- Joined
- Nov 7, 2015
- Messages
- 9
- Reaction score
- 1
I'm closing in on defining my ideal practice qualities. I would like to treat a wide variety of illness and injury, using a range of skills and approaches. I would like to treat patients with limited access to medical care, both here in the States and abroad. In particular, I want to spend a significant portion of my career working with MSF or similar organizations providing care in profoundly resource-poor situations. As such, I want to pursue the training that will grant me the greatest flexibility in my scope of practice.
My thought is that rural family medicine would fit quite well into these parameters, potentially with some post-residency training. My concern is that it will be difficult to develop the kind of surgical skills that I would need in order to be as useful as possible if I were to go spend a year working in a place like Syria. If I were to do a prelim year in surgery, would this significantly expand my scope of practice as a family physician working in rural and international settings? I understand that interns rarely get much operative experience, but I'm mostly looking to develop the assessment skills of a surgeon and strong abilities as a first assist.
TL;DR Would a prelim year in surgery significantly expand the surgical skills of a family physician?
My thought is that rural family medicine would fit quite well into these parameters, potentially with some post-residency training. My concern is that it will be difficult to develop the kind of surgical skills that I would need in order to be as useful as possible if I were to go spend a year working in a place like Syria. If I were to do a prelim year in surgery, would this significantly expand my scope of practice as a family physician working in rural and international settings? I understand that interns rarely get much operative experience, but I'm mostly looking to develop the assessment skills of a surgeon and strong abilities as a first assist.
TL;DR Would a prelim year in surgery significantly expand the surgical skills of a family physician?