I am a med student who did a elective rotation in GI. Loved the combination of procedures and cerebral thinking. But it seems In the actual world gi is mostly outpatient and tend to work independently in endoscopy centers with not much interaction with other specialities. How true is this? I really like inpatient gi where you consult and do procedures and make diagnosis no one has a clue of
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Muti disciplinary role?
- Thread starter Gagan97
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I am a med student who did a elective rotation in GI. Loved the combination of procedures and cerebral thinking. But it seems In the actual world gi is mostly outpatient and tend to work independently in endoscopy centers with not much interaction with other specialities. How true is this? I really like inpatient gi where you consult and do procedures and make diagnosis no one has a clue of
First off, you can take a job with as much inpatient GI as you want, in fact GI Hospitalists exist who do exclusively inpatient GI like you said. Obviously from a longevity standpoint this can burn you out- folks are hunting for those who want the stress and hours of the hospital so they can be productive scoping and seeing patients in outpatient centers. Most jobs in the real world, academic or private are a mix of inpt and outpatient, and you can find a job that balances how much of each you want.
Multidisciplinary management in GI is ever-present, with psychologists, dieticians, surgeons, PCP, oncologists, etc. Different patients demand different things. If you are a Transplant Hepatologist or tertiary care academic advanced endoscopist you will be talking to Surgeons at least weekly. You really hope not to have to talk to a surgeon when you are out scoping at your endoscopy center because thats usually because you found cancer or something you can't fix or had a complication. In short, you can make your role what you want, within reason and may have to negotiate some parts of it. Get more experience in GI to gauge it better.
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Thank you for your reply! I still have a week left so I will try and explore more! Also I can't help but notice that the lines between GI and surgery keep blurring in the sense advanced endoscopist do a lot of stuff that was previously purely surgical. I love GI as a system and loved endoscopy as a modality. Yet I keep hearing people telling me if I want to truly to gi I should do surgery as I will have a better skillset for therapeutic procedures. How true is this? Is there turf war between GI and colorectal/advanced mis surgeons?
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Thank you for your reply! I still have a week left so I will try and explore more! Also I can't help but notice that the lines between GI and surgery keep blurring in the sense advanced endoscopist do a lot of stuff that was previously purely surgical. I love GI as a system and loved endoscopy as a modality. Yet I keep hearing people telling me if I want to truly to gi I should do surgery as I will have a better skillset for therapeutic procedures. How true is this? Is there turf war between GI and colorectal/advanced mis surgeons?
There is overlap, and as we have seen with Cardiothoracic surgery, everything less invasive is usually better (with clear exceptions) and GI is taking some things from Surgery, though many (a minority) of surgeons practice quite a bit of endoscopy. With the improvements in ESD, NOTES, third space, bariatrics, GI is moving into these areas slowly but right now this is relegated to big academic centers and niche centers, and fortunately there is really no nasty turf war- GERD and maybe bariatrics may be where this develops in the future. Screening colons aren't a turf issue, plenty of them to go around. MIS is catching up and may well be the best for patients going forward depending on what you are treating.
I may get flak for this but I see no overalp between GI and Surgery. Those who like Gen Surg shouldn't plan to do IM then GI as a backup (or vice versa). Hepatology, IBD, IBS have no overlap and I can't imagine why someone who is surgery focused would go thru it if your interest is operating. Being an advanced endoscopist is the lone exception where there is significant overlap. Even then do not tunnel your vision to what you see in academia- the real world is usually a mix of gen and bread/ butter advanced endo even for most advanced endoscopists. Having a better skillset for therapeutics is a strange statement. Surgical training is primarily for surgery, if you want to do endoscopy, GI is the best pathway to do this.
