What specialty are you most leaning towards?

randombetch said:

Less than 5% want to go into Family Practice or Internal Medicine.

But we all know that >30% will end up as one of these.

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Yeah. But that is only normal. If I lived in the US, I would have to go into neurosurgery. The food chain is a lot more established in the US compared to most Eur countries, so it makes sense to get a crappy medical carpenter job, just to show how smart you were.

Which medical schools have aerospace medicine rotations? (I'm assuming it's up there because one chooses based on 3/4 yr experiences.)

ishchayill said:

Which medical schools have aerospace medicine rotations? (I'm assuming it's up there because one chooses based on 3/4 yr experiences.)

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The guy who created the pole is going to USUHS next year (the military med school); Army and AF can do flight medicine training during the 4th year.

vasca said:

Um.. most people get into Radiology because it's a 7-3 pm job with no call, cool semi surgical procedures and you get 4 months of vacations each year. I swear, those guys are ALWAYS on vacations, it's amazing.

I've never even seen a PET scan, they aren't really used for a lot of diseases. Radars for ustrasounds on the other hand... even interns are expected to know how to use them! Radar techology..

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Have you even worked with a radiologist in the US? What you describe is certainly not the typical radiologist.

Haha...out of 200+ people I'm the only one that chose nephrology. I actually entertained the idea of ID first because I like global health and want to do doctors without borders and all that good stuff. It still might be something that I want to do. Then I kicked around the idea of doing neurology...I'll be doing a rotation in it next month so I'll get to see if I actually like it enough to do it for the rest of my life. The funny things is that I actually detested Renal with a passion...got the worst grade on any test in med school in that class. But I had a really awesome attending who taught me so much-she was really amazing and now I'm really considering doing it!

What is "surgery-chiro"?

And why is podiatry on the list? Isn't podiatry exclusively a separate track?

rosiean86 said:

Haha...out of 200+ people I'm the only one that chose nephrology. I actually entertained the idea of ID first because I like global health and want to do doctors without borders and all that good stuff. It still might be something that I want to do. Then I kicked around the idea of doing neurology...I'll be doing a rotation in it next month so I'll get to see if I actually like it enough to do it for the rest of my life. The funny things is that I actually detested Renal with a passion...got the worst grade on any test in med school in that class. But I had a really awesome attending who taught me so much-she was really amazing and now I'm really considering doing it!

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I hate nephro!!

ishchayill said:

And why is podiatry on the list? Isn't podiatry exclusively a separate track?

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Yes. Entirely separate process from MDs and DOs, at schools of podiatric medicine.

vasca said:

Um.. most people get into Radiology because it's a 7-3 pm job with no call, cool semi surgical procedures and you get 4 months of vacations each year. I swear, those guys are ALWAYS on vacations, it's amazing.

I've never even seen a PET scan, they aren't really used for a lot of diseases. Radars for ustrasounds on the other hand... even interns are expected to know how to use them! Radar techology..

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It looks like you need to get your facts straight. And radars for ultrasounds?

mikedc813 said:

It looks like you need to get your facts straight. And radars for ultrasounds?

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Of course, you know those babies that pop out so fast that you don't even have time to get your gloves on... radar helps find these speeders so we can give them a ticket. I'm just trying to picture shooting a radar gun at a patient.

Psych. It's never been anything else.

I am open to something else appealing to me more in rotations, but I'd have to be supernaturally good at it. I'm one of those people who's very clumsy in the physical world.

I picked Family. I like the idea of being a "frontline," so to speak (general Peds is my other choice).

I picked ED. Shift work beats a pager any day.

I would love to go for Oncology!!! but I'm realy far way from choosing a specialty..

this poll scares the crap out of me. why is EM so popular all of a sudden?

reedman said:

this poll scares the crap out of me. why is EM so popular all of a sudden?

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4everstudentmd said:

I picked ED. Shift work beats a pager any day.

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there it is.....I want EM or Anes...

gulnosh said:

I would love to go for Oncology!!! but I'm realy far way from choosing a specialty..

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I rotated a month in Onc/Hem and liked it very much while in pharm school....

just dont know if seeing alot my patients die would get old...and depressing....

i swear every poll I have seen over the yrs have never had anyone wanting to be a Rheumatologist....

