# Medical students / Residents



## The Scrub Ducky (Apr 4, 2017)

Anyone else here in medicine? 

I started residency in July and a lot of the social anxiety I thought I was over came back pretty hardcore lol. Its starting to level out now though, I guess cause I'm getting used to the "routine" but I still get put into many anxiety-provoking situations regularly. Ugh. 

I sometimes wonder if I shoulda chose a different career path that better fit my personality. Anyone else feel like that? I'm sure once I'm done and am working in my own little niche I'll be happy and content. But I like to complain in the mean time


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## thejackofspades (Sep 4, 2012)

Hey I get you and I'm in a similar situation. I just survived my first semester in a radiology program. Being at the hospital for clinical experience has been quite stressful. It's stressful trying to balance the line between being a student and being social and fitting in with the certified radiologic technologists. It's also stressful trying to meet the high expectations for being placed at that hospital where supposedly only the "best" students go. I have had some bad days but mostly good experiences so far but I still dread having to go to clinicals.


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## cookies4me (Dec 14, 2017)

Hey! Not a med school student but I'm pre-med (also from the Bay Area). I have this fear that I'm not cut out to be a med student because of my social anxiety and because I'm more introverted and shy. My anxiety affects me in the way that I kinda freeze up when people talk to me and don't quite know what to say under pressure.

Can you guys offer any insight into dealing with social anxiety while in med school or during the interview process.


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## The Scrub Ducky (Apr 4, 2017)

cookies4me said:


> Hey! Not a med school student but I'm pre-med (also from the Bay Area). I have this fear that I'm not cut out to be a med student because of my social anxiety and because I'm more introverted and shy. My anxiety affects me in the way that I kinda freeze up when people talk to me and don't quite know what to say under pressure.
> 
> Can you guys offer any insight into dealing with social anxiety while in med school or during the interview process.


Well first, you can definitely do it if you really want to. SA cant hold you back from anything if you dont let it.

That being said...you should know what you're getting into before you do it. The process of becoming a doctor will definitely test your SA. in the worst ways possible.

Can you deal with seeing the same 100-some people everyday during med school, with all the cliques, gossip, high stress leading to pissy attitudes, cut-throat competition etc for 4 years?

Can you handle those same dynamics in the hospital setting amongst nurses, attendings, techs, admin?

Can you round on patients with a group of students, residents, attendings, speak in front of everyone, get chewed out in front of everyone on occasion?

Can you handle going to a CODE BLUE and running it, leading everyone, and dealing with that pressure?

Can you go into a room with 10 + family members, let them know your efforts failed and their loved one just died?

Can you give professional presentations for 1 hour in front of a roomfull of people? and on a bi weekly basis?

If I was told I had to do that 10 years ago, I would have **** my pants. My SA went through the roof during these time periods, but I've done all of them and still do... and I'm still here...and it doesnt affect me as much anymore. Still does, but not in the way they used to. The more you do anything, the easier it becomes.

Theres a lot of good things of being a physician...but those are things I did not know about when I first applied. I thought being a doctor was about learning cool stuff about the body, going to your office, helping people out, etc... no no no no. NO.

Just learn to develope thick skin. Brush things off, keep moving forward.

For interview process: Apply broadly, practice interviewing, rehearse answers to common questions, develop a theme and keep shaping all answers back to the theme.


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## TheFather (Sep 20, 2012)

I'll be applying to medical school next year, I'm pre-med right now. 

I'm planning to specialize in psychiatry, but family medicine is also a possible route (I'll cross that bridge when I get to it). 

I've had several doctors that I've shadowed and that my dad has seen tell me that I have the perfect mindset and attitude to become a doctor. All I ever hear is that so many in medicine lack basic people skills and can't really develop a bedside manner. I don't really have a lot of trouble in social situations, especially in professional situations. 

I'm really looking forward to medical school, even if it is extrodinarly challenging and difficult. However the real honey pot for me is three years of psych residency after.


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## The Scrub Ducky (Apr 4, 2017)

Psych is awesome. I almost did that myself, but decided I didnt just wanna do psych, I like other areas too. Its a 4 year residency though, not 3. And the real honey pot would be when you become an attending.... Residency sucks no matter which specialty you go into lol. 

