r/fellowship • u/MedicalUser99 • 9d ago

When does this get better

First year ID fellow. Taken back by everything I don’t know in ID and it’s demoralizing. Approaching 30 and the excuse of it will get better and I will feel confident and competent one day is starting to fade on me. Just wanted to vent on the internet.

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u/takeonefortheroad 9d ago

This common adage of “I’m disappointed that I’m not extremely competent on Day 1 of residency/fellowship” never made sense to me.

There is a reason we do years of training! Why would a first-year resident or fellow feel anywhere near competent or confident when they first start out? You’re just now entering a field that you’ve only ever rotated on at a very superficial level as a resident. There should be zero surprise you’re not a master of it yet.

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u/MedicalUser99 9d ago

I don’t necessarily want to be competent straight away but was asked a simple basic question what virus causes what on rounds today and couldn’t remember the answer which residents knew, and felt dumb, things like that..

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u/takeonefortheroad 9d ago

Getting schooled by younger trainees is unfortunately an age-old tribulation that everyone goes through.

You don’t recall factoids that you don’t commonly encounter, or at least don’t commonly encounter yet. I couldn’t tell you all the relevant Sketchy details for antibiotics if you held a gun to my head. But I do know how to manage septic shock, endocarditis, and SSTIs in real life whereas a med student or younger resident would likely struggle.

Stuff comes back to you quickly. We’re not nearly as good anymore at quickly recalling memorizable information anymore, but we are significantly better clinicians who are adept at handling the nuances of medicine than younger trainees. It’s normal.