What made you choose med/peds? I just found out about the combined residency this year and it really intrigues me!
I chose it because I wanted to see the full spectrum of ages and also maximize my inpatient opportunities both during training and after. The options are nearly boundless.
At this point people usually ask me why not FM. FM is awesome, but to my knowledge the hospitalist/inpatient jobs just aren’t as plentiful and I have no idea where my life is going to take me after residency. I’m also not super interested in OB, which is a part of the FM picture. I think FM also gets more surgical experience.
I also really enjoy the idea of switching between IM and Peds as part of my post-residency job, as I’ve enjoyed doing it during residency. What I learn in one gets reinforced as I learn it again on the other side. My attention span is all over the place and this is really conducive to it.
There’s a trope that Med/Peds grads tend to pick one in the end. I haven’t found this to be true and the statistics don’t support this either. But even if it were true, the dual training gives you a solid base to work in your chosen field. In Peds, for example, you see a lot of congenital diseases that you’ll need to see in your patients that survive to adulthood.
Anyway, my answers tend to be long-winded and aimless so I’ll stop here. But if you have more questions let me know!