negotioablenonstarter
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- Feb 7, 2023
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Hello all,
I am very fortunate to have been accepted to a US-MD program starting this summer. I have been working toward this for the past 7 years and I feel incredibly thankful that I have been given this opportunity.
The problem is, as matriculation grows nearer, I have found myself with feelings of doubt that I have not experienced before. This is not a doubt about the field of medicine as a whole, but rather which training path I have chosen. As I have grown older (I’ve been out of school for a couple years), my priorities have begun to shift (as do those of many people as they grow older). Because of this, I have begun to think about forgoing my MD acceptance to apply for PA school.
My considerations in this are listed below:
A side note: This is not just some "in an ideal world" dream vision of mine where I am wishing for an easy job with no call or responsibility. There are real-world reasons/constraints in my life causing me to look for these things in my career. I'd rather not type my life memoir into this post so I will just leave it at that.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but to me it seems like becoming a physician assistant will be much more conducive to all of this. Does that sound like an accurate assessment?
I have considered the PA route heavily before, but have always decided that I want the full scope of training provided by an MD and residency program (hence why I went through the effort of applying). I still believe that, career-wise, I would be more fulfilled being a physician than being a PA. However, I am starting to question if the MD is worth it if I have to give up these other things that are also important to me. For me, fulfillment from work is only one piece of the puzzle. I don't really want to give up the other things just to maximize my satisfaction at work.
Perhaps some of this is coming from the fact that I am actually accepted now and I’m staring down the barrel of at least 7 years of training (likely more depending on specialty choice/fellowship). Call it cold feet if you will. But that does not change my feelings on what I want for my life outside of work. Despite how most of this post may sound, I truly am passionate about medicine, and I am astutely confident that I am going into healthcare for the correct reasons. I’m just also becoming much more weary of the lack of control that I will have over my life as a physician, especially in certain specialties.
If I stay the course and enroll this summer, what specialty options and/or practice models will allow me the autonomy in my life outside of work that I’m looking for? From all of the research I’ve done, it sounds to me like emergency medicine, internal medicine, or anesthesia are options that might provide me with the work-life balance I’m looking for, if nothing else but for the shift-work style scheduling that is common in these specialties. Locums could be an option too.
I would love to hear from any physicians and/or PAs that either have this kind flexibility in their careers, know somebody else that does, or can speak to how difficult it will be for me to build this type of life as an MD vs PA.
***EDIT***
Now that I've had some time to reflect on my feelings and all of the responses to this post, I am feeling much, much better about my future in medicine. I think this post originated from a mix of too much time on my hands, overthinking my future, and a bit of ignorance on my part in terms of the many styles of practice that physicians can work in. I know that taking the easy road short-term will leave me full of regret later on, and earning an MD is all I have ever been able to see myself doing with my life. It would be an utter waste of my effort and drive to throw that away just to be done with training earlier.
Thank you to everyone that helped to talk me off of this ledge. I am sometimes prone to letting my negative thoughts get the better of me, and I really needed this encouragement.
I am very fortunate to have been accepted to a US-MD program starting this summer. I have been working toward this for the past 7 years and I feel incredibly thankful that I have been given this opportunity.
The problem is, as matriculation grows nearer, I have found myself with feelings of doubt that I have not experienced before. This is not a doubt about the field of medicine as a whole, but rather which training path I have chosen. As I have grown older (I’ve been out of school for a couple years), my priorities have begun to shift (as do those of many people as they grow older). Because of this, I have begun to think about forgoing my MD acceptance to apply for PA school.
My considerations in this are listed below:
- I want to have started a family by the time I am 30 years old, and I actually want to be present for the first years of my kids’ lives (main concern with this is residency, I am 24 currently).
- I’ve also realized how important geographic mobility is to my happiness. I do not want to compromise on where I live because of job availability. Or if I do have to compromise on this initially, I want to be able to relocate mid-career if so desired without having to completely rebuild my practice from the ground up. Because PAs have the ability to work in any specialty given relevant experience, I would have many more job opportunities wherever I hope to live as a PA vs as an MD.
- Finally, I want the ability to use vacation time in chunks of 2-3 weeks at a time, with the option to take 1-2 months off on a rare occasion (maybe once every couple years).
A side note: This is not just some "in an ideal world" dream vision of mine where I am wishing for an easy job with no call or responsibility. There are real-world reasons/constraints in my life causing me to look for these things in my career. I'd rather not type my life memoir into this post so I will just leave it at that.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but to me it seems like becoming a physician assistant will be much more conducive to all of this. Does that sound like an accurate assessment?
I have considered the PA route heavily before, but have always decided that I want the full scope of training provided by an MD and residency program (hence why I went through the effort of applying). I still believe that, career-wise, I would be more fulfilled being a physician than being a PA. However, I am starting to question if the MD is worth it if I have to give up these other things that are also important to me. For me, fulfillment from work is only one piece of the puzzle. I don't really want to give up the other things just to maximize my satisfaction at work.
Perhaps some of this is coming from the fact that I am actually accepted now and I’m staring down the barrel of at least 7 years of training (likely more depending on specialty choice/fellowship). Call it cold feet if you will. But that does not change my feelings on what I want for my life outside of work. Despite how most of this post may sound, I truly am passionate about medicine, and I am astutely confident that I am going into healthcare for the correct reasons. I’m just also becoming much more weary of the lack of control that I will have over my life as a physician, especially in certain specialties.
If I stay the course and enroll this summer, what specialty options and/or practice models will allow me the autonomy in my life outside of work that I’m looking for? From all of the research I’ve done, it sounds to me like emergency medicine, internal medicine, or anesthesia are options that might provide me with the work-life balance I’m looking for, if nothing else but for the shift-work style scheduling that is common in these specialties. Locums could be an option too.
I would love to hear from any physicians and/or PAs that either have this kind flexibility in their careers, know somebody else that does, or can speak to how difficult it will be for me to build this type of life as an MD vs PA.
***EDIT***
Now that I've had some time to reflect on my feelings and all of the responses to this post, I am feeling much, much better about my future in medicine. I think this post originated from a mix of too much time on my hands, overthinking my future, and a bit of ignorance on my part in terms of the many styles of practice that physicians can work in. I know that taking the easy road short-term will leave me full of regret later on, and earning an MD is all I have ever been able to see myself doing with my life. It would be an utter waste of my effort and drive to throw that away just to be done with training earlier.
Thank you to everyone that helped to talk me off of this ledge. I am sometimes prone to letting my negative thoughts get the better of me, and I really needed this encouragement.
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