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People that say cardiology are wrong. Long training, not great pay and subspecialists and interventionalist people have a terrible lifestyle. GI is good but very very competitive. Other IM sub specialties don’t seem all that great.IM plus subspecialty of choice.
Derm is a very low hanging fruit. Anesthesia is already ripe and rotting.
People that say cardiology are wrong. Long training, not great pay and subspecialists and interventionalist people have a terrible lifestyle.
IM plus subspecialty of choice.
Derm is a very low hanging fruit. Anesthesia is already ripe and rotting.
These two specialties couldn't be more different from one another. First, it must be said, the competitiveness profiles of the two are very different. Think board scores in the top 1 %-ile, pubs, aways, letters from chairs, etc. Assuming this is you, and derm would be a realistic match possibility for you, as others have said, consider the work.
In anesthesia, your time isn't your own, you're often employed in one way or another, meaning someone who may not be a physician is making decisions about your time and your work. As has been said a million different ways, you will be a service provider for a patient who doesn't know you or, mostly, care who you are apart from the other anesthesia providers they could've had. This type of relationship has implications for how you'll be viewed and treated by patients, other physicians, and administrators. Because you don't control patient flow, your leverage for getting the things you want will be less than other types of specialists. On the flip side, it's a fun, interesting job that pays well, and that you can mostly leave at the door when you leave the hospital (I can't emphasize this enough as a quality-of-life factor). The work is fast-paced, at the pointy end of the spear, and involves both cognition and performance (i.e., doing difficult procedures quickly and safely, and handling emergencies with calm).
Dermatology, on the other hand, as I'm sure you can appreciate, is totally different. The work is not acute, mostly, and is more cognitive and less procedural/performance based (with Mohs being the exception). It is much more likely as a dermatologist that you would hang out your shingle and build a practice, as opposed to being employed. This has obvious pros and cons, but the point is, you'll be building a business, marketing, schmoozing, advertising, hiring/firing/managing staff, in addition to practicing medicine. On the flip-side, you'll never find a more motivated patient population. I noticed this as a student, and now as a patient (wicked-bad poison oak); if a patient has an itchy rash, you can tell them to rub dog s**t on it 5 times a day, and they'll do it 6. Derm practices also have a lot of potential for cash-based aesthetic stuff. This can mean lots of money, but you might start to feel like a shill.
In summary, again, assuming you would be competitive for both specialities, start to think about the differences in the actual work. Shadowing, rotations, talking to people in practice. Either can be really rewarding professionally, interpersonally, and financially, but are VERY different.
I am competitive for derm but its very much a crap shoot and theres always a real chance of not matching. I don't believe in the notion that one person is "destined" for a certain field because in the end it becomes a job and people can enjoy multiple fields. I personally enjoy certain aspects of both fields and can see myself in them. I think I enjoy anesthesia people the most because I have a very type B relaxed personality which clashes with those in Derm. However I don't know I can choose a field purely based on the certain people I have interacted with. In the end, you're right I just have to do my electives and see.
I am competitive for derm but its very much a crap shoot and theres always a real chance of not matching. I don't believe in the notion that one person is "destined" for a certain field because in the end it becomes a job and people can enjoy multiple fields. I personally enjoy certain aspects of both fields and can see myself in them. I think I enjoy anesthesia people the most because I have a very type B relaxed personality which clashes with those in Derm. However I don't know I can choose a field purely based on the certain people I have interacted with. In the end, you're right I just have to do my electives and see.
Somebody who could match into derm should be able to choose any IM fellowship.So what do you do when you shoot for GI/Cards and don’t match?!?
Yea, hard pass.
That will happen in EVERY specialty, more or less. It's just a matter of time. The question is how much extra business remains for docs. In anesthesia, 75% of the cases could be done without an MD (we can debate forever with what risks and consequences). Same goes eventually for colonoscopies and other monkey see monkey do procedures.Is this in regard to mid-levels? What about in GI/Cards where at some instituitions midlevels have started to get access/scope?
So pathology/radiology it is!
If you’re choosing based off personality clash of those you work then avoid anesthesiology completely.
I am competitive for derm but its very much a crap shoot and theres always a real chance of not matching. I don't believe in the notion that one person is "destined" for a certain field because in the end it becomes a job and people can enjoy multiple fields. I personally enjoy certain aspects of both fields and can see myself in them. I think I enjoy anesthesia people the most because I have a very type B relaxed personality which clashes with those in Derm. However I don't know I can choose a field purely based on the certain people I have interacted with. In the end, you're right I just have to do my electives and see.