G'luck


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## TheFather (Sep 20, 2012)

The Scrub Ducky said:


> Psych is awesome. I almost did that myself, but decided I didnt just wanna do psych, I like other areas too. Its a 4 year residency though, not 3. And the real honey pot would be when you become an attending.... Residency sucks no matter which specialty you go into lol.
> 
> G'luck


Oh yeah you're right, it's four years haha. Did you do any rounds in psych in your M3 or M4 years?

I recently shadowed a neurologist and he said I have a good eye for differential diagnosis, which made me quite proud. But either way, it's a long road towards that big medical practice in the sky haha.

thanks for the kind words


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## The Scrub Ducky (Apr 4, 2017)

TheFather said:


> Oh yeah you're right, it's four years haha. Did you do any rounds in psych in your M3 or M4 years?
> 
> I recently shadowed a neurologist and he said I have a good eye for differential diagnosis, which made me quite proud. But either way, it's a long road towards that big medical practice in the sky haha.
> 
> thanks for the kind words


Theres some rounding, but its different than other fields. I did my Psych rotation in M3 and it was very laid back in comparison with other rotations. Part of that could be the specific facility/attendings I was at, but I think in general Psych is just more laid back. I didnt have that much inpatient psych exposure though, I feel like that woulda brought a different perspective. But outpatient Psych was super chill and fun. And its in high demand, right up there with primary care.

If you can come up with a decent differential for a Neuro case right now before med school, you're already ahead of the game. Its a long road, but it'll goes by pretty fast. and we need more good people to join  Let me know if you have any questions along the way


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## thejackofspades (Sep 4, 2012)

cookies4me said:


> Hey! Not a med school student but I'm pre-med (also from the Bay Area). I have this fear that I'm not cut out to be a med student because of my social anxiety and because I'm more introverted and shy. My anxiety affects me in the way that I kinda freeze up when people talk to me and don't quite know what to say under pressure.
> 
> Can you guys offer any insight into dealing with social anxiety while in med school or during the interview process.


Hello fellow Bay Area health-care student!

I highly recommend looking into cognitive-behavioral group therapy (CBGT) and mindfulness meditation. If I hadn't gone through that I wouldn't have the confidence to interact with my classmates and teachers at school, develop relationships at clinicals, and handle the pressures of working in trauma on occasion.

I'm not saying I was cured after my last CBGT session but it was a great push for me towards the right direction as far as being more aware of my irrational negative thoughts (which is the source of anxiety) and helping me think more positively and be in a optimistic mindset.

Good luck


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## Fidiasss (May 10, 2018)

Hi guys, how are you? I am also a medical student (5th year). I also suffer from social anxiety (+ panic attacks) and depression. To me cognitive behavioral therapy has not helped me and I was with it for 6 months. Meditation has not helped me either, it even worsened my clinical situation by making me more aware of my misfortunes (which for an anxious person is not good, I firmly believe in lower awareness and the greater the capacity for distraction, better. Did you know that there are contraindications to the practice of meditation? yes!!!) What has served me most has been paroxetine (30 mg), although I have recently been given 50 mg of sertraline because of the apathy produced by paroxetine. Let's see how he responds to this new medication!!


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## Bill Cosby (Feb 1, 2017)

Bro, Goljian and Najeeb would not be happy. You gotta fight through it mentally like you did for the Steps. Incoming M1 here. We got this, boyos.


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## mido87 (May 27, 2018)

Hi everyone. I am a medical graduate from Lebanon (IMG). 
So I am now 31 years old. I have social anxiety and GAD I think since forever but it didn't manifest deeply except in the residency. So during early medical school, I did very well in the basic science course. During clinical years, I managed to go through them with difficulty but with good grades. I mean I would avoid presenting a case to the degree I wouldn't attend and pretend sick when my turn come. Mostly we had group presentations so I would do all the literature review and power-point preparation and someone else present. So I managed to finish it.
However, after that I started a residency in internal medicine. It was so stressful and I dropped out after 2 years because I didn't see myself doing internal medicine my entire life. After that I did a masters in epidemiology and couldn't find a job afterward because of my anxiety. Now, I don't know I have two available options
1) Avoid clinical medicine and move to Canada and do a master in something not requiring so much social interactions like health informatics and work with it or move to option B lateron afterward.

2) I have the chance to work in Germany and UK but for specialties like internal medicine, ER, Family medicine and psychiatry.
I find psychiatry may be more laid back than the others (I won't last one month in ER, that's for sure).

