r/attendings

I come from a family of doctors: my father is a very well-known plastic surgeon in my country, my mother is an ophthalmologist, and my husband is also a doctor. On top of that, I have my own medical clinic, which originally belonged to my parents and is now managed by my brother and me. It has been operating for more than 30 years and is located on a very strategic corner in my city.

I originally studied a different degree, but given my family background and the opportunities involved, I decided that once I finished that degree, it would be strategically smart to study medicine as well.

I made it through my fourth year without ever failing an exam and with one of the highest GPAs in my class. Studying has never been particularly difficult for me—I have always done very well academically—which was another reason I felt like I should take advantage of that ability and become a doctor.

The problem is that, at this point, I am genuinely miserable. I don't like medical school, I suffer through it immensely, and I cannot imagine myself being a doctor for the rest of my life.

So I keep thinking about finishing the degree just to have the qualification, while ultimately pursuing the business side of healthcare. But even the thought of finishing medical school makes me feel awful.

I'm 36, and I want to start a family and build an income and a life of my own. Finishing medical school would mean postponing all of that even further.

At the same time, I can't stop thinking that if I quit now, I would be wasting an enormous opportunity—both because of my family's position in the healthcare industry and because of my own academic abilities. When I see people graduating who don't have anyone in the healthcare field to help them, or who have struggled academically throughout medical school, I get this overwhelming feeling that I'm wasting my life and an incredible opportunity that was handed to me.

And yet, I genuinely suffer just thinking about finishing and having to postpone other things I want for my life.

I've already invested so much time and effort into medical school that I haven't really built anything of my own in the meantime.

I'd really love to hear your thoughts. What would you do in my position? Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Thanks!

MS3 torn between psych and radiology

I did a child and adolescent elective as well as a radiology elective and feel very conflicted. I still have not rotated through inpatient psych.

I can see myself doing both. Drawn to the critical nature of radiology and delivering a definitive answer. But also drawn to the unique relationships you can have with patients in psych.

Worried about job prospects in both with mid levels in Psych and AI/consolidation in Radiology

Rate my FM attending offer
Finishing residency next year and signed this offer in northern Illinois. Wanted to see what other FM docs think.
$330k guaranteed for 2 years
Production based after guarantee
4 day work week, about 36 patient hours
Probably 18-22 patients/day
25 paid days off including CME
$3k CME
Paid holidays
$3k/month residency stipend until I start
$50k retention bonus over 5 years
Up to $50k loan repayment
Up to $10k relocation
Malpractice + tail covered
License/DEA/boards covered
Retirement match: 80% of first 6%, 5 year vesting, residency years count
Can moonlight with some restrictions
90 day without cause termination
About 1 hour outside Chicago
Biggest downside is the commute. The 4 day work week is what we agreed on, but it isn’t specifically written into the contract.
What would you rate this 1-10 for a new FM grad?

I’m a fourth year resident looking at jobs, wondering how hard is it to get a part time outpatient job (gen neuro) right off the bat? Anywhere from 0.5-0.8 FTE is ideal.

Also, please don’t try to convince me that I should be working full time, I will take less pay for more of my life back lol

Hey everyone,

I am a surgical fellow in a combination subspecialty fellowship. It is akin to a combination ENT/Plastics fellowship in microsurgery/aesthetics so I’ll just use that as the example for my issue. The goal of the fellowship is to spend some time with my home field (plastics) and some time with attendings from another field in which I did not train (ENT). My training was very aesthteics heavy, and very independent, and my program is a leader in aesthetics. So I feel fairly comfortable doing it, in practice, without needing to pursue fellowship. But my micro training was spotty, so while i can get through those cases, there is a lot of fundamentals that i am missing that i want to learn formally from senior faculty. The reason for doing this specific fellowship was to gain this perspective from another specialty, as well as see an active dual-practice from someone in my field. I was told that my fellowship would be 50% time spent with each service. 6 total months with each service. The fellowship director is known well for his practice mix of both specialties, and there was no reason to suspect that this would have changed since i was accepted.

Fast forward to moving to this city, leaving my wife at home (putting kids on hold for now), and fellowship. I come to find out that my director does not actually do much if any microsurgery, and only does aesthetics. His reasoning is that microsurgery doesnt pay the bills, and thus it is now a small part of his practice. He has been squeezed by his department (it seems) and the "realities of life" have pushed him this way. Additionally, my block time in microsurgery (with ENT) has been severely reduced in favor of me covering more aesthetics cases. So now ive gone from 6 months total to about 1 month of micro in total over the year. I am very very pissed, as i was already on the fence about doing fellowship to begin with. Additionally, the micro surgeons were not even aware that i was coming. They have taken me under their wings, and are incredible teachers, and mentors already in the few days i get to spend with them. But it is clear that what was sold was not something that had formally been set up on their end, and they arent aware of the arrangement. My reasoning was ultimately it was worth it to be able to practice standard of care and safe up to date care. I have a job lined up already at my home institution. The caveat is that the few days i have been able to spend with the micro team, have been incredible and i have gotten to do a lot of learning. Unfortunately, in a few months time that will be reduced to almost nothing, maybe 1 day a week in favor of aesthetics, for the rest of the year.

My question to everyone here is, do i quit this fellowship? I hestitate to press the nuclear button but i am frustrated. How do i even have this conversation with my director? I have a very good report with the micro team, and i wouldnt need to worry about future connections/reputation with them. But the aesthetics team may try to burn me in the future, and im worried about burning the bridge by leaving. Theres a universe where i just leave the fellowship and switch over to the micro fellowship entirely but i would be leaving my home specialty department, in favor of a specialty i am not a part of. I'd like to think that i am a reasonable person, but this has really deeply pissed me off in a way that I did not expect. I admit that my ability to think reasonably about being forced to do something that I am not interested in is severely impaired. Any thoughts would be helpful here. Thanks so much.