Having doubts?

[rocks72]

I am curious how easy it is to switch out of Internal Medicine after intern year if someone wants to switch specialties. Should I let this doubt shape where I rank various programs? I enjoy internal medicine very much, but I was having a very difficult time deciding in the end between IM and a couple other specialties, such as Emergency Medicine. I am concerned about my ability to have time with my family in the future amongst other doubts and feel I may have let myself be persuaded that these other specialties were not worthwhile by faculty. I am coming from a good school and did well enough that I likely could have applied competitively to any specialty (I will spare you the stats). Just looking for some opinions/advice... thanks.

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[yomanjr]

You could justify leaving after one year by considering it a transitional year... making it more flexible for you to enter say anesthesia. EM is different and you should consider it from the start otherwise you would have wasted a year. A medicine internship is difficult and I'd rather do research instead of going through it.

 

[CambieMD]

You could justify leaving after one year by considering it a transitional year... making it more flexible for you to enter say anesthesia. EM is different and you should consider it from the start otherwise you would have wasted a year. A medicine internship is difficult and I'd rather do research instead of going through it.

These color highlights are addictive.

I think that you should prepare to switch specialties if you are going into this thing with doubts. I would try to get into the best IM residency possible.
Show up packing a great attitude and work hard. if you do that, you would be able to get good letters. A year of IM would serve many uses

(1) Income
(2) an opportunity to determine what you want to do
(3) Good clinical experience
(4) A source of strong letters

I have swithched specialties after a few years of practice. Take it from me, do not do something crazy like sitting out the match. Research will probably not help you. You sound like a strong canidate already. If you are considering gas you can find a position outside of the match during your first year in IM.

Good luck,

CambieMD

 

[pretzel]

Keep in mind that there are IM/EM programs as well. If you match into an IM program, maybe you can transfer into one of these.