Can doctors specialize in more than one area? Let's say Psychiatry and Sports Medicine?

[ayjaystudent]

Can doctors specialize in more than one area? Let's say Psychiatry and Sports Medicine? If so, how effective are they?

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[bashwell]

Can doctors specialize in more than one area? Let's say Psychiatry and Sports Medicine? If so, how effective are they?

Yes, doctors can specialize in more than one area. I've seen psych and neuro. I've seen FM and sports. IM has tons of subspecialties. Also pulm/cc (+/- sleep), nephrology/cc, ID/cc, heme/onc, etc. There are plenty more examples.

 

[ayjaystudent]

Yes, doctors can specialize in more than one area. I've seen psych and neuro. I've seen FM and sports. IM has tons of subspecialties. Also pulm/cc (+/- sleep), nephrology/cc, ID/cc, heme/onc, etc. There are plenty more examples.

Though, those are more of subsets or intersections, aren't they? Like Neuro and Psychiatrist seem to intersect because of mental health? From one thread here, I read that a specialization in Sports Medicine seems to be a subset of FM?

 

[Tenk]

Though, those are more of subsets or intersections, aren't they? Like Neuro and Psychiatrist seem to intersect because of mental health? From one thread here, I read that a specialization in Sports Medicine seems to be a subset of FM?

Correct. Psych and sports med would be:

Psych residency + ortho/fp/em residency-> sports medicine fellowship.

 

[bashwell]

Though, those are more of subsets or intersections, aren't they? Like Neuro and Psychiatrist seem to intersect because of mental health? From one thread here, I read that a specialization in Sports Medicine seems to be a subset of FM?

Yup, sports would be a fellowship from FM (or other specialties but I think FPs are the ones who usually do sports).

The other ones are fellowships too (e.g., heme/onc, pulm/cc/sleep). But practically speaking, the big difference is you don't really need to do a fellowship from FM or psych, you can get a good full-time or FTE job as a FP or psychiatrist without a need for a fellowship. However if you're a heme/onc (for example) then you are really aiming to be an oncologist (and hematologist, but a lot more non-academic work in oncology than hematology), not a general internist just doing oncology "on the side".

 

[NickNaylor]

You are somewhat limited in your ability to specialize depending on your "primary" field. For example, I have never heard of someone completing a general psychiatry residency and then going to do a pulm/critical care fellowship. That kind of thing doesn't happen. You would need to complete an internal medicine residency first.

Some specialties have less strict requirements. Palliative care, for example, is one of the fields that, as far as I know, doesn't require that you complete a specific primary field before going into palliative care. With the neurology/psychiatry subspecialties specifically, they are all technically open to psychiatrists/neurologists (e.g., a psychiatrist could theoretically do an epileptology fellowship) as the boards are the same, but I have never actually seen this done. Some psychiatrists do pain medicine and this is a somewhat growing trend though still rare.

The AAMC has a nice list of the majority subspecialties here: https://www.aamc.org/cim/specialty/exploreoptions/list/. They include the "parent" fields for the subspecialties as well. In general, it would be easier to train in multiple subspecialties if they share the same "parent" field (or, as with palliative care above, don't have a strong requirement for a particular "parent" field).

All this being said, it's important to keep in mind the practicality of subspecializing in multiple fields. In some circumstances it makes sense. In most, however, it doesn't, as you will most likely be doing clinical work in one of the fields primarily.

 

[deleted763299]

Can doctors specialize in more than one area? Let's say Psychiatry and Sports Medicine? If so, how effective are they?

Strictly speaking, there is nothing preventing any physician from completing whatever number of residency and/or fellowship programs that they desire. To take the example that you provided, of a psychiatrist-sports physician, that would require one to complete a psychiatry residency, as well as FM residency (I think IM, EM or ortho would work also), then a sports medicine fellowship. Technically this is possible. There are a few practical issues that would pop up:

1. Why would someone ever train in this particular combo?
2. What employer would ever hire you to actually practice both?
3. How long do you really want to spend as a resident/fellow?

There are however some situations, as others have mentioned, where getting training in multiple specialty areas makes sense. Some common examples include: pulm/cc, heme/onc, IM/peds. There is some degree of overlap between these areas that makes double-specializing make sense, and actually practical.

 

[psychhopefull2016]

There are some joint training programs in FM/psych and IM/psych but they are limited and you need a good reason why you are specifically interested in integrated care to snag one of those few spots.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

Has anyone figured out why EM/gas combined residency is a thing? I don't get it.

 

[ProfMD]

Assuming someone decides they want to do more than one residency, they may still be limited by GME funding. Typically GME will only pay for you to do one residency, including combined residency programs.

 

[ssttrrbbk]

Though, those are more of subsets or intersections, aren't they? Like Neuro and Psychiatrist seem to intersect because of mental health? From one thread here, I read that a specialization in Sports Medicine seems to be a subset of FM?

You can go into sports medicine a few ways

Surgical Ortho

Primary care : family, peds, Internal, pm&r, emergency all have sports med fellowships

If you wanted to do psych you would have to do another residency or triple board or something and try to get into sports fellowship. What is your goal with that?

 

[neoevolution]

Some specialties have less strict requirements. Palliative care, for example, is one of the fields that, as far as I know, doesn't require that you complete a specific primary field before going into palliative care. With the neurology/psychiatry subspecialties specifically, they are all technically open to psychiatrists/neurologists (e.g., a psychiatrist could theoretically do an epileptology fellowship) as the boards are the same, but I have never actually seen this done. Some psychiatrists do pain medicine and this is a somewhat growing trend though still rare..

Isn't epileptology neuro only? Sleep, pain, hospice, and neurophysiology seem like the only overlaps eligible for board certification based on the ABMS sub-specialty listings.

 

[Dr. Janitor]

Dr. Kevin Casey overcame his battles with OCD to become a great medical doctor & surgeon, very inspirational. Last I heard he was working at Sacred Heart.

 

[Doctor-S]

Yes, doctors can specialize in more than one area.

At my school, I am familiar with at least 8 individuals who are dual board-certified (as well as combining MD with a PhD, DVM, JD, DDS, etc.) and many of them are also engaged in research projects and/or maintain thriving clinical practices related to their unique interests. If you're willing to devote the extra time and effort to a dual specialty, it is doable, stimulating and enjoyable!

 

[SansaStarkMD]

In specialities with a lot of overlap, it makes sense. Doing one makes you better at the other. I also get sick of doing the same thing every day so the flexibility to alternate combats burnout... IF the leaps between knowledge bases aren't too great.

 

[freddydpt]

You can do psych and pain. I do radiology and pain.

 

[Taddy Mason]

One of my attendings did a combined psych/IM residency followed by a pulm/CCM fellowship. His usual week is 3 days of pulm clinic and 2 days of psych clinic. He'll cover inpatient pulm 1-2 weeks each month, and covers liaison psych a couple weeks throughout the year. He hasn't done any CCM since fellowship.