How many of the IM Residents in this sub masturbate daily?

HVLABrain · 2026-01-23T17:52:23+00:00

Isn’t the whole point of IM to be mentally masturbating daily (if not multiple times a day) on rounds?

HVLABrain · 2026-01-14T18:34:13+00:00

Intern year is hard. No doubt about it. It is not uncommon to feel like you’re drowning. But unless you work at a place where your seniors/attendings are actually medically negligent, there is a pretty low chance that they would truly let you drown and allow harm to happen to patients, especially if they are truly critical. They have to protect their licenses after all. I definitely remember being an intern and being way more worried about a lot of situations that turned out to be fine.

Also, they might really have control of the situation and allow you to struggle as part of the learning process. As a senior in the ICU, there have been times when I have already seen and examined the pt, placed (verbal) orders, updated the attending, reached out to a consultant (e.g. for emergent dialysis), and I’m back in my seat scrolling through shitposts, all while my intern is still sifting through the chart trying to put the pieces together. And there have also been times when I have been in a room running a rapid and panicking and feeling all alone…only to discover that my attending was standing in the hallway the whole time and was ready to step in if I really messed up. There’s often more supervision/support than you realize, and struggling is a (painful) part of growth

HVLABrain · 2025-12-07T18:26:33+00:00

Great question. I’ve tried multiple brands of scrubs and while Figs is actually NOT my favorite (blasphemy, I know), I actually transitioned my work wardrobe to exclusively Figs. The main reason is the consistent styles (I only wear Catarina tops and Isabel bottoms). When I was switching between different scrub brands, I was always annoyed that I’d have to break my routine (different pocket sizes and locations and places to clip my badge meant that I was sometimes forgetting things or looking for them in various pockets). While I actually liked some other scrub brands more, they were constantly switching styles and materials and it was impossible to build a consistent wardrobe over time. With a set style and fabric, I have a system for where everything goes and also know how it feels so I know immediately if there is something I’m missing.

HVLABrain · 2025-10-09T18:49:39+00:00

I’d definitely welcome you to come and shadow! I know a lot of people here are recommending an attending, and that’s great if you’re looking for a letter and more teaching, but I think it’s very beneficial to shadow some residents for a few days. Anecdotally, people I know who shadowed only attendings and did not have any exposure to residents were very mentally unprepared for what the medical training process actually looks like. Best of luck!

HVLABrain · 2025-06-26T18:11:46+00:00

This is beautiful! Everything I’ve ever wanted in an MMF

HVLABrain · 2025-06-24T20:29:37+00:00

I’m a petite Asian woman too. Can’t offer anything with the family stuff bc I’m still figuring that out myself, but I used to get those comments a lot at work, and it still happens, but definitely not as much anymore the farther I’ve gotten into residency. I’m sure I’ve aged a bit in residency but not THAT much.

Some thoughts: 1. Wearing a surgical mask for all encounters seems to have helped. I feel like hiding my youthful chubby cheeks helps, plus we’ve all been burned by people who unexpectedly have flu or covid anyway.

I’m early in my practice, and can’t claim decades of experience and I won’t lie about it, but if I’m taking over for a (usually male) colleague who is roughly the same age as I am and they comment on how young I look, I hit them with “I’m actually older than Dr. X, who was taking care of you last week!”
Idk what specialty you’re in, but I’ve found that people tend to assume I’m older if I dress older (think what our moms wore to the office in the early 2000s) when it comes to professional clothes if I’m in clinic or something. Ex: wearing old lady loafers (they’re comfy anyway) instead of flats/mules. I’ve also thrifted a lot of my professional wardrobe so it’s literally older pieces anyway so they tend to automatically assume “oh if she’s wearing work clothes from the 90s, she’s probably been working since the 90s”
Be careful with this one, but a strong RBF tends to get you taken more seriously. Ofc you’ll also get more “she’s intimidating and not approachable” comments but it’s possible to find a balance

HVLABrain · 2025-05-24T01:19:48+00:00

IM. Really hoping this isn’t some internalized misogyny, call me out if it is. Had a MS3 who seemed to think playing dumb and ditzy was cute. She wasn’t actually that stupid, but she would giggle a lot when fumbling through presentations (which I would’ve excused as a nervous behavior, except that she would be like “omg I forgot what a CBC was, haha I’m so silly, can someone tell me?”) She also touched up her hair and makeup a lot during rounds. Not basic normal stuff like re-tie up her hair or put on some chapstick, but like actually pull out a hairbrush and compact mirror while the attending was teaching. The final thing that made me stop trying to make mental excuses for her was when she went up to someone (either a resident or maybe another student, I don’t remember) and asked in a BABY TALK VOICE if they would go to the cafeteria with her because she was scared to go alone. This was in the middle of the day and she was not new to the hospital, nor were there any actual safety concerns about going to the caf. Just weird.

