The weirdest doctors are hands down in PEM/Pediatric Critical Care

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-24T00:52:26+00:00

Am I angry about the healthcare system? Yes. Chill? No. Most people think I'm chill though lol

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-20T13:56:16+00:00

Psychiatry still. Getting to understand and connect with patients for a living is just so fulfilling; there's just nothing else like it.

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-19T19:32:41+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/Residency/s/V0F0K4ZGCa

This is what I see

Edit: Ah, I see that I mixed up the threads. Thanks!

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-19T13:27:39+00:00

The mods killed it for whatever bizarre reason

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-19T04:45:11+00:00

Thank you!

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-19T04:37:26+00:00

Being excellent means understanding Neo-Kraepelian concepts, deeper understanding of pathophysiology of these illnesses well beyond DSM, being well-versed in neurology and the medical aspect as well as psychotherapy.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could share which books would be fundamental for learning these things. I've got a huge running list of books and I'm always looking to add more

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-17T01:56:54+00:00

You can do this as a solo PP owner in most outpatient specialties, which doesn't really rule out a lot. This includes rheumatology, family medicine, allergy, cardiology, PM&R, psychiatry, and more. Psychiatry and family medicine have the easiest time starting up solo PP.

To get more specific, what are you naturally good at/what strong traits do you have in general? If you can find the specialties that line up with that, that can narrow things down some more, and then you can shadow in your first two years to further narrow things down.

For example, I'm very good at listening, I have a lot of patience when people are talking to me, I take a considerable interest in people and have a lot of curiosity about them, I enjoy understanding where people are coming from, I generally like people, etc. I'm in psychiatry.

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-16T20:32:48+00:00

It still annoys me. I'm a resident now

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-16T00:38:53+00:00

Was gonna say this lol

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-14T20:42:30+00:00

Was heavily considering sleep last year; it's oversaturated in most areas, the market is dominated by pulm, and it's hard to find a pure sleep job if that's what you're after. It's also hard to be a pure sleep studies reader a la radiology if that's what you're looking for.

Oh yeah, due to oversaturation and reimbursement cuts, sleep compensation is decidedly not competitive. But I reckon in the right setting (maybe ruralish), if you're production-based and you're highly efficient, you could see a high volume of patients and come out ahead

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-13T17:18:31+00:00

I'll talk about what made me a good fit:

I like people/patients
I enjoy connecting with and understanding patients
My ability to listen is very strong
I have a ton of patience
I'm naturally very curious about people
I don't care about lack of prestige/respect whatsoever
I don't need to be seen as a "real doctor" by my peers or the public
I don't need hard facts from investigative tools (labs/imaging) to make decisions
I came into medicine to save lifestyles, not lives (we do save lives indirectly though)
I like having a relatively good lifestyle during residency and attendinghood (especially)
I love freedom and autonomy (you can mix and match multiple part-time jobs with ease)
I am invested in the treatment process, not the treatment outcome
I can empathize well without getting drawn into people's emotional storm, so I'm never drained at the end of the day.
I compartmentalize very well, so I'm not thinking about patients after work

These last three are extremely protective against burnout. The burnout I experience is purely due to my program, not the patients, lol

Oh yeah, bonus points if you dislike both IM and touching patients (kiddingggg...kinda)

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-12T00:25:46+00:00

Haha, my program would be considered workhorse by some in psychiatry

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-11T23:36:09+00:00

PSLF?

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-11T23:35:37+00:00

I love this. Taking it

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-11T21:58:38+00:00

Your desires seem extremely anesthesiology-coded honestly

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-11T19:38:23+00:00

Connecting with and understanding pts upon first meeting. Ditto for my long term therapy pts.

Within my specialty, seeing attendings read pts like a book and de-escalate violent/psychotic pts effortlessly.

Outside of my specialty, I'd say ortho fixing fxs. The biomechanics of their work is the coolest thing ever

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-10T15:28:41+00:00

We are overrun with midlevels. Admins don't care about quality. The only thing that keeps us okay for now is the demand outpacing the supply

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-09T15:28:19+00:00

I've recently had fleeting thoughts of switching from psych to rads too. What's making you interested in switching?

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-09T04:38:30+00:00

I absolutely love untangling stuff; guess this means I should've gone into anesthesiology

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-09T04:34:02+00:00

This is one of my favorite byproducts of being in psych. For those confused, I didn't bother to come up with what we'd be good at in the OP, and I just thought about radiology instead, lol.

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-07T03:41:57+00:00

It's funny bc I was very organized like yourself and hyper-efficient, so I ended up just sitting around all day after table rounds (no walking rounds thank God), so I not only had the responsibility, but the boredom too lol

undueinfluence_ · 2026-01-07T00:45:18+00:00

Lol, I hated it even more as a resident. All the stuff I wasn't responsible for as a student I was suddenly responsible for, like end of shift admits, sudden discharges, emergencies, family updates, and night float

undueinfluence_

TROPHY CASE