What is Toxicology?

I completed a 1 month rotation in clinical Toxicology. So what is toxicology? Like everything else in medicine it is a complicated question. A clinical toxicologist usually completes medical school and then completes a residency in emergency medicine (3-4 years) followed by a 2 year fellowship in toxicology.

A clinical toxicologist will usually work as an emergency medicine physician part time and then work as a consultant in toxicology where they get consulted on cases where a patient has overdosed or taken a poison (intentionally or accidentally). The toxicologist will come in and see the patient and make recommendations on how to treat the poisoned patient. These consultations usually come from emergency medicine doctors or the poison control.

The clinical toxicologist will also usually be professor tied to an academic teaching hospital and will spend some of their time teaching about various toxic exposures that occur to patients. Their job includes several different roles which makes it an interesting field.

As one toxicologist told me; "Everything in medicine is tox related"

I matched at my #1 spot

In order to keep some anonymity I will not post my actual place of residency. Those who know me like friends, family and others will already know the location.

However, I am very excited and will say that I did match at my #1 choice. That is great and I feel blessed as there are many this year who did not match and some of the program directors of the residency programs were saying that this was the most competitive year they have seen, meaning that they received many more applications for the spots this year than they had in prior years.

I feel like everything lined up and I was fortunate enough to not only match but get my top choice. Like I said, I was blessed.

I Matched

Today at 10:50 am I received and email stating the following:

Congratulations! You have matched.

This means on Thursday I will get an envelope with a letter in it telling me where I matched. It looks like I will be starting my first job as a doctor in emergency medicine in July. We just need to know where.

I will post.

Where have I been?

No excuses! I have not posted in a while. I will play some catch up. I finished 3 rotations in emergency medicine in very different emergency settings. Inner city, Suburban area , and a Urban area (not inner city but not community or suburban setting). All of them were great and the experiences re-confirmed my choice to pursue emergency medicine for residency.

I interviewed at 14 programs and ended up ranking 12 programs total. If you have read my past threads about the match this will make sense to you. There was a lot of traveling involved in going to each of these residency programs and interviewing and checking out what they had to offer for training. The bottom line in emergency medicine is that most programs if not all of them in the USA will get you trained to run a busy hectic emergency room and handle all the procedures you need to be able to do. There are very strict guidelines and rules that the residency must adhere to in order to stay accredited. Wherever you train you will get the procedures down and the skills it takes or at least be provided the opportunity to gain those skills.

As an applicant it come down to where do I want to go and what will be best for me and my family. I have some highly regarded programs as my top choices and I certainly hope to match at my #1 choice but I would happily go to any of my choices on my list.

Last month I completed a 1 month Radiology rotation and worked with a famous Radiologist who really focused on the important areas of emergency medicine with regards to radiology. I learned a ton of ultrasound and how to maneuver the probe to enhance certain exams and procedures done in the ED. I also got a great amount of CT reading and Xray training in. It was hands on and focused. I felt like I got 4 months crammed into 1 month and it was extremely high yield for me.

Currently I am on a toxicology rotation and I will dedicate some future threads to this rotation as I am only 1/2 way through it. I absolutely love it. It is all about poisonings; intentional, accidental, drugs of abuse, alcohol, drug interactions etc. Very fascinating and a great part of emergency medicine.

Next week is a big week for me. On Monday 3/15 I find out "if" I matched. I will get an email at about 11:00 am saying one of the following:

1. Congratulations, you matched.

2. You did not match.

3. You matched to a PGY1 position only.

4. You matched to a PGY2 position only.

Mine will hopefully be: congratulations, you matched. Options 3. and 4. do not apply to me as I did not apply to any programs that would only accept me for a 1 year position or a year 2 position.

Then on Thursday 3/18 at 11:00 am my entire class will meet and receive our individual envelopes. I will open mine and see "where" I matched. Then the celebrating and panic can begin as I get ready for the next phase, residency.

This is the last summer of my childhood.......