Extremely down to the wire on this. Planning on maybe dual applying peds and psych (to do child psych). Have a passion for inpatient peds, but like child psych/adult psych enough to want to do it well.
Peds pros:
-Love inpatient work and the diversity of the cases
-The kids often get better and the families for the most part are very grateful
-Really great team environment, very positive environment overall
-Always left in a good mood from the shift
Peds cons:
-Salary, have heard of salaries for hospitalists as low as 150k. This is wild to me considering the fellowship now
-Longer hours than psych and inpatient with irregular hours as well
-While can do a multitude of fellowships they either require a more time intensive work schedule or ultimately decrease earning potential outside of the select PICU,NICU etc which I more than likely wouldn't do anyways
-Don't like gen peds because of the pace and this is what pays the most
-Residents seemed burned out, this could be program dependent
Psych pros:
-40 hours with no holidays or weekends which will let me be at home with the kids more
-Residents appear really happy and have a lot of free time for hobbies
-Various different settings you can work
-Pays shockingly well for the time put into it (250-400k)
-Awesome schedule with no weekends or holidays
-Can see improvements in the outpatient settings, especially in ADHD
-Very specialized which is good and bad
Psych cons:
-there is improvement but it's slow
-Dislike psych polypharmacy as a whole, especially in child psych. I felt like a slew of the medications side effects were more harmful than helpful when considering a ton of the presentations are related to the poor home environments and structure rather than a true need for the meds
-Really dislike the nature of inpatient work
-Very specialized and at times feels a bit lackluster because of the lack of medicine focus
-Like it, but just not as much as peds
-Super long notes
-Hands down can have some of the most difficult patients
My mind tells me that I like psych enough and from a lifestyle perspective, psych seemingly wins hands down. This is important to me because of home life with kids and wanting to spend time with them. But I came into medicine to do peds, really enjoy the subject matter, population and work dynamics. Hate the thought of taking what I perceive as a giant lifestyle cut for 'passion', when for all I know I could burn out in peds or psych and maybe should have chosen the better lifestyle? I'm completely torn. Thoughts??
Peds pros:
-Love inpatient work and the diversity of the cases
-The kids often get better and the families for the most part are very grateful
-Really great team environment, very positive environment overall
-Always left in a good mood from the shift
Peds cons:
-Salary, have heard of salaries for hospitalists as low as 150k. This is wild to me considering the fellowship now
-Longer hours than psych and inpatient with irregular hours as well
-While can do a multitude of fellowships they either require a more time intensive work schedule or ultimately decrease earning potential outside of the select PICU,NICU etc which I more than likely wouldn't do anyways
-Don't like gen peds because of the pace and this is what pays the most
-Residents seemed burned out, this could be program dependent
Psych pros:
-40 hours with no holidays or weekends which will let me be at home with the kids more
-Residents appear really happy and have a lot of free time for hobbies
-Various different settings you can work
-Pays shockingly well for the time put into it (250-400k)
-Awesome schedule with no weekends or holidays
-Can see improvements in the outpatient settings, especially in ADHD
-Very specialized which is good and bad
Psych cons:
-there is improvement but it's slow
-Dislike psych polypharmacy as a whole, especially in child psych. I felt like a slew of the medications side effects were more harmful than helpful when considering a ton of the presentations are related to the poor home environments and structure rather than a true need for the meds
-Really dislike the nature of inpatient work
-Very specialized and at times feels a bit lackluster because of the lack of medicine focus
-Like it, but just not as much as peds
-Super long notes
-Hands down can have some of the most difficult patients
My mind tells me that I like psych enough and from a lifestyle perspective, psych seemingly wins hands down. This is important to me because of home life with kids and wanting to spend time with them. But I came into medicine to do peds, really enjoy the subject matter, population and work dynamics. Hate the thought of taking what I perceive as a giant lifestyle cut for 'passion', when for all I know I could burn out in peds or psych and maybe should have chosen the better lifestyle? I'm completely torn. Thoughts??