J DUB said:

I rotated a month in Onc/Hem and liked it very much while in pharm school....

just dont know if seeing alot my patients die would get old...and depressing....

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most of your patients will not die, given that most cancers are being diagnosed earlier due to better screening and the vast chemotherapeutic, surgical, radiotherapy options for the various cancers. But as is true in life, some people will die. You will also have hematology patients that are not terminal.

dazed1980 said:

most of your patients will not die, given that most cancers are being diagnosed earlier due to better screening and the vast chemotherapeutic, surgical, radiotherapy options for the various cancers. But as is true in life, some people will die. You will also have hematology patients that are not terminal.

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All of your patients will die. Whether its from the primary cancer or not is a different story. But will many patients on lifetime followup, you'll know when they do. Theres enough death for you to be aware of it all the time.

That said, there are more than enough patients who do very well, and there are plenty of patients who put up a fight and die peacefully. Believe me, death in oncology is not "depressing" or scary. Cancer is scary. Death is a part of life.

Voted nephrology.

Right now i would be leaning towards Urology....good mix of surgery and medicine, wide range of procedures, and interesting pathology (atleast to me)

ChubbyChaser said:

Right now i would be leaning towards Urology....good mix of surgery and medicine, wide range of procedures, and interesting pathology (atleast to me)

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How competitive is Urology? I thought I was interested in it until I heard horror stories of having to be on the same level as ROAD/Ortho people to even consider Urology.

BluntSurgeon said:

How competitive is Urology? I thought I was interested in it until I heard horror stories of having to be on the same level as ROAD/Ortho people to even consider Urology.

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Urology might actually be the most competitive specialty out there. Its certainly on the order of Plastics. It's hard to make an exact comparison because Urology has its own match, apart from the NRMP.

J DUB said:

I rotated a month in Onc/Hem and liked it very much while in pharm school....

just dont know if seeing alot my patients die would get old...and depressing....

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Well I want to go for Oncology research area ..I jus wish to do some thing remarable..means to discover some good for concerous patints.. seems pretty dreamy

BluntSurgeon said:

How competitive is Urology? I thought I was interested in it until I heard horror stories of having to be on the same level as ROAD/Ortho people to even consider Urology.

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I would put it on the same level of ENT and Ortho and a step below Plastics and Derm. USMLE step 1 average probably around 235-240 with only roughly 80% matching altogether. So i guess it would be considered highly competitive.

reedman said:

this poll scares the crap out of me. why is EM so popular all of a sudden?

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I like it probably because it is what I am most exposed to. Seems a good balance of medicine and procedure with only a 3 year residency. You get to see really sick people (sometimes). My mind could change.

Caesar said:

I like it probably because it is what I am most exposed to. Seems a good balance of medicine and procedure with only a 3 year residency. You get to see really sick people (sometimes). My mind could change.

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EM has a great lifestyle... 36-48 hours per week, and no home-call.

howelljolly said:

EM has a great lifestyle... 36-48 hours per week, and no home-call.

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I think this is true for some people who are able to switch nights/days without much trouble. However, I found that I needed a significant amount of time to recover after changing from nights/days . . .so a 36hr shift in the ED could turn into a 60+ hrs if you count this re-adjustment time.

BobA said:

I think this is true for some people who are able to switch nights/days without much trouble. However, I found that I needed a significant amount of time to recover after changing from nights/days . . .so a 36hr shift in the ED could turn into a 60+ hrs if you count this re-adjustment time.

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Absolutely, but explain that to a premed who hasnt slept in 4 days. They'll stop drinking their RedBull just long enough to say "whatever"

howelljolly said:

Absolutely, but explain that to a premed who hasnt slept in 4 days. They'll stop drinking their RedBull just long enough to say "whatever"

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Why would anyone not sleep in 4 days? Much less a premed?

ChubbyChaser said:

Why would anyone not sleep in 4 days? Much less a premed?

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Not much of a party animal, were you?

howelljolly said:

Not much of a party animal, were you?

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Hmmm..my nights usually ended up with me blacking out allowing me to get plenty of sleep

BobA said:

I think this is true for some people who are able to switch nights/days without much trouble. However, I found that I needed a significant amount of time to recover after changing from nights/days . . .so a 36hr shift in the ED could turn into a 60+ hrs if you count this re-adjustment time.

