Diagnosticians?

[yalla22]

Hi everyone,

I had a few quests about the field of diagnostics. I'm premed right now and was just kind of curious.
1-is diagnostics a subspeciality of IM? how does one become a diagnostician?
2-how would you rate the competitiveness of this field?
3-pros/cons?

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[Seaglass]

What exactly do you mean by "diagnostician?" As far as I know there is no specialized position that deals with physicial diagnosis. Certainly some specialties rely more on physical diagnosis skills than others.

C

 

[yalla22]

i was under the impression that there are docs called diagnosticians that specialize in the cases that no one can figure out...like when an IM has no idea and the person is really sick, they send it over to the diagnostician..?

 

[Weil-Felix]

Although I know of no field specifically referred to as "diagnostics", the area of pathology is often thought of as "diagnostic medicine". Pathologists oversee the clinical laboratory, as well as make definitive diagnoses based on tissue samples in the area of surgical pathology. Is this perhaps what you were referring to?

If so, a pathology residency is four years in length (not a subspecialty of IM), is not terribly competitive compared to many other fields, and in general offers competitive comensation with a relaxed lifestyle.

 

[Resident Alien]

The only specialty i know that starts with a D other than dermatology is Diagnostic radiology. Its maybe that?

 

[doepug]

Diagnostician = rads and path

 

[yalla22]

No it def not that. When my sis was really sick with some sickness (multiple digestive problems and headaches) that no IM could figure out they referred us to a "diagnostician" in the hospital..he specialized in tough cases and he was the one that eventually diagnosed her.

 

[Discobolus]

Sometimes internal medicine physicians will refer to themselves as "diagnosticians" but it's more a reference to what they do (diagnose diseases) than an actual title. There is no specialty known as diagnostics. The diagnostician in your example was probably just an IM subspecialist and the doctors called him a "diagnostician" in reference to what they hoped he would do (make the proper diagnosis) than an actual specialty or job title.

 

[roballan14]

There is a pediatric neurologist in St. Louis that refers to himseld as a diagnostician. He often gets difficult cases and specializes in identifying difficult problems. Although this example is anecdotal I think it gets to your question: there isn't a specific field, rather there are docs that are particularly interested in and adept at diagnosing abnormally complex medical problems.