I don't know if I should pushing myself in medicine. I don't hate theory in medicine. I love it and I was really good in studying medicine. I could grasp the concepts faster and I have a good studying memory so I did well in premed exams and in medical exams. Only exams I struggled with were clinical and OSCI exams where I get so much anxious.


I don't know if I should give psychiatry a try or not. I would like the outpatient clinic and the inpatient general psychiatry is not that bad but you sometimes have to deal with aggressive patients. Sometimes you may get a call that someone just committed suicide or someone is attacking the other patients and staff and you have to handle the situations as the ward physicians.

Don't know what I should do, I am unemployed now for 5 months after the epidemiology master and should decide and get out of that confusion fast.


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## Nekobasu (Apr 22, 2018)

The Scrub Ducky said:


> Anyone else here in medicine?
> 
> I started residency in July and a lot of the social anxiety I thought I was over came back pretty hardcore lol. Its starting to level out now though, I guess cause I'm getting used to the "routine" but I still get put into many anxiety-provoking situations regularly. Ugh.
> 
> I sometimes wonder if I shoulda chose a different career path that better fit my personality. Anyone else feel like that? I'm sure once I'm done and am working in my own little niche I'll be happy and content. But I like to complain in the mean time





thejackofspades said:


> Hey I get you and I'm in a similar situation. I just survived my first semester in a radiology program. Being at the hospital for clinical experience has been quite stressful. It's stressful trying to balance the line between being a student and being social and fitting in with the certified radiologic technologists. It's also stressful trying to meet the high expectations for being placed at that hospital where supposedly only the "best" students go. I have had some bad days but mostly good experiences so far but I still dread having to go to clinicals.





cookies4me said:


> Hey! Not a med school student but I'm pre-med (also from the Bay Area). I have this fear that I'm not cut out to be a med student because of my social anxiety and because I'm more introverted and shy. My anxiety affects me in the way that I kinda freeze up when people talk to me and don't quite know what to say under pressure.
> 
> Can you guys offer any insight into dealing with social anxiety while in med school or during the interview process.





TheFather said:


> I'll be applying to medical school next year, I'm pre-med right now.
> 
> I'm planning to specialize in psychiatry, but family medicine is also a possible route (I'll cross that bridge when I get to it).
> 
> ...


None of ya give up you hear me? No matter how hard it gets.. Everyone believes in you. Do it


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## twitchy666 (Apr 21, 2013)

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flesh engine ears

chemicals inside and outsiders


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## mido87 (May 27, 2018)

The Scrub Ducky said:


> Anyone else here in medicine?
> 
> I started residency in July and a lot of the social anxiety I thought I was over came back pretty hardcore lol. Its starting to level out now though, I guess cause I'm getting used to the "routine" but I still get put into many anxiety-provoking situations regularly. Ugh.
> 
> I sometimes wonder if I shoulda chose a different career path that better fit my personality. Anyone else feel like that? I'm sure once I'm done and am working in my own little niche I'll be happy and content. But I like to complain in the mean time


You said you were considering psychiatry but opted for another specialty. Can I ask what speciality did you opt for at the end? and are you happy with it? I consider my biggest life mistake not taking radiology. Pathology is good too but autopsies are not fun for me. And as an IMG radiology is very competitive. so psychiatry is the easiest to go
I have considered repeating medical school in Canada at that age to take radiology eventually.


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## truant (Jul 4, 2014)

I'm not a medical student. I'm a writer. But I have many questions about hospitals and medicine for my stories if any medical students/residents/doctors/hospital employees want to be my friend. >


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## thejackofspades (Sep 4, 2012)

Nekobasu said:


> None of ya give up you hear me? No matter how hard it gets.. Everyone believes in you. Do it


Thanks for this!

Things have really gotten better since my last post. I'm fitting in much better with the certified techs. I've been scolded at by techs and by a Radiologist but I take it as constructive criticism rather than take it personally. They see that and they respect me more. I've been told by one of the managers and my clinical instructor that everyone has taking a liking to me when some usually aren't that cool with students. No where but up!


