Here’s a piece that is not for the faint of heart: Dr. Sandra Scott Simons is a nocturnist emergency physician who describes how disappointed her earlier-self would have been in what medical care giving has become.
Blog Archives
Choosing a Specialty and a Life
During the winter season, I spend time talking to a lot of residency applicants about their future specialty choices: Want the majority of your time to be in the operating room or in the clinic? Like procedures?
But another fair and reasonable approach is to consider lifestyle. A recent New York Times piece noted that 50% of physicians are burned out. Burnout is particularly severe among emergency physicians and critical care doctors.
As you go through your third-year clinical rotations ask yourself if you can find a role model who fits – not just your professional goals – but your personal ones. Ask to meet individually with faculty members for their opinions on their fields’ pros and cons.
Considering the growth in patient volume and the continued dearth of physicians, it’s critical to determine whether you can see yourself happy in a busy, lifelong career in a particular field.
Emergency Medicine Should Not be your Back Up
I’ve recently heard from several residency applicants who are considering emergency medicine as a back up specialty for the coming Match. These candidates are interested in applying in their field of primary interest and using emergency medicine as a safety specialty. I would not recommend this strategy! Emergency medicine’s popularity has waxed and waned over the years, but currently it is pretty hot. It’s far from a back up.
For more information about emergency medicine candidacies and careers, take a look at my piece “Why Are Emergency Physicians Burning Out” on KevinMD.
Emergency Medicine: Can a Sizzling Hot Specialty Burn You to a Crisp?
Please take a look at my recent guest entry on the KevinMD blog exploring the disconnect between emergency medicine’s immense popularity in the Match and an Archives of Internal Medicine study documenting severe burnout among emergency physicians. (According to the research, emergency physicians experience burnout at a rate of more than three times that of the average doctor and more than anyone else inside or outside of the medical field.) Pre-meds and medical students will find useful information in my guest blog entry, as they consider their future fields and lifestyles.
More Options for Those Interested in Emergency Medicine
For those of you considering a career in Emergency Medicine, the American Board of Medical Specialties recently approved Emergency Medical Services (EMS) as a subspecialty. It is the sixth subspecialty available to boarded Emergency Physicians, along with Hospice and Palliative Care, Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology, and Sports Medicine. The American Board of Emergency Medicine is the sole sponsor of the EMS subspecialty.
Dr. Finkel is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. On completing her residency at Harvard, she was asked to
stay on as faculty at Harvard Medical School and spent five years teaching at the world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital.
She was appointed to the Assistant Residency Director position for the Harvard Affiliated
Emergency Medicine Residency where she reviewed countless applications, personal statements and resumes. Read more
