I am so lost

[KyleJames]

Hello everyone,

As the title of this thread suggests, I am lost and have no idea what to do with my future. I was dead set on allopathic school for the longest time, but recently had a change of heart. Looking back on it, I believe I was obsessed with the IDEA of gaining acceptance to medical school, not actually being a doctor. I used this as motivation, and because of it have done very well throughout school and have completed all necessary prerequisites etc. Now, though, as a second semester junior, I have no idea what to do.

Which is why I am posting in the pre-pod forum. I never considered podiatry as a profession. I've gone to podiatrists in the past, but never realized they were different than MDs. Looking forward, I can see myself as a podiatrist. I like the idea of split clinic and surgical days, with a relatively light work load (not 70-80 hour weeks), and the overall ability to balance life and work.

I fear that as a practicing MD, I won't be able to enjoy a life away from medicine. I hope this is making sense, at this point I feel as though I'm just rambling. Anyways, I guess what I'm asking is am I right to see be concerned with the lifestyle of a doctor? I realize DPMs still work hard and quite a bit, but I can see myself there rather than an MD.

Has anyone else ever been in this predicament? Am I alone, or are other people concerned like me? What exactly is a podiatrists day like? Is the residency less stressful/time consuming than a different residency? Question, overload for one post, but I am really starting to rack my brain.

Thanks to anyone who responds.

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[PodasaurusRex]

It's funny because this is exactly something I would have posted a little less than a year ago. I too went to a podiatrist my whole sports career and never realized they didn't go through a general medical school program. To save me some typing I'm going to copy and paste something I posted a while ago in another forum similar to this one (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...ports-medicine-surgery.1174143/#post-17223467):

"OP, I was in a boat so very similar to you. I didn't even know podiatry was a separate schooling until around April of this year and I went to one my entire high school sports career due to my horrible bunions. I have always been on the MD/DO track until I discovered podiatry. I've shadowed almost all specialties and what I kept coming back to was ophthalmology, general surgery and orthopedics. See any correlation? Surgery. But on the flip side I really enjoyed clinic days. Ophthalmology is so incredibly similar to the structure and daily routine of podiatry. Once I started shadowing I found out how enjoyable the day of a podiatrist really is. I have always been a planner and I realized I enjoyed it so much and I did not want to leave my entire life up to a match process. What if I landed in family med? I'd be one of those doctors who tore down everything that is medicine. I would have been miserable. I know podiatry can afford me a good family life I plan to have in the future and I am confident I can attain the same financial stability as if I went to general medical school. I've done my homework and I truly think the job market for us when we get out is going to be ridiculous. You hear more and more about how many people are coming out of residencies at very high salaries. So many podiatrist from the baby boomer generation retiring, in addition to the older generations being so much more active than the ones before them, I see our profession being lucrative. It's 1980 guys and we're buying Apple stock. Regardless even if I don't hit a big time paying situation, it's still incredibly fulfilling work in which you can impact many."

I have to say the two biggest reasons I chose to switch is 1) guaranteed a medical specialty and 2) I know it's going to afford me the family life I want to have when I'm older.

 

[ldsrmdude]

Hello everyone,

As the title of this thread suggests, I am lost and have no idea what to do with my future. I was dead set on allopathic school for the longest time, but recently had a change of heart. Looking back on it, I believe I was obsessed with the IDEA of gaining acceptance to medical school, not actually being a doctor. I used this as motivation, and because of it have done very well throughout school and have completed all necessary prerequisites etc. Now, though, as a second semester junior, I have no idea what to do.

Which is why I am posting in the pre-pod forum. I never considered podiatry as a profession. I've gone to podiatrists in the past, but never realized they were different than MDs. Looking forward, I can see myself as a podiatrist. I like the idea of split clinic and surgical days, with a relatively light work load (not 70-80 hour weeks), and the overall ability to balance life and work.

I fear that as a practicing MD, I won't be able to enjoy a life away from medicine. I hope this is making sense, at this point I feel as though I'm just rambling. Anyways, I guess what I'm asking is am I right to see be concerned with the lifestyle of a doctor? I realize DPMs still work hard and quite a bit, but I can see myself there rather than an MD.

Has anyone else ever been in this predicament? Am I alone, or are other people concerned like me? What exactly is a podiatrists day like? Is the residency less stressful/time consuming than a different residency? Question, overload for one post, but I am really starting to rack my brain.

Thanks to anyone who responds.