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## thejackofspades (Sep 4, 2012)

mido87 said:


> You said you were considering psychiatry but opted for another specialty. Can I ask what speciality did you opt for at the end? and are you happy with it? I consider my biggest life mistake not taking radiology. Pathology is good too but autopsies are not fun for me. And as an IMG radiology is very competitive. so psychiatry is the easiest to go
> I have considered repeating medical school in Canada at that age to take radiology eventually.


Radiology student here and aspiring certified radiologic technologist!

When you say competitive - are you referring to entry into radiology programs/schools or entry into the workforce? I'm loving radiology so far! Definitely not for everyone though.


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## mido87 (May 27, 2018)

thejackofspades said:


> Radiology student here and aspiring certified radiologic technologist!
> 
> When you say competitive - are you referring to entry into radiology programs/schools or entry into the workforce? I'm loving radiology so far! Definitely not for everyone though.


I mean radiology residency training programs.They are very competitive to get into


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## The Scrub Ducky (Apr 4, 2017)

mido87 said:


> You said you were considering psychiatry but opted for another specialty. Can I ask what speciality did you opt for at the end? and are you happy with it? I consider my biggest life mistake not taking radiology. Pathology is good too but autopsies are not fun for me. And as an IMG radiology is very competitive. so psychiatry is the easiest to go
> I have considered repeating medical school in Canada at that age to take radiology eventually.


I went with Internal Medicine. Seemed the have the most options and opportunities for what I'm looking for. Also, location mattered to me so I had a better chance to get my desired location with IM since there were more programs.

Am I happy with it? For the most part... Sometimes I wish I had done Psych, sometimes Neurology. But theres pros and cons to everything....overall I think it was the right choice for many specific reasons. I'm content.

You're a path resident currently? Can you switch to radiology in your country or are you specifically looking to match in america/canada?

I wouldn't suggest repeating med school for radiology... Repeating med school would be horrible and a rads residency wouldn't be guaranteed after. Plus, even if you get it, that's another decade altogether until you're an attending...


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## The Scrub Ducky (Apr 4, 2017)

truant said:


> I'm not a medical student. I'm a writer. But I have many questions about hospitals and medicine for my stories if any medical students/residents/doctors/hospital employees want to be my friend. >


I'll answer any specific questions you may have


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## mido87 (May 27, 2018)

The Scrub Ducky said:


> I went with Internal Medicine. Seemed the have the most options and opportunities for what I'm looking for. Also, location mattered to me so I had a better chance to get my desired location with IM since there were more programs.
> 
> Am I happy with it? For the most part... Sometimes I wish I had done Psych, sometimes Neurology. But theres pros and cons to everything....overall I think it was the right choice for many specific reasons. I'm content.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the answer
I don't wanna stay in my home country one more minute. I am from a Muslim country and I am an atheist now for 2 years and I think that this ****ed up society had a big role in my social anxiety. It made it hard for me to do anything, way too many restrictions and guilt feeling and judgment from the society. I am now in Germany doing a psychiatry observership and then I will do one month in pathology then I can stay here or move wherever I wanna go Uk, Canada or US. I don't feel psychiatry is very hard on the short term but it will definitely be a daily challenge to go through it as all you do is communication which is definitely out of my comfort zone. Also, I am now 30 and never been in a relationship and never done anything outside of medicine, so I wanna have a specialty that can leave me some energy to focus on other stuff.

Thanks anyway for your input and it seems that you have done a lot to overcome social anxiety. I will be glad to know what helped you and what was your experience so far? how did you change your mindset? How did you overcome or partially overcome anxiety in medicine and in dating for example?


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## canteven (Jan 21, 2018)

Hey Pre-Med student here. I really want to go to medical school and I can handle most situations with talking to people because in high school I volunteered at a hospital where they’d have me interacting with doctors and patients and families of patients in the surgical department. The only thing that I have a problem with is presentations and talking in front of a group of people. So one of the posts above that mentioned the 1 hour long presentations spooked me a bit. When I speak in front of a crowd (even when it’s a group of classmates I’ve gotten close to and know and can talk to informally) i start getting shaky and stuttering and stumbling over words and forgetting the topic I studied in detail. 

So does anyone have any advice for that particular issue? I really do want to go to med school and volunteering at a hospital and having those interactions with the staff and patients and their families really strengthened my drive so any advice would be much appreciated.

(Also interviews i can kind of do. Just not very well. I think it has something to do with the pressure I feel during presentations and interviews that make me nervous and stumble)


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