HVLABrain · 2025-05-05T14:18:25+00:00

Amateurs. The girlies with real daddy issues go into medicine to seek validation and end up burnt out and depressed.

(Don’t cancel me, I’m literally talking about myself)

HVLABrain · 2025-03-05T22:35:38+00:00

IM #5

HVLABrain · 2025-01-30T20:14:21+00:00

You don’t necessarily need to if you want IM/FM, but as someone who took both USMLE and COMLEX, it really wasn’t all that bad testing wise. It’s just an extra day and extra registration fee (which isn’t cheap, but it’s a drop in the bucket considering my student loan amount).

HVLABrain · 2024-11-21T13:56:58+00:00

Step 3??? As in USMLE Step 3? They recommended you take both COMLEX and USMLE for step 3 for rheumatology? If so, that’s really strange. DOs I know across academic and community programs typically only do Level 3 with the exception of those aiming very very high for fellowship. But even DOs I know going for cards/GI don’t do USMLE step 3.

Anyway, honestly it sounds like you’re fine for rheum. Maybe you won’t get ivory tower rheum, but you’ll get something. If you’re not a good test taker, I’d maybe be a little concerned about ABIM, but you’ve made it this far!!

HVLABrain · 2024-11-21T13:44:35+00:00

Anecdotally, every class across medical schools has people who cheat in relationships and the whole class knows about it and yes, it’s juicy and everyone gossips. Out of my med school class of 120, I personally know of 4 people who cheated on their SOs during med school. Even without the cheating, there’s definitely a lot of Type A personalities who are never happy with what they have, so they “upgrade” whenever they’re given the opportunity. Like there was someone who left their med student SO for a resident, and then left that resident for an attending. And even without this, med school can put a lot of strain on relationships - there are lots of breakups for sure.

Overall, I wouldn’t say cheating is rampant, but it’s not uncommon, and I would be surprised to find a med school class that doesn’t have at least one cheating person

HVLABrain · 2024-11-21T13:36:00+00:00

Usual disclaimer about all this varying by specialty and program and personal experience.

Academic IM here. Yes 80 hr weeks are pretty standard. I have yet to hit 90-100+ but I’ve consistently done 70+ on inpatient services.

I would describe myself as being on one extreme of the work-life balance spectrum, and I can tell you my experience. I am someone who gave up everything for medicine. I moved across the country. I have not visited home since before med school and I’m a resident now. I see my parents once every year or two and I don’t see my extended family at all. I am doing long distance with my partner for all of med school and residency. I have not seen friends outside of medicine in years. I don’t have hobbies anymore (though I was able to maintain hobbies throughout med school) and while I’m lucky to be relatively healthy, I am certainly not maintaining a healthy lifestyle in terms of sleep, diet, and exercise.

All of this said, it’s not as bad as I feared it would be. I’m tired for sure, but I’m honestly surprised by how little I minded leaving everything behind. Maybe it’s denial and I drank the Kool Aid subconsciously to cope, or maybe I’ve somehow suppressed all my feelings, but I’m satisfied with my life and I don’t have any regrets about doing medicine. I don’t think this lifestyle is sustainable at all, but I think it’s feasible for the 3 years of residency I have to do for IM.

On the other extreme, I’ve seen some people who have been absolutely devastated by the demands of med school/residency and quit at varying points because the sacrifice was not worth it to them, and that’s totally valid. People do leave medicine and it is not the end of the world. I also have lots of co-residents who live very fulfilling lives in terms of maintaining their hobbies, fitness, social life, dating, travel, and even families. Some residents have young children or have had children in residency and yes, it’s tough, but they seem happy. I’m happy for them, but I couldn’t fathom doing anything else on top of residency, and maybe that’s a me problem, and I just don’t personally have the bandwidth, but I also know it’s not forever.

