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Medicine-ERA: Any Docs/Nurses/other medical professions around here?

Ambient80

Ambient80

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
4,609
Hey guys!

We had a thread on the other forum where we could all hang out. I didn't see one here (feel free to lock/link if I am mistaken). All students are welcome, as well! I know several before received advice for boards and residency stuff, or applying to medical school. This time, let's also invite our nurses and other medical professional friends to join the fun!

I'm currently a resident (Path PGY-3). Had some awesome cases this past month!

Feel free to share stories, advice, knowledge, or just chit-chat!
 
IAMtheFMan

IAMtheFMan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,023
Chicago
Hello and welcome! This is a gathering place for any and all in the medical field. In a previous incarnation, the thread was limited to physicians however with a new Era, we want to invite any and all from the medical field to post experiences, gripes, advice and so forth in this thread!

PLEASE NOTE: This thread is NOT for the solicitation of medical advice. We will say the same thing if you were to post a new thread about that "thing growing on (your) arm." Make an appointment for a doctor to get a history, lay eyes on the problem and do an examination.

With that being said, I'll reintroduce myself. Hi. Practicing physician in Neurology and Sleep Medicine.
 
Nothing Loud

Nothing Loud

Literally Cinderella
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,975
I'm done beating around the bush. I've been working for two years as a chemical engineer and I'm tired of it. I've always wanted to pursue medicine, so now I'm going to do it.

Gonna lurk SDN for MCAT study guides.
 
Neolith

Neolith

Member
Oct 25, 2017
129
Great, was waiting for this thread to pop up. Current M2 here (US). Any tips for an aspiring pathologist and Step 1 prep?
 
Juan29.Zapata

Juan29.Zapata

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,353
Colombia
Med student here, just finished up my fifth year and in December I'll start the last one. I'm hoping to do residency in Anesthesia, and afterwards do Palliative Care. I freaking love Palliative Care. Such a humane path.
 
IAMtheFMan

IAMtheFMan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,023
Chicago
Nothing Loud said:
Gonna lurk SDN for MCAT study guides.
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Take what posters on SDN say with a lot of grains of salt. There's a ton of super anxious premeds on there.

Neolith said:
Great, was waiting for this thread to pop up. Current M2 here (US). Any tips for an aspiring pathologist and Step 1 prep?
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I'm probably not the best person to ask since I'm more than 10 yrs out from Step 1, but the biggest thing I'd say is if you're not a morning person, make sure you get a pattern down a week or two before the exam. I know people that didn't and that plus the anxiety of the exam meant they got like 1-2 hrs of sleep.

Also don't study hardcore the day before the exam. Rest up, relax, go in fresh.
 
m o n s t e r

m o n s t e r

Member
Oct 25, 2017
256
under your bed
Hey All! I was just a lab nerd/phlebotomist in a hospital. Wanted to do more and end up doing hematology or micro, but I got too sick to carry on! Am I welcome here? :)
 
Nothing Loud

Nothing Loud

Literally Cinderella
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,975
IAMtheFMan what is being a neurologist like? I had to see one this year and it was very difficult. There are not many in my area and they are booked for months in advance. What is your lifestyle like?
 
OP
OP
Ambient80

Ambient80

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
4,609
Juan29.Zapata said:
Med student here, just finished up my fifth year and in December I'll start the last one. I'm hoping to do residency in Anesthesia, and afterwards do Palliative Care. I freaking love Palliative Care. Such a humane path.
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Awesome! I never did a PC rotation, but I did do anesthesia. It was so cool! The doc I was with let me do just about anything so long as the patients were cool wit it. Great experience.
 
Nivash

Nivash

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,463
Swedish MD here, currently on month 8 out of 21 in the Swedish internship system. Currently on ortho rotations, just got back from the ortho ER. Not my thing. Thinking of moving on to internal medicine or infectious diseases for my residency. That or general practice, med ER is kinda grinding too.

We're suffering from a severe lack of hospital rooms in Sweden these days, makes ER work a nightmare rather frequently. So many sick people, nowhere to put them...
 