Have no fear, these are pretty common questions and concerns that most of us have had at some point. Browse through the threads on the forum here and you'll find a lot of good info. Let me just comment on a few things. The lifestyle thing is something that many pre-pods have bought into. I did. It's not that it isn't true, but I don't think there is really much of a difference in lifestyle between podiatry and many other specialties. I work in a small group and am on call a lot. My typical day is 10-12 hours in clinic, the wound care center, or in the OR. When I'm on call on the weekends we cover 2 hospitals and have usually anywhere from 2-5 inpatients. Most weeks I usually have at least 1 surgery that isn't scheduled and is either on the weekend or after office hours. I'm not complaining because this is the practice I chose and what interests me, and there are a lot of other specialties that put in way more hours than I do, I'm just saying that most of us work hard and frequently long hours to take care of our patients. Residency depends on the residency, there are very busy ones and there are not quite as busy ones. At my hospital which had something like 10 different residency programs, I would guess we were probably somewhere in the middle in terms of hours worked. As far as stressfulness, each residency is unique. We don't deal with the code blue patients regularly unless we're on that service and don't deal with the acute trauma surgical patients unless we rotate on that service, so we don't have that stress. We do have our urgent cases and elective cases have their own stressful aspects. Feel free to ask me any other questions on the forum or via PM

 

[KyleJames]

So regarding lifestyle, do pods have more family time? I know you've outlined your day, ldsrmdude, but I'm curious if you know a general consensus on lifestyle.

 

[ldsrmdude]

So regarding lifestyle, do pods have more family time? I know you've outlined your day, ldsrmdude, but I'm curious if you know a general consensus on lifestyle.

I guess that depends on what you're comparing podiatry to. We're certainly not the specialty that works the most hours at the hospital. It also depends on your individual practice. Like I mentioned, there are a lot of different options for practice, some 9-5, M-F with no call, some positions require a lot of call with a lot of after-hours work, and if you have your own practice, you can set your own hours (although this is becoming much less common, it is still an option.) Looking at the Podiatry Management annual survey from last year, it looks like just over 40% of podiatrists that responded work 40+ hour a week and just less than 40% worked between 30-40 hours a week. Now, there's a lot that could be discussed about this survey and how applicable it is to your situation, but it's some food for thought. Here's the link to the survey: http://www.podiatrym.com/Annual_Survey_report2.cfm?id=1622
@NatCh has a pretty lifestyle-friendly practice, I believe. Maybe he can add his thoughts to the discussion.

 

[FootAndAnkle]

Hello everyone,

As the title of this thread suggests, I am lost and have no idea what to do with my future. I was dead set on allopathic school for the longest time, but recently had a change of heart. Looking back on it, I believe I was obsessed with the IDEA of gaining acceptance to medical school, not actually being a doctor. I used this as motivation, and because of it have done very well throughout school and have completed all necessary prerequisites etc. Now, though, as a second semester junior, I have no idea what to do.

Which is why I am posting in the pre-pod forum. I never considered podiatry as a profession. I've gone to podiatrists in the past, but never realized they were different than MDs. Looking forward, I can see myself as a podiatrist. I like the idea of split clinic and surgical days, with a relatively light work load (not 70-80 hour weeks), and the overall ability to balance life and work.

I fear that as a practicing MD, I won't be able to enjoy a life away from medicine. I hope this is making sense, at this point I feel as though I'm just rambling. Anyways, I guess what I'm asking is am I right to see be concerned with the lifestyle of a doctor? I realize DPMs still work hard and quite a bit, but I can see myself there rather than an MD.

Has anyone else ever been in this predicament? Am I alone, or are other people concerned like me? What exactly is a podiatrists day like? Is the residency less stressful/time consuming than a different residency? Question, overload for one post, but I am really starting to rack my brain.

Thanks to anyone who responds.

One of the reasons I chose podiatry was due to uncertainty regarding what sort of family lifestyle other specialties would afford. While I am pleased with the lifestyle podiatry will provide, I recognize now that there are plenty of ways to have an excellent lifestyle in a number of the allopathic specialties and that my misconceptions about that fact were naive. If your primary motivation for choosing podiatry is the thought of a comparably easier lifestyle, I don't think that it warrants changing your original plans - you can be happy and have a good lifestyle if you pursue a general medical degree, as well (it will be a lot of work either way, however).

 

[FootAndAnkle]

Also, if you're not sure about what to do, there is always the option of becoming an M.D./Ph.D. This allows you to 1) go to school for free, 2) get paid to go to school for free, 3) experience two very promising professions, and 4) choose what you want to do afterwards, be it residency and medical practice or bench/clinical research. A former coworker of mine was accepted to medical school and ready to go, but his father (a physician) convinced him to get a Ph.D. instead and work in research because of the state of medicine in the U.S. That probably isn't a bad idea either, if it's mainly the intellectual stimulation that interests you!

 

[KyleJames]

One of the reasons I chose podiatry was due to uncertainty regarding what sort of family lifestyle other specialties would afford. While I am pleased with the lifestyle podiatry will provide, I recognize now that there are plenty of ways to have an excellent lifestyle in a number of the allopathic specialties and that my misconceptions about that fact were naive. If your primary motivation for choosing podiatry is the thought of a comparably easier lifestyle, I don't think that it warrants changing your original plans - you can be happy and have a good lifestyle if you pursue a general medical degree, as well (it will be a lot of work either way, however).

It plays a role in my decision, but is not the sole reason. I also like the idea of multiple days in clinic with a day or two in the OR. Guaranteed surgery is also very attractive.

