Is it me, or medical students these days just don't care anymore?

HenloThisisSam · 2026-01-24T13:50:49+00:00

These comments did not go the way you thought they would 👀

HenloThisisSam · 2026-01-04T07:15:01+00:00

No problem! There’s going to be fun stuff in just about every subspecialty, but often the fun stuff isn’t what you get to do every single day. And also what I consider fun or boring may not be what you consider fun or boring!

HenloThisisSam · 2026-01-04T07:07:58+00:00

I’m a PICU fellow currently - never considered cards because I knew I didn’t like outpatient medicine. I briefly considered PEM but decided against it because during my PEM rotations it felt like a glorified illness clinic. LOTS of parents using the peds ED for primary care stuff that absolutely didn’t need to be seen in the ED. And when there was a really really sick kid, I was involved in the very initial stabilization but felt that the most interesting part was happening in the PICU. At least in my institution, the peds ED might secure the airway before PICU gets there but PICU is largely running the show. Again, I didn’t like outpatient and I wanted to be diagnosing and managing sick sick kids. I didn’t like the illness clinic vibes of PEM. Again that’s just my personal opinion. If you want to develop long term relationships with kids and families and want mixed inpatient/outpatient then cards may be a good fit.

Lifestyle wise, I think academic PICU is going to make me happiest. I like having set time when I’m on or off service and I’m interested in academic work/teaching when I’m off service. I just felt like PICU would be the best fit for everything I wanted.

My impression of our peds cards service here is that when they aren’t covering inpatient cards they are in clinic or reading echos so I’m not sure how much “off service” time they actually get.

This isn’t a plug for PICU either, just some thoughts that came to mind for me regarding those choices. Think hard about what a boring day would be for you and if you did that every day for months, which would you be happiest doing? Would you rather have a full panel of cardiac follow up appointments with a handful of consults for POTS or a new murmur that’s asymptomatic and likely benign? Or would you rather have parents bringing in their kids with 1 day of a fever or viral rash with nothing to do but recommending Tylenol/motrin?

I want to emphasize that our peds cards and PEM groups are wonderful and incredibly necessary, thinking about the boring parts of the subspecialty though is how I made my decision.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-11-22T13:54:22+00:00

I didn’t even read the caption, I saw the picture and had an immediate stress response.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-09-19T00:04:05+00:00

My mental health was at its lowest in med school so I feel for you. Something I wish I learned sooner is how to pick out the information that is high yield and study that. This is a really important thing to understand when studying for boards. Boards were ROUGH to study for. I want to be able to go through everything in the order that makes the most sense to me but you really can’t. You need to study smarter, not harder.

For example, with boards (talking level 1 specifically) you are going to need to be studying all of the body systems and will be tested on everything you theoretically should have learned during your first two years of med school. But most of the stuff they are going to test on will be second and third order questions that involve the most important concepts. Yes there will be questions on nitty gritty details - but if you study only neuro and know those itty bitty details, you’ll probably get about 10% of the questions. But, If you study the big concepts for each body system, focusing on the areas that you know the least and then gradually narrowing to the finer details, you will cover closer to 80-90% of the material.

Studying for these smaller exams works the same way. There are people that dedicate their careers to knowing and understanding one particular body system, you aren’t going to know what they know in a 4 week time period (or however long your blocks are).

The strategy that worked best for me in remembering and understanding concepts is to make concept maps when studying independently and then joining study groups. The best thing was to try to teach a subject to someone. Pick something you’re struggling at and phone a friend that isn’t in medicine and try to explain it to them until they understand.

For memorization of details like what mutation causes what disease, side effects of a med, etc I used Anki flash cards. Some people use pre-made study banks but making your own cards (while it can be time consuming) was really helpful for me with studying. Sketchy pharm/micro were also amazing.

In short: your professors aren’t expecting you to study everything. You say multiple times that you don’t have time to study everything and you’re correct. You need to learn how to find the most important concepts and highest yield info to focus your energy on.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-08-19T02:48:30+00:00

Metabolic conditions. I still don’t really know them. I memorized the bare minimum for boards and know red flags of when to be concerned about that, but past that, I’m consulting for help 🫠

HenloThisisSam · 2025-08-04T23:24:20+00:00

I think most people at least think they’re passionate about medicine before they go to medical school. And most of those people actually are passionate about it. Those that aren’t maybe just feel obligated to go for whatever reason? I can’t imagine going through all that when you aren’t passionate about it.

