Almost done with my first rotation

Wow! I am almost done with my first, and longest, rotation. I will be done with Internal Medicine on Wednesday and take the test for the rotation on Friday. I will then be in Whitefish, Montana next Monday.

(Yes, I will miss Mike)

Even though I have absolutely loved internal med, I will be very happy to be done with this rotation. I am so tired all of the time. I am also tired of changing attendings every two weeks and having to learn how they like presentations and rounds completed. I have learned an AMAZING amount of medicine, I can actually answer questions about healthcare with some authority and know that I am probably right. :) It is a nice feeling.

On this rotation, I have been "pinned" as the following types of doctors: surgeon, pediatric intensivist, and an internal medicine doctor. What do I think about those? I honestly don't know, the only one I have experience in is Internal Med. I think that I could do internal med, but I still have always pictured myself as specializing in something. I like that internal med docs need to know a lot about a lot of things (jack of all trades and a master of none) but I also like knowing a LOT about just a few things.

I am really not sure how I am supposed to "choose" my life-long specialty by March.

I am also not sure how I feel about practicing medicine in an academic setting. By academic, I mean having students on my health care team. I feel like I will never know enough to be able to teach other people about the subject. Also, academic medicine is very demanding (well, for certain specialties). The time spent in the hospital is massive and having a family can be challenging (yes, you have to think about those things at this point).

Minor heart attack... OMG, I am old enough to even THINK about when I would be having kids?!?!

However, practicing at a hospital like UW would put me into constant contact with so many new technologies and procedures, it would be great!

Well, I am going to go to bed now. I am sooo tired.