Reply to How do I advise/support my sister who is a burnt-out PGY1 medical resident? (

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]surgeon mom who is 15 years into practice and finds her career very rewarding -

1) residency is really hard, especially intern year. there is a ton of adjustment to new responsibilities, tremendous learning curve, fatigue, etc. people have to remember it's a marathon. for the poster who said it's only 3 years, it depends on the field. can be anywhere from 3-7 years plus additional 1-3 years for fellowship.

2) i'm a little surprised with her disillusionment this far out as most medical students encounter this during clinical exposure and/or shadowing as a pre-med. the health system is very messy and easy to become jaded - it's important to shut down some of that noise and focus on the joys of helping the pts you can, doing something good in the world, and working on improving your skills to become the best doctor you can.

3) all specialties are valuable and worthy of respect. some have better lifestyles than others but good for those folks who prioritize life outside the hospital; doesn't mean they are not "real doctors". she needs to lose that attitude asap. i could not do my job without the amazing oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, and yes, dermatologists that i work with (i am in surg onc and treat melanoma pts).

4) family support can really help during residency, especially if she's interested in having kids. a supportive spouse is essential. local parents who can help with childcare is also great if feasible. we had an amazing nanny who helped with childcare for our 2 kids. [/quote]

Another physician mom here and I agree with everything this pp said. My DH isn’t in medicine but grew up with a parent who was, so in theory he “got” it, but it was still a really hard intern year (in terms of our relationship) when my hours were awful. He was the primary parent for my whole residency, although everything after intern year was much less rough.

If your sister is still unhappy in a few months, she could look into transferring. Maybe a different program in a different location and with a hospital that serves a different patient population might be a better fit. Also, there are primary care IM programs that focus more on ambulatory care and the hours aren’t as awful, which could be a better fit. Many family medicine programs have much better hours and limited overnight call.

Tdlr: it gets better, but if she’s miserable and doesn’t want to get through it, look into switching to another program or field. [/quote]

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