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that is the major drawback for most folks...I seem to be able to switch over fine as long as I get some sleep in there somewhere....I can also fall asleep easily when I am tired....day or night...

Jeez, with all the other people wanting to do Radiology, I'm starting to get concerned about having a spot... I'm glad you all like it though.

J DUB said:

that is the major drawback for most folks...I seem to be able to switch over fine as long as I get some sleep in there somewhere....I can also fall asleep easily when I am tired....day or night...

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The shift switch is not even the main issue IMO. It was the CYA medicine that ruined EM for me. Not saying that CYA doesn't happen in other specialties, but it was most prominent in the ED.

WashMe said:

Jeez, with all the other people wanting to do Radiology, I'm starting to get concerned about having a spot... I'm glad you all like it though.

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Don't worry, interest will drop with falling reimbursements, and rads is the biggest target for cuts.

gluon999 said:

Don't worry, interest will drop with falling reimbursements, and rads is the biggest target for cuts.

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I'm thinking I might do endovascular neurosurgery, which is not diag rads but I'm would do rads to get there (+1 yr interventional, +1 yr neurorad). I still have to compete with the diagnostic rads people though, because I don't want to go in from neuro or neurosurg. Do you think the reimbursement will fall off quickly? I don't follow that healthcare stuff because there isn't anything I can do about it anyway...

WashMe said:

I'm thinking I might do endovascular neurosurgery, which is not diag rads but I'm would do rads to get there (+1 yr interventional, +1 yr neurorad). I still have to compete with the diagnostic rads people though, because I don't want to go in from neuro or neurosurg. Do you think the reimbursement will fall off quickly? I don't follow that healthcare stuff because there isn't anything I can do about it anyway...

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Diagnostic imaging already took a big hit in this current version of the health care bill, will be set in stone when the two bills merge.

What you are referring to sounds like Interventional neurorads. The pathway is a little different. I believe you have to do diagnostics rads, followed by a diagnostic neurorad fellowship, and also an interventional neurorad fellowship. All together, it will definitely be 7-9 years in training. You better like what you do b/c if money falls for neuro-IR (which it probably will), you won't be too happy.

The paradigm for the near future of rads is: work more for less money.

EM huh . . .

I knew it was this way before I even made it into medical school. It is naturally the most attractive field to the generation of people that matured on the internet. We have very short attention spans. We sleep odd hours. We hate commitment and we love finishing things in an instant.

Well it's just scary to see this much interest though because everything I am interested in now seems to be what everyone else is interested in.

EM, Peds, Ortho, Gen Surg.

I guess I am going to have to just up the game.

Good luck to everyone and don't fret about the EM thing too much. This is an online forum and it attracts people with that kind of scatter braininess so this poll is kind of skewed in terms of the population answering it.

gluon999 said:

Don't worry, interest will drop with falling reimbursements, and rads is the biggest target for cuts.

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Yup. The reimbursement rates for Radiology were set a long time ago, before the technology skyrocketed, and before CTs and MRIs were so widely available... easy to do... and so commonly used.

Radiologists make a fortune because now they simply can read more films at a faster rate than was expected when the reimbursement rate was set. Cross sectional imaging (CT/MRI) was less commonly used back then, and fetched a higher reimbursement. Now that its used routinely... its goldmine.

The government realized this, and is plugging up the leak to their money bin.

bad virus said:

EM huh . . .

I knew it was this way before I even made it into medical school. It is naturally the most attractive field to the generation of people that matured on the internet. We have very short attention spans. We sleep odd hours. We hate commitment and we love finishing things in an instant.

Well it's just scary to see this much interest though because everything I am interested in now seems to be what everyone else is interested in.

EM, Peds, Ortho, Gen Surg.

I guess I am going to have to just up the game.

Good luck to everyone and don't fret about the EM thing too much. This is an online forum and it attracts people with that kind of scatter braininess so this poll is kind of skewed in terms of the population answering it.

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This

bad virus said:

EM huh . . .

I knew it was this way before I even made it into medical school. It is naturally the most attractive field to the generation of people that matured on the internet. We have very short attention spans. We sleep odd hours. We hate commitment and we love finishing things in an instant.

