Hi Ladies! I'm an M2, and soon I'll have to put in my schedule request for third year rotations. I know all the theories about the best schedule as it affects your career. But what about your children?
My son will be two when I start my M3 year, and he's never spent the night away from me (at my school, surgery is the only rotation with overnights). I was thinking about starting with the lightest rotations and working up to surgery last, so my schedule won't vary wildly every few weeks. But does anyone have any suggestions as far as how it will affect him? (or just tips on how to maximize our time together? Or how to ease the transition from him having a mostly stay at home mom to having me be gone a lot more?)
Thanks!
Sarah
Wow! We had overnights on Surgery, Medicine, OB/GYN, ER, Medicine Sub-I... Most of the major rotations, actually. Now that I think about it, I'm glad I finished this before I had kids because yes, it's hard!
ReplyDeletewe had overnights on everything too. It will be an adjustment, but you will be okay! truthfully, i'd pick the order with what you think you want to do in the first half of the year. i.e., if you are debating between med and peds, i might request ER, med, peds, as your first 3 so that you get your feet wet with something else, and then get exposed to the things you'd seriously consider.
ReplyDeleteI'm a current M3 with a 3y/o. I'd echo the above comments. We have overnight call in most rotations, but so far it hasn't been a problem. Although I don't think that as an M1 and M2 I was anything close to a stay at home mom. I picked my schedule so that the two specialties I was really interested in where back to back in the first semester. I started with somethin I was not interested in so that I had a rotation where I could learn how to be a third year without quite as much pressure. Finally, I put a rotation with really great hours and no call in Nov-Dec so that I would have more flexibility for Thanksgiving, Christmas and my son's birthday. My only other minor consideration was putting internal med at the end of the year so that it would be fresh for step 2. In reality, I don't think it really matters in the long run. You can debte the pros and cons of each schedule type forever. Instead, just have a great time learning about medicine. You will balance motherhood at every step along the way. That's the advantage of having kids before school. I've never know any other way.
ReplyDeleteI had 3 kiddos by 3rd year. I started with surgery as my first rotation and got it over. Granted my kids were 7,5, and 3 at that time. My husband was great to bring the kids to eat dinner with me at the hospital. I would call and tell them good night. Trust me they will survive...now mine are 17, 15, and 13 and no worse for the wear. I think it is much more difficult for mom than the kids!
ReplyDeleteGood Luck!!