Are you passionate about your specialty?.....Why?

[Umbach]

I'm curious as to what my colleagues who are passionate about their specialty love so much. I'd love to recharge my batteries by hearing what really gets you up and looking forward to a new day. Especially those of you who have been at a particular specialty for quite some time.

[EMEDPA]

26 years working in emergency medicine.

can't imagine doing anything else except full scope rural primary care(which includes em, hospitalist, icu, etc).

in EM you can influence the course of a patients life in minutes to hours and feel like you are making a difference every day:

treat DKA, a STEMI or a CVA in progress, save a life.

you can restore beauty like suturing up the face of an innocent 5 yr old child

you can make a crucial diagnosis at the right time, institute a treatment and prevent further poor outcomes.

you can see a side of life no one else(except cops and paramedics) sees:

folks who do ridiculous things to themselves that no one else would believe( you put a bottle rocket in your a$$ why?)

interact with patients from all walks of life from CEOs to strippers and heroin junkies and everything in between

you can be the first to know the inside scoop on a variety of "secrets" in your community.

you can share a meaningful conversation with someone you like in 5 minutes or be able to never see a patient you really don't like ever again(you have no panel of patients-frequent flyers, sure, but they can grow on you too either in good ways or in bad.) I have my favorite drunks at each job and folks I prefer not to see and talk my partners into seeing while I see their least favorite folks.

over time you CAN work your way into positions with better scope of practice and autonomy. this may take a long time and require a lot of travel but it's worth it. I currently drive 3 hrs to my favorite job while keeping the job at home that pays the rent and gives me benefits.

(and the flexible scheduling and pay are currently among the best of any specialty).

[Umbach]

Awesome! Keep it coming.

[jdenning]

Well, my post isn't going to be quite as glamorous as EMEDPA's, and I'm not convinced that I absolutely love what I'm doing, but I haven't found anything I like better and it turns out I'm really good at what I do. I'm in neurology. Today in clinic I was a problem solver/trouble shooter for multiple patients with Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and multiple types of epilepsy. In addition to treating their neurologic problems, I was also part marriage counselor, part occupational therapist (my previous life), part social worker and advocate. This afternoon I saw a woman who had deep brain stimulation for bilateral essential tremor and after 1.5 hours of me programming her stimulator her tremor was gone. She was in tears she was so happy to be able to hold a magazine steady and actually read it. Considering the number of patients I see with awful degenerative neurologic disease it's awesome to see someone who gets better....Then an appreciative text from supervising MD sharing a good joke and thanking me for my hard work. Not bad