Juan29.Zapata

Juan29.Zapata

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,353
Colombia
Ambient80 said:
Awesome! I never did a PC rotation, but I did do anesthesia. It was so cool! The doc I was with let me do just about anything so long as the patients were cool wit it. Great experience.
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The PC rotation was by choice though! Not all my partners do it, but when I had my Ethics class with the PC doctor, I knew I had to do a rotation with him. Now I feel that's what I want to do for the rest of my life. I hope I fare well with Anesthesia, it's one of the popular ones in my classroom of a hundred students. I'm worried I'm gonna have to wait quite some time before getting into the residency.
 
OP
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Ambient80

Ambient80

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
4,609
Juan29.Zapata said:
The PC rotation was by choice though! Not all my partners do it, but when I had my Ethics class with the PC doctor, I knew I had to do a rotation with him. Now I feel that's what I want to do for the rest of my life. I hope I fare well with Anesthesia, it's one of the popular ones in my classroom of a hundred students. I'm worried I'm gonna have to wait quite some time before getting into the residency.
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Best advice I could give anyone still in school is to do what you REALLY want to do. Don't settle. Fight for it, ask people for interviews, then ask again. Make them pay attention to you and want you around. Worked well for me! Got in my first choice program and I absolutely love it. Just completed a Hematopathology rotation and it was excellent.

The light at the end of the tunnel is in sight!
 
138

138

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
416
I'm a PACS administrator. To all future doctors, please don't be complete assholes like the Radiologists I work for, or the referring docs that I have to deal with.
 
Juan29.Zapata

Juan29.Zapata

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,353
Colombia
Ambient80 said:
Best advice I could give anyone still in school is to do what you REALLY want to do. Don't settle. Fight for it, ask people for interviews, then ask again. Make them pay attention to you and want you around. Worked well for me! Got in my first choice program and I absolutely love it. Just completed a Hematopathology rotation and it was excellent.

The light at the end of the tunnel is in sight!
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Here's hoping! Thanks for the advice!
 
MTR

MTR

Member
Oct 27, 2017
496
Hi everyone
I'm a psychiatry registrar in australia. Currently PGY6, time flies
 
Rainy

Rainy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,621
Neolith said:
Great, was waiting for this thread to pop up. Current M2 here (US). Any tips for an aspiring pathologist and Step 1 prep?
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As someone who just took it this past May, I have a few suggestions. I would buy uWorld well in advance. Maybe start doing a question set a week a few months before dedicated, just to get yourself in the right mindset for the test. Pick what study resources you're going to use, and make a good schedule out of it, do not try to wing it. It will bite you in the ass big time. Be sure to always take breaks for a little bit everyday during dedicated. Whether it's to chill an watch TV for a bit, or just to workout, let yourself destress. I also usually took one "rest day" per week, except for the last few weeks of dedicated. Also be sure to at least take 3-4 NBMEs before the actual exam. Beware as the curves for a lot of the practice NBMEs have been wild recently, especially in the last year.

My last piece of advice is probably the most important. In the last week or two before the test you'll probably start panicking and feeling like you aren't ready. You are, if you put in the time and work, put those worries behind you. Good luck!

By the way I'm a third year U.S. medical student in Philadelphia. I'm halfway through my third year. Just finished my Family Medicine rotation. Have already done Psychiatry, OB/GYN, and Pediatrics. Neurology up next!
 
Pudgybunny

Pudgybunny

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
35
I was my mother's caretaker for 13 years and then moved onto being a STNA after she passed and some anatomy and lab stuff.

Medical field is fascinating.
 

flawfuls

Member
Oct 28, 2017
125
c
I'm a PGY2 resident in Australia, about to start a CCU term next week.. Will be a GP registrar in January.
 
FireSafetyBear

FireSafetyBear

Banned for use of an alt-account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,248
Doing my pre-reqs for Nursing right now. Good timing since my State College/Community College is starting up a BSN in the Spring.
 

Deleted member 2585

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,133
I'm in a guaranteed admissions program. I just graduated from university and I'm taking a gap year before entering med school.
 