 

[KyleJames]

Also, if you're not sure about what to do, there is always the option of becoming an M.D./Ph.D. This allows you to 1) go to school for free, 2) get paid to go to school for free, 3) experience two very promising professions, and 4) choose what you want to do afterwards, be it residency and medical practice or bench/clinical research. A former coworker of mine was accepted to medical school and ready to go, but his father (a physician) convinced him to get a Ph.D. instead and work in research because of the state of medicine in the U.S. That probably isn't a bad idea either, if it's mainly the intellectual stimulation that interests you!

I've definitely consider the research route, but it seems research is in a worse state than medicine is right now. Financial stability also plays a factor during my decision making, and I fear the Ph.D route won't even guarantee I find a job.

 

[NatCh]

Hello everyone,
Looking back on it, I believe I was obsessed with the IDEA of gaining acceptance to medical school, not actually being a doctor.

So regarding lifestyle, do pods have more family time? I know you've outlined your day, ldsrmdude, but I'm curious if you know a general consensus on lifestyle.

@NatCh has a pretty lifestyle-friendly practice, I believe. Maybe he can add his thoughts to the discussion.

Hi KyleJames. As far as having free time and a good lifestyle goes, I guess that applies to me. I'm in the office Tuesday morning, all day Wednesday, all day Thursday, and elective surgeries are on Friday. If I don't have any cases then I have a 4 day weekend. My daily schedule goes from 8:40 AM to 5 PM with a one-hour lunch. I share office call with my 2 partners but we don't take hospital call. My schedule is not common in our profession but our business is set up to support it. Of the medical specialties I think Radiologists have the best lifestyle based upon doctors who I know.

Your statement above regarding obsession with the IDEA of getting into medical school rather than being a doctor is a red flag to me. The training for a medical profession is long, arduous, and very expensive. With each passing year there seems to be more paperwork and regulatory nonsense along with declining reimbursement and other headaches. I think that if you want to go into medicine in any capacity you should be at least 90% sure that it's what you want to do. It's a lot easier to put up with all the Mickey Mouse if you really enjoy what you're doing. You apparently have the brainpower to do just about whatever you want, so the advice I've been telling my own children is to seek a profession that inspires you.

 

[KyleJames]

Hi KyleJames. As far as having free time and a good lifestyle goes, I guess that applies to me. I'm in the office Tuesday morning, all day Wednesday, all day Thursday, and elective surgeries are on Friday. If I don't have any cases then I have a 4 day weekend. My daily schedule goes from 8:40 AM to 5 PM with a one-hour lunch. I share office call with my 2 partners but we don't take hospital call. My schedule is not common in our profession but our business is set up to support it. Of the medical specialties I think Radiologists have the best lifestyle based upon doctors who I know.

Your statement above regarding obsession with the IDEA of getting into medical school rather than being a doctor is a red flag to me. The training for a medical profession is long, arduous, and very expensive. With each passing year there seems to be more paperwork and regulatory nonsense along with declining reimbursement and other headaches. I think that if you want to go into medicine in any capacity you should be at least 90% sure that it's what you want to do. It's a lot easier to put up with all the Mickey Mouse if you really enjoy what you're doing. You apparently have the brainpower to do just about whatever you want, so the advice I've been telling my own children is to seek a profession that inspires you.

Thanks for the response NatCh! I definitely see where you are coming from about the inspiration part. I think I got caught up in the competition between pre med students. I wanted to do well and prove myself, but I neglected to consider my actual career goals. I'm inspired by learning and putting the knowledge I've gained to real work. I also enjoy challenges. With all this in mind, I always thought being a doctor would satisfy all my wants in a career. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but I know I need to shadow and do some real soul searching.

 

[NatCh]

You wouldn't be the first person to get caught up in the pre-med competition, so don't feel bad about it. I knew a guy during residency who was very smart, hard working, and capable, who always took on the biggest challenges. He did great as a med student then ended up in some hyper-competitive residency (pediatric nephrology or something like that) after which he practiced for a couple of years before he realized that the reward for having been the hardest worker was a job where he'd have to work really hard all of the time. IIRC he went back and did a Dermatology or Ophthalmology residency so life wouldn't be so damned hard. My wife's friend went into medicine because she's very smart but didn't know what she wanted to do. Pre-med was supposedly what the smartest students did so she went along with it. She's a Hospitalist now and as far as I can tell is miserable. She says her dream job is to be a waitress. Ooof.

Keep in mind that whatever career path you choose, you just might end up doing it for forty years or more. That's a long time. It seems to me that probably all jobs have some degree of bulls**t that one has to put up with, so hopefully you find something you enjoy that makes you want to go to work rather than a career that's soul-sucking.

I enjoy podiatry. Despite all of the stuff we have to put up with I get satisfaction when I can improve someone's quality of life. At this point in my career I've narrowed the emphasis of my practice to those conditions I like treating while sending to someone else the conditions I don't like treating. My income is fairly stable while my debt is low. I no longer feel pressure to see anything and everything that walks in the door. Regardless, to make a living in podiatry I still have to provide the labor at this point. If you want free time and command of your own schedule then you should find routes of passive income (e.g., own something, invent something, employ others) so you don't actually need to physically be present to make money.