Protoplano,
There is much more to medicine than what you experienced in an outpatient setting of the IM’s office. Just this year in my own rotations I have discovered that there are many diverse opportunities where many different “types” of people can find their niche.
When I was living the long days of my surgery rotation (where everyday feels like a week at first), I thought “What have I gotten myself into? I gave up a career I was really good at for this.” I found watching surgeons sew vessels for hours on end painfully boring and wishing to actually talk to patients versus just barging in their room at the crack-of-dawn to rip off their bandage. But then I moved on from vascular surgery and transplant surgery to anesthesia only to find myself surprised at how much I loved anesthesia. I then said to myself that anesthesia was something I would be very content to spend the rest of my life doing. I just loved how you analyze treatment in anesthesia; plus there are many avenues you can pursue, such as critical care, pain management, hospice (my long-term goal), etc.
I just finished my psychiatry rotation where I discovered that I loved spending the time to talk to patients and really get to know them and their psychosocial history. While I don’t think I want to do psych full time, I discovered part of why certain specialties (i.e. medical oncology) are appealing to me. I thought I was going to hate psych, but I truly surprised myself.
I have a classmate who has vowed to do research, and he will be very good at it. He freely admits that he is less comfortable in direct patient contact, but sees an MD degree as the means to give him a good perspective and entrance into research. So research and teaching are very much options with an MD.
I say all of this to let you know that there are so many opportunities in medicine outside of what most of us see in our travels to med school. In these past four months of clerkships, I have discovered various niches in medicine and am discovering more with each passing week. While I wasn’t always certain that I would find my place in this vast sea of medicine, I feel confident that I will in time as I gain more experiences.
Hope this helps,
Tara