Izayoi

Izayoi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
828
I'm a clinic manager for an orthopedic practice.

Someday I wanna be an oncologist, but I need to be able to dedicate all of my time to school for that. Right now I'm just kinda coasting on my MBA, but when the time is right I'm going to finish medical school.
 
Harusame

Harusame

Member
Oct 25, 2017
247
Vancouver, Canada
Right now, I'm a second year BSN student in Vancouver, and I currently on my Med-Surg rotation. Definitely looking to specialize in high acuity after I pass my NCLEX, with hopes to obtain a masters. I am also exploring the option of doing the MCAT and attending medical school after graduation.
 

JJH

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,881
Licensed paramedic finishing up my RN here. Been in healthcare since I was 18 as an EMT-basic.
 
DrMario

DrMario

Member
Oct 27, 2017
242
Yup! My speciality is tossing pills into jars to eradicate viruses :)


But actually I'm a pediatric hospitalist lol
 
DrMario

DrMario

Member
Oct 27, 2017
242
Hi!

I specialize in eradicating viruses when I'm not busy saving the princess, driving karts, and playing tennis. I like to throw extravagant board game parties, and I've even gone to the Olympics a few times!


In all seriousness though, I'm a pediatric hospitalist about 3 years out of residency. It's much better on this side of things lol.
 
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IAMtheFMan

IAMtheFMan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,023
Chicago
Nothing Loud said:
IAMtheFMan what is being a neurologist like? I had to see one this year and it was very difficult. There are not many in my area and they are booked for months in advance. What is your lifestyle like?
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I mean, I dig it. :). It's a field where if you like thinking about processes almost like a puzzle, it's a great field.

I was previously doing general neurology with some sleep medicine but changed my focus to primarily sleep medicine. In general lifestyle varies greatly; you can be a 9-5 outpatient neurologist if you want though will probably end up having to do some inpatient work and consults as well. Stroke is going towards a very specialized field of neurology (since intervention is quickly becoming standard of care) so if you want to be a stroke interventionalist there's that path. Even still a lot of places don't necessarily have resources so community neurologists are still doing stroke care etc. There's also tons of sub specialties such as Sleep, epilepsy, neuromuscular, neurointensivist, movement disorders, etc.

So basically lifestyle varies depending on what you want to do.

DrMario said:
In all seriousness though, I'm a pediatric hospitalist about 3 years out of residency. It's much better on this side of things lol.
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I know right lol.
 
DoubleTake

DoubleTake

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,529
I'm not one yet but I'm hoping to get into a Clinical Psych program within the next year. Sorry if I dont qualify for MedicineEra. I would like to know how people in the medical field handle distressed patients under their care. Like are you guys trained at least a bit in regards to soothing and do you do it, or is more often than not the best course of action to call in the mental health experts?
 
kamakazi5

kamakazi5

Member
Oct 28, 2017
248
I have my first medical school interview tomorrow. I'm pretty excited/nervous. Getting on a flight in a couple hours to head there. I just want this first one out of the way so I can hopefully feel a little better about the remaining ones.
 
moeman

moeman

Member
Oct 25, 2017
864
3rd year med student. Having a hard time picking a field I want to pursue for residency. I think I would really enjoy OB/GYN or psychiatry, or even family medicine, but the thought of committing to something and closing all other doors is kind of frightening.
 
schatuk

schatuk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,761
Radiographer here, currently specialising in neurovascular, vascular and general interventional procedures. Also done CT and nuclear medicine at various times over the years as well as a number of years doing plain film radiography in trauma/ortho/neuro.

Been at this way too long
 
laoni

laoni

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,710
I was studying Laboratory Medicine at university before I got refractory Hodgkins. I'm hoping to return, at least part time, in the new year now in remission. My haemotologist doesn't want me in the labs for at least 12 months post ASCT, so, no microbiology for me :(
 
Ivellios

Ivellios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
479
Im a pharmacist who works in academia and diagnostic training for leishmaniasis, i dont know if i belong in this thread haha
 
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