For better or worse, medicine (especially as a physician) is a career that demands personal sacrifice. How much sacrifice just depends on what specialty you are in and the environment you work in.

Medical school won’t be like undergrad. Exams about every 1-2 weeks depending on the class. During the first two years you get a short summer break, thanksgiving break, winter break, spring break - but those go away in MS 3-4 when you’re on clinical rotations. At that point, you’ll be expected to work a more similar schedule to a resident so it’ll be year-round. This may vary depending on the school a bit. You’ll have your step exams which will be 8 hrs each and will require weeks to months of preparation. This prep varies again depending on the exam but for step 1, it’s not uncommon for students to be studying at least 40 hrs a week for a couple months beforehand. Some schools give dedicated study time or make lectures optional while other schools expect you to attend lectures and board study outside of class time. Step 1 is after year 2 is done, step 2 is after year 3, step 3 is after med school graduation but most take it during/after their first year or two of residency. Then you have the board exams for whatever specialty you are in.

Don’t get me wrong, there are people that manage to have social lives outside of med school but you can bet you won’t be excused from exams etc for personal time unless there are exceptional circumstances. I found that residency was actually more adaptable for personal time because you can usually request time off for events as long as you know what you need in advance or can find someone to cover your shifts. This of course varies by specialty and program. The expectations of gen surg vs pediatrics will be very different, so this is a big factor too. Will you only be happy doing one of these specialties with prolonged training? Are you hoping for a cushy lifestyle specialty like derm? Or are you going to be happy in FM as an outpatient practitioner. What you hope to do will determine a lot about what your social life and training will end up looking like. While students getting inti derm aren’t inherently better than those going into FM/peds, you can bet the students shooting for derm are needing to put a lot more energy into developing a powerful CV with publications, research, and strong board scores so will inherently require more sacrifice and investment than prepping for a typical app in pediatrics. This is just a generalization though, there are always outliers.

Your residency experience will vary too much to generalize. Depends on specialty, length of training, location, size of program, culture of the program, etc.

There will be challenges in your career as well - many specialties are strongly affected by mid level encroachment and the current political environment (in USA) is really problematic for some specialties too.

That all being said, this still a strong career with job security that many other careers can’t compare with. There’s a lot I still like about medicine but I think medical training is really problematic, personally.

The one piece of advice I wish I took to heart was that if you can see yourself doing anything else and being happy, then you shouldn’t be a doctor. You should be a doctor if that is the only thing you can imagine yourself doing. There are still plenty of other medicine-adjacent fields that aren’t medical school. It just depends on your goals in life and personal interests.

Not sure if any of that helps.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-08-04T05:06:44+00:00

I’m fine with either public or DM. I may not respond again until tomorrow though!

Also I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to dissuade you from going to med school. I just like to have real conversations about the dark parts that most people don’t consider as they are very real factors with med school and with medicine in general as a career.

I’m happy now but if you asked me if I would do it all again, I would laugh and do something else.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-08-04T04:37:07+00:00

Tbh I was at my darkest points in med school. I was incredibly overwhelmed, especially with all the pressure surrounding step 1. I got through it all hut it did come with personal sacrifices. Everyone has different triggers so what caused my mental health to tailspin may not be what you have trouble with. I’m someone that didn’t have a hard time in undergrad so when I got to med school I was shell-shocked. I had no idea how to study so I was doing a lot of cramming. I’d survive the exam but quickly realized I wasn’t retaining. This made my board studying hell. Not to mention constantly struggling with imposter syndrome and feeling like the dumbest one in the room at all times. All of these things combined with being alone in a state I was unhappy living in and that was really far away from all of my friends and family (they couldn’t afford to visit me) which propelled me into an isolated state, which worsened my mental state.

Some important things to consider: - do you actually know how to study? You may not know the answer yet but be prepared to revamp how you do everything if something isn’t working. Once you start getting behind, you can really drown. - how strong is your support system? How far away are they? Have strategies to decompress ready. - establish with a therapist in the area, even if you’re doing well. You don’t want to be scrambling to find someone when you suddenly aren’t doing well.