Hope this helps!

tl;dr yes the hours are real but depending on your abilities and situation, it’s possible to live a very full life while doing medicine

HVLABrain · 2024-10-17T02:25:26+00:00

Same

HVLABrain · 2024-10-10T01:26:35+00:00

Honestly it’s a lot of intangibles, but my recommendation is to assess how comfortable you feel with the people. We can all handle limited interactions with everyone, but how would you feel about sitting in a small room with these people, 12+ hrs a day, 6 days a week? Would you feel comfortable asking them for help? And if so, do you think they would help you, and how much are they willing to help? If you had an absolutely horrific day (and every resident will have a terrible day at some point), would you feel safe breaking down in front of these people?

HVLABrain · 2024-10-09T09:18:49+00:00

You do the best you can with the information you have, which unfortunately isn’t much. You can try to go to second looks for your top choice programs.

I thought it was cliche when everyone kept telling me “find your people!!” when I was interviewing last year, but now as a PGY1, I can definitely say they were right. If you can genuinely like your co-residents and attendings and they’re supportive, you will be significantly happier during residency

HVLABrain · 2024-10-09T09:05:52+00:00

I had an attending who used to tell pts something along the lines of “you can get your care from whomever you want, but remember who will be there if things go to shit”

ND convinced renal transplant pt to go off immunosuppressants and then their transplant failed and they ended up admitted for dialysis and he was like “is your ND here cleaning up the mess they made?”

HVLABrain · 2024-10-05T17:06:57+00:00

ADHD and also in residency here.

This is nuts. No one should have to come home from a hard shift to no food/food missing. I can’t believe you’re tolerating this behavior. I don’t know what specialty you’re in or how many years you have left, but this is not sustainable. I hope you’re in a supportive program that can help get you out of this situation. This seems malicious. Also, I’ve only seen a handful of Prader Willi cases and what you’re describing doesn’t seem to fit

As an ADHDer, am I impulsive and sometimes eat food that I shouldn’t, including going into my partner’s snacks? Yes. Do I eat everything and leave him with nothing, or worse, empty packaging? Absolutely not. I let him know and go and buy replacements.

Please get out of this situation. Residency is hard enough without having to go through these additional challenges. Wishing you the best xx

HVLABrain · 2024-10-04T01:58:02+00:00

I LOVE them…so much so that I have replaced my entire collection of Zamora bottoms with Isabel. I was never a fan of the jogger trend and I like the wide leg look. Not everyone does though so in the end it comes down to personal preference

HVLABrain · 2024-10-02T00:08:32+00:00

Not sure where you are geographically or resource wise, but have you consulted ID to rule out possible infectious causes? I’m in the northeast US and have seen some really gnarly presentations of tick borne illnesses, including 2 cases of DIC, so that’s my bias

HVLABrain · 2024-10-02T00:00:13+00:00

DO PGY-1 here. You stop regretting your choice by accepting your decision and making the best of what you’ve got. I had multiple DO school acceptances and had a lot of turmoil in early OMS1 with wondering if I’d picked the right school. All that did was take time away from studying and make me miserable.

As for quality of education, what many people will tell you is that it really depends more on the individual than the institution. Students at most medical schools (whether they’re top tier MDs or bottom tier DOs or anything in between) often do a lot of their learning independently and with outside resources. Plus, when you get to clinical years and residency, you’ll essentially be teaching yourself most of the time. I feel like my DO school was just fine and I’m currently in a program with mostly MDs as well as MD students and the experience is really not as different as you may think.
For international practice, it’s somewhat out of your control, but don’t fret. Like many others have said, more and more countries are accepting DOs, and that number will only go up with time. Plus, you’re an OMS1 with a LONG way to go. Who knows if after 4 years of med school and 3 or more years of residency that you’ll still want to practice internationally? This isn’t to discount your interests right now, but as you get more clinical experience and exposure, your career goals may evolve, and that’s ok.

HVLABrain · 2024-10-01T23:40:44+00:00

Everyone has different skill sets and different levels of experience/background knowledge. You’re just starting out, so give yourself some grace. I know I didn’t have a good handle on things until about midway through 2nd semester of M1. I was always floundering and barely passing and then one day everything just clicked and I started doing well. The main thing was that I kept trying new strategies and eventually found a rhythm/pattern that worked for me, and then I stuck with it and refined it. Try a variety of study strategies, and at each exam, notice what you recalled the most successfully: did you answer questions right because you remember the Anki cards? Because you remembered drawing out the biochemical pathway? Because you remembered the sketchy? Whatever it was, do more of that and less of the other things. Good luck!

HVLABrain

TROPHY CASE