How to evaluate which specialty a person is best suited for?

[Paralegalities]

This is mostly a far-in-the-future thing for me, but having done a lot of research on the various specialties of medicine I've realized my two favorites are quite possibly the most opposite ones there are for entirely different reasons. I'm wondering how I should start evaluating which things I'd be more suited for in my time leading up to actually making the choice?

Neurology with a fellowship - I've always loved neuroscience, how the brain works, and get excited over the idea of spending a lot of time to become an expert at a niche field like epileptology, vascular neurology etc. so would be very happy with the learning process, and would greatly enjoy being able to use those niche skills to help people with severe neurological disorders have a better quality of life over a long-term situation. I also like the endless opportunities for research if the clinical side becomes too routine. The main downside being that neurologists seem to get more call than anyone else, as other physicians don't really know how to classify neurological issues and automatically assume everything is a stroke to be safe, which requires the neurologist coming in at 3 am endlessly for often no reason.

Emergency Medicine - On the complete opposite side, being the jack-of-all-trades type of person who can directly help nearly anyone without being a specialist at all is somehow also very appealing to me. The instant gratification of being able to stabilize/fix someone within a few days as opposed to managing chronic issues for years also seems like it would be appealing. Having no call whatsoever, a shorter residency with no fellowship needed, and the ability to randomly work more or less just by picking up or dropping shifts as I feel like it all are also quite appealing from a quality of life standpoint. I don't really mind the social work aspects of it having already experienced that at my previous job.

I'm kind of surprised that my favorites are polar opposites, but am not sure how to further refine what I should be thinking about to evaluate options in my time leading up to experiencing them (med school rotations in them will help a lot I'm sure).

The only thing I've found that combines them would be Neurohospitalist positions working 7 on 7 off shifts with 24/7 or zero call, but there doesn't seem to be much information about that around.

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[WaterFlow]

You should talk with or shadow physicians in the specialties you find interesting.
Definitely should shadow in both a hospital and clinic setting.

 

[CherryRedDracul]

Before you apply for residency, the closest thing will be your medical school rotations. In your position, shadowing will give a you glimpse into those fields.

I believe one thing every applicant should know about their prospective field is what is the bread-and-butter stuff and can they tolerate the most mundane aspects of the field. Every field has its exciting moments, but more often than not, things will become routine.

Also, for those fields with call, long hours and overall strenous lifestyle: do you see yourself continue to do this as you get older?

 

[gyngyn]

It's fine to begin to explore but premature closure would be a misstep.
As previously noted, very few applicants end up in the specialty they thought they were best suited for as pre-meds.
Sometimes it's because the specialty changes, more often because the applicant does.

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

It's fine to begin to explore but premature closure would be a misstep.
As previously noted, very few applicants end up in the specialty they thought they were best suited for as pre-meds.
Sometimes it's because the specialty changes, more often because the applicant does.

I have heard this ever since I decided to go to med school. But, what I want to know is how drastic those specialty changes are. If someone's gunnin for ortho since they were in high school but didn't get the USMLE score they wanted and go into gen surge, or if they want to go into one field of IM but end up in another, they may not be in the specialty they had their eyes on since high school, but it wasn't that far off-base. Is this a more common scenario than a total change-up?

 

[gyngyn]

I have heard this ever since I decided to go to med school. But, what I want to know is how drastic those specialty changes are. If someone's gunnin for ortho since they were in high school but didn't get the USMLE score they wanted and go into gen surge, or if they want to go into one field of IM but end up in another, they may not be in the specialty they had their eyes on since high school, but it wasn't that far off-base. Is this a more common scenario than a total change-up?

It is all over the board. Folks who were gung-ho surgery discover psych.
Out of nowhere comes Urology...

 

[Medical Muse]

Keep an open mind throughout your pre-med years and during medical school. Shadow providers working in areas that interest you.

I went from pursuing sports medicine or pediatrics as a pre-med, to deciding between family medicine and transplant surgery in medical school. Still blows my mind that I almost went the transplant surgery route. Now I serve as both a family physician and flight surgeon. What helped me was to pick the field that I still enjoyed on the bad days (because there will be a lot of them). I would have truly enjoyed being a transplant surgeon on the good days but there was no way I would survive the bad days of the full general surgery residency.

And even if you pick a field and find out later it isn't the best fit for you, there's no shame in changing later. The key is to find what makes you happy and where you won't burnout.