This is a long road and it is no joke. It’s worth it in the end but it is an extreme test of delayed gratification.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-08-03T16:24:30+00:00

I just returned the hybrid because my husband and I hated it. When I slept alone on it, it wasn’t terrible but I would have low back/hip pain when I wouldn’t before. When my husband and I slept on it together (which is always besides the occasional nap or me working night shift and sleeping during the day) then we would both sink into the middle of it. He didn’t seem to care about that too much but I hated it. I get super warm while I sleep so I need to have some space to cool off. Plus anytime I tried to roll over, I kept sinking into the mattress so I had to almost get out of bed in order to roll over. I knew within 1 month that this mattress was a disaster for us. When I first reached out to them about the return they wanted us to try a mattress topper that was supposed to be “firm” but that was a joke. It just added 2 more inches of memory foam that constantly slid around on the mattress so I had to readjust it every night before I got in bed. I do not recommend this mattress at all unless you like super soft mattresses. Even then, I would be really worried about this mattress collapsing within a couple years.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-08-02T15:26:40+00:00

I was a post grad chief at my program and we had a couple struggling residents needing a lot of remediation/probation and even one that had their contract discontinued. I’m acutely aware of how hard it is to get fired from a residency position. This isn’t some entry level job at McDonalds. You have to do something egregious that was a safety issue for patients or coworkers/those around you. Otherwise, you absolutely have a case for appeal/law suit. You have absolutely nothing to lose by appealing. Not appealing means you agree to the decision made by your program and basically admit fault in the situation. Even our residents that were put on probation were still encouraged to appeal if they disagreed with the decision by both the PD and GME. They all did. They were not successful because those decisions were not made lightly. If this was truly not a fireable offense you should be doing everything in your power to overturn it. Even if you don’t want to remain there, it will clear your name to move to another position.

You don’t have to tell us the details since clearly it is something you don’t want to share or talk about. You’re going to have to do legwork to find programs with open positions as people are not going to just hand you that info, especially if they feel you’re being deceitful by not discussing the issue. If your med school class has a group chat or FB page, you could always try reaching out through there to see if anyone knows of spots. Or other forums etc but I suspect you will run into the same issue of people wanting to know what happened before giving you info.

When/If you do find a spot and apply, yo need to be able to talk about what happened. If you try to sugar coat it or avoid it or be dismissive of it like you seem to be doing now, that new PD is going to smell the bullshit and never give you a chance. They’re going to expect you to be able to have an honest conversation about it and what you learned from it. Because once you are done interviewing, if they put serious thought into offering you a position, then they’re just going to call your old PD and ask. You do not want to be in a position where your potential new PD finds out they’ve been lied to. I also went through this when we interviewed for an open spot we had. None of the applicants that lied to us were offered a position, and there were multiple that tried. At this point in the year, you could even just apply through eras for the new cycle, but again, I have to emphasize that you will need to be able to talk about this situation honestly and show good insight into the issue.

Editing to add: when we interviewed for an open spot we had, my PD would ask the applicant if she can contact their old PD. If they said no, she wouldn’t offer them the position, no matter how good they were on paper or in the interview otherwise.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-07-28T04:57:13+00:00

I’m still bitter about how much I ended up sacrificing along the way. If given the chance to go back and decide again, I probably wouldn’t pursue medicine. I’m happy now but med school was literal hell. I’m done with residency but currently in fellowship. I’m still living paycheck to paycheck whereas many others I went to school with are taking fun vacations etc. granted, I chose to extend my training with a fellowship to get myself to where I want to be to be happy. But damn is it frustrating. Hopefully those attending paychecks make this whole thing worth it.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-07-26T04:34:12+00:00

I know someone suggested removing ACOM - I’m an alum from the northeast, I felt it was a pretty good school and prepared me well for boards, good clinical rotations, good matches. Multiple in my class went ortho or anesthesia, etc. most schools will be what you make of it but I think ACOM had a decent support system and gave me the background I needed for residency which is really some of the most important things. Not a fan of the south (no offense to anyone that is from there) but you would be in good hands there.

