Characteristics of ARMY SPECIALTies

[MD2B007]

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Can anyone comment on what the different specialties are like in the Army. I spoke to some physicians from Walter Reed about Internal Medicine and they said that they were satisfied. They generally said that they liked that most of their patients had good access to health care. I heard elsewhere that Internal Medicine , Surgery and Family practice and Emergency medicine are consistently getting deployed and that you won't be able to finish your residency on time because you will have to go to flight surgery school.
I wanted to know how you would characterize other specialties for example Neurolgy, OB/GYN and Pediatrics and anything else you can comment on. I'm not necessarily interested in those areas except Neuro but I would like to know how the Military effects ones experience in those fields.

 

[Homunculus]

I heard elsewhere that Internal Medicine , Surgery and Family practice and Emergency medicine are consistently getting deployed and that you won't be able to finish your residency on time because you will have to go to flight surgery school.

holy crap, lol. where did you hear this? NO army resident i have ever spoken with has been, or knows anyone who has been, pulled from their residency to get deployed. afterward, sure, but before that unless you're a GMO i think you are relatively safe.

most primary care specialties have decent volume and variety of pathology, especially at the larger facilities. specialties and subspecialties (esp in surgery) probably don't get the same training as comparable sized civilian places, but their training is "adequate" for passing boards and such. (insert militarymd spiel here 😉 ).

 

[militarymd]

Once you start training you are protected from deployment...that holds for all services. Its getting into training that is difficult in the Navy if you have not done a GMO.

 

[MD2B007]

Just out of curiousity I'm interested to know what it would be like being an Army pediatrician. Like the lifestyle and the cases etc. It just seems that not that many people would consider joining the military to be a pediatrician or even OB/GYN . But I read in another post that Peds was highly filled this year. It couldn't be because of pay could it? I think that was one of the lowest paid specialties. I also heard that Tripler was the spot to be at for PEDs. What do you think?

 

[Homunculus]

Just out of curiousity I'm interested to know what it would be like being an Army pediatrician. Like the lifestyle and the cases etc. It just seems that not that many people would consider joining the military to be a pediatrician or even OB/GYN . But I read in another post that Peds was highly filled this year. It couldn't be because of pay could it? I think that was one of the lowest paid specialties. I also heard that Tripler was the spot to be at for PEDs. What do you think?

peds is actually one of the specialties that is on par with the civilian world as far as salary goes. so being "lowest paid" doesn't really affect the civilian vs. military issue. last match, if i remember correctly, there were 24 slots (6 per program) and i *think* 30-ish (i could easily be wrong here) applicants. the lifestyle depends where you are and what you're doing, but many general peds docs work clinic hours. Tripler and Madigan (so i've been told by program directors) are more community based, while the Walter Reed (national capital consortium) and Brooke (SAUSHEC) are more hospital based. either way, the cases you see are comparable to the civilian world. primary care is one area, in my opinion, that the military training is on par with the civilian. there are a lot of dependents out there 🙂

i'm pretty sure edmadison is doing peds at Madigan (i'll be at Walter Reed) and he can probably shed more light on this than i can, especially for Madigan and maybe Tripler (both of which i didn't rotate at).