Well it's just scary to see this much interest though because everything I am interested in now seems to be what everyone else is interested in.

EM, Peds, Ortho, Gen Surg.

I guess I am going to have to just up the game.

Good luck to everyone and don't fret about the EM thing too much. This is an online forum and it attracts people with that kind of scatter braininess so this poll is kind of skewed in terms of the population answering it.

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Many people are interested in general surgery? I find that hard to believe with the rate at which they are compensated and the miserable hours required of the job. They are the "primary care" of surgery and get reimbursed as such.

It's a shame too because I am interested in it, but I don't know if I can take that beating when there's little if any light at the end of the tunnel. Seems like the only surgery option that isn't competitive though.

I think it's interesting how things change.
I started medical school open to other specialties, but thinking EM might be a good fit. In November when the OP posted this, this hadn't changed, so I voted EM.
But now I'm thinking EM might not be the best idea for me, and I'm looking more and more at a subspeciality of peds - perhaps neuro, since I really like my functional neuroscience class right now. EM is still in the running - I haven't eliminated it, but if I could vote in this poll again, I probably wouldn't vote EM.

BluntSurgeon said:

Many people are interested in general surgery? I find that hard to believe with the rate at which they are compensated and the miserable hours required of the job. They are the "primary care" of surgery and get reimbursed as such.

It's a shame too because I am interested in it, but I don't know if I can take that beating when there's little if any light at the end of the tunnel. Seems like the only surgery option that isn't competitive though.

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What shocks me even more is that something like a critical care fellowship (so doing trauma and SICU) doesn't even increase the rate of pay that much for surgery.

From another point of view. My father never made more than 24k a year and we had 7 kids, so to me anything over 100k is a lot of freaking money so I wouldn't say they aren't compensated well at 200-300k.

*******

Just to put things into perspective for people:

Being born in the United states places you somewhere in the Top 5% of the world in economic status.

Graduating college puts you somewhere in the top 30% of the people in the united states.

Graduating Medical school puts you in the top 5% of the US.

Top 5% of the top 5% sounds like a good deal no matter what your making when you think of it in a relativistic way.

Personally I was lucky to get a full ride scholarship so I don't have any loans and thus I can't argue that point. I still don't think it would be that difficult to pay off 100k in loans even making 100k a year.

bad virus said:

What shocks me even more is that something like a critical care fellowship (so doing trauma and SICU) doesn't even increase the rate of pay that much for surgery.

From another point of view. My father never made more than 24k a year .

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Thats going to be more and more common across all sub-specialties. Already, as you said, some subspecialists like trauma surgeons or endocrinologists dont make any extra money.

Last month, the fee structure was changed, and subspecialists lost the "bonus" that they used to get for doing a specialty consultation. So now, any office or inpatient visit, whether it's primary care or a specialist consult, pays the same.

So, the only motivation to do a fellowship (and lose 2-3 years of "attending money") is because you are interested in the specialty itself or the specialized patient population.

howelljolly said:

So, the only motivation to do a fellowship (and lose 2-3 years of "attending money") is because you are interested in the specialty itself or the specialized patient population.

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Spot on Howel. Personally I don't see it as a problem that the fellowships don't increase your pay. You are already making butt-loads as a physician anyway. The reward is getting to do something awsome.

What are you going to do with that extra 50k anyway . . . It's not like you can take that stuff with you to the grave which is what we are working are selves towards.

Hmmm . . . I know . . . maybe I could buy the "even more" overpriced golf clubs as opposed to merely overpriced ones . . . Now that sounds like a worthwhile venture.

EM is my first choice.

IM is my backup. Out of the primary care fields, I like the scope of practice for IM the most. Also, there are just so many options for IM sub-specialties (to think about in the future).

Thought about surgery. I love anatomy, but I don't think I'd want to do that 24/7.

JonathanMD said:

EM is my first choice.

IM is my backup. Out of the primary care fields, I like the scope of practice for IM the most. Also, there are just so many options for IM sub-specialties (to think about in the future).

Thought about surgery. I love anatomy, but I don't think I'd want to do that 24/7.

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From what my friend said there is actually not that much surgery in surgery that's why he did not want to do it and the hours....