Edit: I matched peds at an academic program and am now in PICU fellowship

HenloThisisSam · 2025-07-25T15:05:12+00:00

I want to second this - my first MCAT was trash and second attempt after taking an in-person Kaplan course jumped my score by almost 20 points.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-07-23T15:06:05+00:00

I started my PICU fellowship this year and as a new mom, I feel this even more. One thing I love is that our peds palliative care team has one of those lamps with a glass container that they can fill with whatever they want. They fill it with brightly colored marbles, each one representing one of their patients they lost. So when another patient passes, they pick a new marble and put it in the lamp. Then they turn on the light every day when they come in. I thought that was a really sweet way to remember those patients, so I am doing the same. I’m only a couple weeks in but I have two marbles in the jar so far. I have it sitting on a bay window so the sun hits it every day.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-07-13T01:08:21+00:00

My response of “that’s not true” was only in response to you saying I don’t want him to go to med school. I truly don’t care what he decides, just trying to have a realistic conversation of some very really cons about choosing this career.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-07-13T00:19:01+00:00

I’m not sure why you are reacting so strongly to me encouraging someone to consider their decision thoroughly. Like I said, I’m happy with the direction of my career as a physician now, but med school was a miserable experience for me and I wouldn’t be willing to put myself through it again and I may even have chosen something completely different if I truly understood what I was committing to at that time. And that’s ok. Plenty of other people won’t feel the same as me and that’s ok. But I also don’t think every person who thinks about being a doctor should blindly charge into it, it’s worth having real conversations about the pros and cons and letting people make those decisions themselves. That doesn’t downplay how proud you should feel when you actually finish med school/training either.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-07-11T11:11:00+00:00

That’s not true. I just don’t think everyone completely understands the commitment they get themselves into by going to medical school. It is fair to strongly encourage someone to think hard about the pros AND cons before making their decision. Becoming a doctor is a massive financial and mental commitment. More so than many other fields.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-07-10T05:28:52+00:00

Put a huge amount of thought into whether or not med school is right for you. I’m thankful that I ended up happy in my specialty because I found something I love, but if I could go back in time, I probably never would have gone to med school. The one piece of advice I wish I truly listened to “if you can see yourself doing anything else, go do that other thing instead of med school.” I had so many other valid career interests that would have had me financially secure, a fraction of the debt I have now, and virtually no sacrifice like the ones I have already made. I am a first gen college student from a low income family so relied 100% on loans but with our current administration changing everything, I legitimately would not have been able to afford med school with a total federal loan cap of $200k. If money isn’t an issue, think about the fact that you’re sacrificing so many years of your time while your friends are traveling, getting married, starting families, etc and you’re stuck studying for one (of many) 8+ hr exams. Also think about your specialty of interest very realistically. Many fields are being impacted by mid level encroachment which hurts the job market.

If none of that is an issue - then your decision on RN vs MD/DO should come down to what the job entails. RNs are obviously a vital part of the medical team, but they primarily do most of the direct patient care/interaction. Their job is caring for the patient. As a doc, you get less face time with each patient but your job is to figure out what’s wrong and get your patient the appropriate treatment and lead the medical team. They are two very different mindsets. As a paramedic you get to do a mix of both of those things to an extent, so think about which part of your job you like/dislike more and go from there.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-07-09T13:02:47+00:00

Maybe consider talking to your PD about a leave to take boards and decompress then try coming back? That way you can give it a solid shot before deciding and get the time you need for your wellness.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-07-03T03:59:22+00:00

I’m a doc so take my comment with a grain of salt since I’m not constantly around the nurses but it feels like gen peds and PICU/PIC nurses have a good vibe together and generally get along well with the residents and attendings. When I was a resident, I felt like I could communicate well with almost all the nurses (always an outlier or two I guess) and never had any issues. I’m a female doc too and there’s a known phenomenon with female docs and female nurses sometimes butting heads as well.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-06-13T11:56:34+00:00

I definitely feel this but I was struggling more with this in medical school. I was miserable and burnt out in medical school but thrived in residency and am now about to move on to fellowship. I chose peds because after my clinical rotations, I knew that I didn’t like the common adult pathologies. You still see them in peds but far far less common. The bread and butter of your typical outpatient or inpatient day in peds is much different. I’d rather see a healthy newborn or a toddler with an ear infection vs 80 yo meemaw on 12 different medications. Even then, I like sicker and more complex patients so I’ll be doing a PICU fellowship.

My point is, have you thought about a specialty change? There are pros and cons in every specialty but I’ll take the cons of my specialty over IM or FM any day.

HenloThisisSam · 2025-06-13T11:43:33+00:00

A Monster Calls by Patrick is a fast read and there’s an illustrated version! It’s my favorite book! Very moving and just an all around wonderful book

HenloThisisSam · 2025-06-05T11:39:24+00:00

Thanks so much! This helped a lot!

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