EM vs PMR

[medstudent33]

I am thinking about both EM and PMR for residency. I do enjoy doing procedures. Which field do you think does more procedures?

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[tiedyeddog]

I am thinking about both EM and PMR for residency. I do enjoy doing procedures. Which field do you think does more procedures?

I think PM&R hands down has the possibility of doing more procedures. In PM&R you will do a ton of outpatient months that will be tons of procedures. You'll do months of EMGs, joint injections, fluoro(institution dependent), lumbar punctures (not a ton but some, institution dependent again), and so forth. You'll also do some inpatient months were you are doing internal medicine light rotations for IPR.

EM does more invasive procedures. Once you're past intern year, you won't be doing central lines or intubations in PM&R.

If you're still hedging, I would say do a home PM&R rotation and try to do both inpatient and outpatient so you get a good feel for the different PM&R subspecialties.

 

[DubVille]

Wow those are two very different specialties. I was between path and pm&r, which are pretty far away from one another. To echo the above poster it will depend on where you go in pm&r. Inpatient docs do virtually none, or a few rare joint injections/aspirations. However, unless you are doing interventional (or intercostal nerve blocks, diaphragm botox/emg, etc) then most of the procedures are fairly "minor." ED docs do plenty of small procedures I&d, digital blocks, sutures, etc in the community, but there is always the possibility of doing incredibly invasive stuff.
I'm biased but I'd say if you set yourself right, you will do more volume of procedures in rehab with the option of doing some "more intense" stuff, but you won't be putting in chest tubes or opening chests either.

 

[J ROD]

I think it can be a toss up. I would be more concerned about how different the lifestyles are between the two.

You will get procedures with both. But, more flex hrs, nights/wkends, and money with EM. PM&R, you will get a slower pace and regular schedule. But less money.

They are pretty different.

 

[stsa84]

I too had EM and PM&R on my differential. Ended up declaring something entirely different. In my limited experience, EM docs will probably be more hands on as physicians than PM&R docs. Residency is a toss up. Personally, I wanted procedures plus a decently family friend lifestyle. For this reason, PM&R won out over EM (though again, I ended up going with something different). What major criteria do you have, other than procedure load?