Has anyone with an M.D. at 50 been accepted to a residency other than IM or family practice? I would really, really love to do ER specialty, or better yet trauma surgery, but wonder if I am completely delusional. Thanks.
Trauma surgery? not very likely at 50 but ER/IM/FP/ob-gyn/psych, pretty much anything is open but the surgial fields not so much IMHO.
I will concede that surgery is not as competitive as it once was and that you will find exceptions where folks in their late-40s/early-50s did take this path, I assure you that they are the exception and not the rule. The surgical lifestyle, esp trauma surg, is way rough. I am not trying discourage you, but you really need to explore this prior to committing…and not by merely shadowing. You need to talk to people who have been doing this for a number of years to see how they feel about it and how well they are holoding up in their later-career phase. Very very few who start out as trauma surgeons continue to do so forever due to the physicial & emotional wear & tear.
Regarding ED: should not be a problem to land a slot in at 50+.
Thanks, Oldmandave. I am an unusually energetic person. 'Tis why I can no longer work in an office, among other reasons, but mainly, I am to rambunctious for sitting around all day. Which is why I really can’t see myself in a setting other than some kind of adrenaline ridden specialty. I am also thinking about anesthesiology.
How is your employment going, btw?
Aimee,
Let me be clear - my point is not about having the energy to survive this sort of training. It is about the emotional & physicial wear & tear that trauma surgery entails…precisely the same story that anesthesia/critical care is.
If you are an adrenalin junky - as am I - anesthesia may be a viable path as would general surgery. But, before you set your heart on ICU/traum and such - make sure you know of what you are speaking.
Of course, not to be flippant, you still have to get into med school & do the required spectrum of rotations. If you find something that melts your butter, I am 300% behind you - go for it. If it ends up being ICU/trauma, more power to you! I’m just saying, from years of experience, that there is more to this mandate than having the energy, being an adrenalin junky or being ancy.
ITA w/ that. I’m a nurse that has worked a lot of cardiac and other surgical recovery. What those people go through in surgical residencies and fellowship is, well, unbelievable. I totally wouldn’t do it.
I love critical care, and I worked in it as a RN my whole career. But there comes a time where you have to balance what is most going to work overall. CCM would be tempting for me b/c of my background and how much I have loved it. But I want more independence in practice and more time to try to work in wellness as part of being a physician. So, though I am in no position to declare anything right now, family medicine looks most probable.
I still have hoops to jump through though, so I’m going to try to keep my mind open and my mouth shut.
Surgery is cool; but to me critical care medicine is often more heady. Lots of thinking and adjusting things minute by minute or even by seconds. Uber cool but very stressful and demanding in its own right.