Specialty?

r123 said:

Have you guys already decided what specialty you would like to pursue? How did you decide? Do you have any suggestion on how others should decide on their specialty?

Thanks

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I hadn't really decided until this last year when I took a job working in Bone Marrow Transplant. Now I'm really leaning towards HemeOnc.

I would just say, if you don't know, keep an open mind and see which experiences appeal to you. If you see something you like, do more to explore it.

Process: 1) Enter medical school. 2) Pass Step 1, begin clinical years. 3) Rotate through specialties. 4) Take elective rotations in things you think might be interesting. 5) Think about what you've seen, what they do, and what you could spend your life doing.

I know a number of docs who changed their minds about specialties after the MS3 year when they actually got to play doctor in that field. One guy in particular was OB OB OB OB all through pre-med and the first two years of medical schoool. After his first OB rotation he said, "Screw that." He is now a Psychiatrist -- totaly a lifestyle choice.

The best way as a pre-med to find out about specialties is to shadow docs in those fields.

ed2brute said:

Process: 1) Enter medical school. 2) Pass Step 1, begin clinical years. 3) Rotate through specialties. 4) Take elective rotations in things you think might be interesting. 5) Think about what you've seen, what they do, and what you could spend your life doing.

I know a number of docs who changed their minds about specialties after the MS3 year when they actually got to play doctor in that field. One guy in particular was OB OB OB OB all through pre-med and the first two years of medical schoool. After his first OB rotation he said, "Screw that." He is now a Psychiatrist -- totaly a lifestyle choice.

The best way as a pre-med to find out about specialties is to shadow docs in those fields.

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Totally agree. No rush to decide yet. Here is the FREIDA website though so you can get an idea what each specialty does.

http://www.ama-assn.org/vapp/freida/spcindx/0,1238,TR,00.html

I think I want to do family practice.

I am leaning towards pathology. WooHoo for lab!

ed2brute said:

Process: 1) Enter medical school. 2) Pass Step 1, begin clinical years. 3) Rotate through specialties. 4) Take elective rotations in things you think might be interesting. 5) Think about what you've seen, what they do, and what you could spend your life doing.

I know a number of docs who changed their minds about specialties after the MS3 year when they actually got to play doctor in that field. One guy in particular was OB OB OB OB all through pre-med and the first two years of medical schoool. After his first OB rotation he said, "Screw that." He is now a Psychiatrist -- totaly a lifestyle choice.

The best way as a pre-med to find out about specialties is to shadow docs in those fields.

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Ditto. I'm keeping a really open mind about all fields until 3rd year rotations.

Except OBGYN. Hell no.

had spine surgery. shadowed my spine surgeon during clinical day. really enjoyed it and figured I could see myself doing this. Shadowed again on a surgery day, walked out of the OR knowing this is what I will be doing some day

Its gotta be surgical, whatever it is. Its like instant gratification.

Anesth... being able to relieve someone of excruciating (sp?) pain is a +1 .

Caristra said:

I am leaning towards pathology. WooHoo for lab!

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Ditto! I took an clinical lab diagnosis services class back in high school, volunteered in a surg path dept, and have had nothing but positive experiences.

rural medicine. i've been doing rural activism for a while and doing family practice in a rural setting allows you to do a lot of procedures you can't do elsewhere. I like the idea of delivering a baby, being its ped, and then its doctor, and then delivering its kid. And calling a person It. yes. I also like that family practice is the lowest paid field. I can't see myself rich. It creeps me out. And maybe people will pay me with chickens or quilts or something.

I've been going with an interventional cardiologist for awhile now and it has been a tremendously educational and enjoyable experience. I really like cardiac stuff. He allows me to play a very active role when I go with him.

I have also had the opportunity to tag along with an interventional radiologist, which was also very cool.

I am not sure at this point, but I will be going into med school with an inclination toward one of these two specialties.

r123 said:

Have you guys already decided what specialty you would like to pursue? How did you decide? Do you have any suggestion on how others should decide on their specialty?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Internal medicine. I interviewed my girlfriend's aunt who is also an internist and she said, "While specialists know their specialty, I know my patient."

I do think that closely know who your patient is has a large impact on outcomes of treatment.

Not only that, but internal medicine is the largest specialty out there. So there are plenty of residency spots.

In addition, I have heard of a lot of fellowships (If I decide to subspecialize further) would pay for an MPH. That is definitely one of the things I want to do in order to treat the individual, community, and nation as a whole.

Of course if I do the MD/MPH degree as a part of medical school then I will take it then. Otherwise I will do it before/after residency.

BlackBantie said:

Ditto! I took an clinical lab diagnosis services class back in high school, volunteered in a surg path dept, and have had nothing but positive experiences.

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Glad to see I'm not alone. Everyone looks at me kind of funny when I say I am intersted in path. Apparently I should be trying for derm, surgery or radiology. *shrug*.

ophthalmology or peds for me

MiesVanDerMom said:

rural medicine. i've been doing rural activism for a while and doing family practice in a rural setting allows you to do a lot of procedures you can't do elsewhere. I like the idea of delivering a baby, being its ped, and then its doctor, and then delivering its kid. And calling a person It. yes. I also like that family practice is the lowest paid field. I can't see myself rich. It creeps me out. And maybe people will pay me with chickens or quilts or something.

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all the cool kids wanna do primary care in a rural community...

Billy Shears said:

That's good that you like IM, but I hope you're not picking it solely based on that comment and the fact that spots abound. It's not terribly difficult to know your patients as a specialist. The surgeons I work with know their patients inside and out.

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No. That's not the only reason. I just think that you get much more connection with patients if you are the one they are seeing. You take into account the whole person in a holistic way. Specialists are generally getting the most difficult cases. And therefore you only see chronic patients who need aggressive treatments. Often it becomes a matter of pain-management. Anyway, I was thinking about an Infectious disease subspecialty because it ties in a lot of the things I've studied in my undergrad and would be a close tie-in with an MPH. With the current state of health care for the poor in this country it's more like the developing countries for them. That says something about the effectiveness of our system with skyrocketing prices for health care and pharmaceuticals, working poor falling through the cracks, a lack of education, and lacking organization of health professionals to give out information on where to receive reduced fee care.

And as for your last sentence about surgeons... Of course they do. Literally.

r123 said:

Have you guys already decided what specialty you would like to pursue? How did you decide? Do you have any suggestion on how others should decide on their specialty?

Thanks

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Like others, I'm waiting for medical school rotations before I finally decide. I am attracted to several things about Anesthesiology, however, and can totally see myself as the guy who watches over you while you undergo surgery.

Definitely am leaning towards hem/onc right now.