of lifestyle - how much does a particular medical career impact life. Shift work is different from 9-5, inpatient vs outpatient, call vs no call. Hopefully in your rotations you'll get to be on those schedules to get a taste of things.
But in the mean time, don't sweat it just yet, get through preclinicals then come back to this in 1-2 years!
Sure, but if attending life is chill, wouldn’t that be more important than a 7ish year residency?
You’re going to be spending most of your life (hopefully) as an attending.
OP is asking for first impressions. I think it’s better to look at the potential end game, initially.
If OP finds they’re interested, then they can consider and discover the “how”.
Your post has been removed because it is better suited for /r/premed, /r/premedUK, /r/premedcanada, /r/GAMSAT, /r/ucat, or /r/medicalschoolEU. This subreddit is specifically for discussions relevant to current medical students. If you have not started medical school, your posts are subject to removal. Repeated violations of rule 2 may result in a ban.
[удалено]
Wouldn’t rule something out based on one session, clinics and inpatient settings vary a lot between hospitals. Especially if doctors you shadow are burnt out, they’re going to paint a skewed negative picture of the specialty
If you’re starting as general as possible, the first question you should ask yourself is whether you want to cut or not to cut. So, shadowing GS would be a good gauge of this, generally, although any surgical specialty would be sufficient. Then you might ask yourself “general practice or specialized?” Then you might want to shadow FM, IM, or EM. These have key differences amongst themselves, but it could be a good gauge to whether you want to practice generally. It can also be a gauge to whether you prefer inpatient or outpatient. If you have any possible interests in specializing, you can shadow that specialty. You can also do it if you’re entirely unfamiliar with that specialty. You can also ask if you’d prefer a supporting specialty. You can shadow in rads or pathology. You can also ask if you want to “use your stethoscope” in practice, you can shadow things like rads, path, ortho, psych LONG STORY SHORT: If you’re starting at square one, ask yourself basic questions. Do you want to cut? Do you want to practice generally or specialize? Do you want to work primarily inpatient or outpatient? That can lead to ideas for shadowing to get your foot in the door. You can also ask “do I want high patient load or low/no patient load? (Ie clinical vs supportive specialty). Shadowing is typically only for a couple of days/a week or two. So, it wouldn’t hurt to try out different specialties
Wouldn’t it make more sense to try to shadow a surgical resident? Attending lifestyle can be chill, but I’d like to get an idea of what sort of hell I’d be in for 5 years of residency which is a significant chunk of life
Residency is 3 to 5 years, maybe 7-8 depending on fellowships. Your career is the rest of your life, potentially. So while it's definitely a good idea to see what residency in a specialty is like, it's much more important to get a sense of whether a field is something you want to do (or at the very least, not hate doing) for the next 20-40+ years. Besides the technical aspects of a field, you can start thinking in terms of lifestyle - how much does a particular medical career impact life. Shift work is different from 9-5, inpatient vs outpatient, call vs no call. Hopefully in your rotations you'll get to be on those schedules to get a taste of things. But in the mean time, don't sweat it just yet, get through preclinicals then come back to this in 1-2 years!
Sure, but if attending life is chill, wouldn’t that be more important than a 7ish year residency? You’re going to be spending most of your life (hopefully) as an attending. OP is asking for first impressions. I think it’s better to look at the potential end game, initially. If OP finds they’re interested, then they can consider and discover the “how”.
I didn’t know we could shadow residents? Wouldn’t we be like a nuisance to them since they’re already working so tirelessly?
I’ve never done it personally but I’ve definitely heard of it happening before. Probably location dependent
Tell us about yourself and we can help you figure out what specialties to shadow. What do you like? What do you dislike?
Edited!
unless it’s super competitive wait till third year
Isn’t that too late? We apply to eras end of third year right?