Friday, December 10, 2010

Winter is coming...

Or, since it was -6 today, it's already here. No snow to speak of though. I've now finished one-quarter of my mandatory clerkship rotations. Only surgery, emergency medicine, family medicine, psychiatry, and internal medicine to go over the next 40 weeks. Yay. I did really enjoy obs/gyn, though, and there is something remarkably satisfying about being involved during what is generally a very happy time for parents and families.

Otherwise exams are done and I have a bit of a reprieve to contemplate the Big Questions about career choices and such. I've enjoyed peds and obs/gyn, prefer more acuity and more "interesting" cases, and I like patient care. I don't really see myself going into peds - the inpatient work is interesting, but general peds clinics are a lot of reassurance and issues like ADHD and constipation. Obs/gyn is another matter - I hadn't really thought of it as a surgical specialty as such before, but it certainly is. Gyne problems aren't especially interesting - but the oncology is - and obs is attractive for the reasons above. Still, it may be a bit too specialized...

In the end, it's still down to a more "medicine approach" to surgery (i.e. general surgery) or a more "surgical approach" to internal medicine (i.e. GI or cardiology). Neuro gets thrown into the mix too; even though it's historically been one of the least interventional specialties, it's changing rapidly. We shall see. For surgery, the real issue is the extent to which I can manage the early mornings over a long term. It sounds simplistic - I can certainly get up okay - but taking on such a daily schedule is five years of residency is something to consider carefully. Oh well. I managed fine when on gyne, and it will probably be the same come January.

On verra...