Intellectually stimulating specialties

[medicman327]

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I'm at the end of my pre-medical course work and also having worked in an ER for about 2 years now, I'm beginning to have doubts about going into medicine. It's not that I don't love medicine, I'm still excited about going to work everyday, which tells me I shouldn't completely count out medicine. My issue is this, I find my research work in organic chemistry very difficult, challenging, and creative. However, I've always planned on becoming a doctor. So my question is: Is my perception of medicine not being that intellectually challenging simply based on the fact that I've really only been exposed to Emergency Medicine? Are there specialties out there where the specific algorithms are not so clear cut and "what to do" requires creative analytical thought? Does anybody have any specific specialties to suggest that would good to shadow to see if they're more challenging?

Thanks for the input.

Medicman

 

[WingedOx]

I'm at the end of my pre-medical course work and also having worked in an ER for about 2 years now, I'm beginning to have doubts about going into medicine. It's not that I don't love medicine, I'm still excited about going to work everyday, which tells me I shouldn't completely count out medicine. My issue is this, I find my research work in organic chemistry very difficult, challenging, and creative. However, I've always planned on becoming a doctor. So my question is: Is my perception of medicine not being that intellectually challenging simply based on the fact that I've really only been exposed to Emergency Medicine? Are there specialties out there where the specific algorithms are not so clear cut and "what to do" requires creative analytical thought? Does anybody have any specific specialties to suggest that would good to shadow to see if they're more challenging?

Thanks for the input.

Medicman

yeah... don't let ER sway you. If you really need the intellectual stimulation, there are unlimited ways you can integrate research into your career... yes, even in ER. Even without research, Psych and Neuro are filled with INTP types who love masturbatory intellectual discussion.

 

[ACSurgeon]

I'm at the end of my pre-medical course work and also having worked in an ER for about 2 years now, I'm beginning to have doubts about going into medicine. It's not that I don't love medicine, I'm still excited about going to work everyday, which tells me I shouldn't completely count out medicine. My issue is this, I find my research work in organic chemistry very difficult, challenging, and creative. However, I've always planned on becoming a doctor. So my question is: Is my perception of medicine not being that intellectually challenging simply based on the fact that I've really only been exposed to Emergency Medicine? Are there specialties out there where the specific algorithms are not so clear cut and "what to do" requires creative analytical thought? Does anybody have any specific specialties to suggest that would good to shadow to see if they're more challenging?

Thanks for the input.

Medicman

For better or worse, there are more and more guidelines for practicing medicine. It's good in the since that there is less guess works and outcomes are better. It's bad because you try to fit everyone in a neat little category, which doesn't always work. The latter is where creativity and critical thinking.

The other thing is, American medicine is practiced in a gun-shot approach, where you order a million tests and hope something gives you an answer.

As far as specialties are concerned, Rheumatology (internal medicine + Rheum fellowship), infectious disease, critical care, heme onc are some specialties requiring critical thinking. One can argue (I would) that many surgical specialties require more thinking/planning than they are given credit.

Finally, you can always be a clinician AND researcher. Your research can be strictly basic science (as a PhD would do) or more clinical (chart review, designing clinical trials, etc)

 

[Lil Mick]

Get out now, or consider an MD/PhD program, if you can deal with the first years of medical school. From my experience, pathology and psychiatry can be intellectually stimulating, but not in the same way that research can be. I like the helping people part of medicine, but I am frustrated out of my mind most days by how remedial material can be and the lack of critical thinking in my courses. It is useful for my research, but it is certainly not necessary for biomedical research. I'd suggest looking into this further before you end up resenting the field for keeping you from intellectual stimulation. There are a lot of ways to help people through research, especially in the field of organic chemistry, and it's worth considering if that is what excites you and stimulates your mind 🙂

 

[Perrotfish]

I'm at the end of my pre-medical course work and also having worked in an ER for about 2 years now, I'm beginning to have doubts about going into medicine. It's not that I don't love medicine, I'm still excited about going to work everyday, which tells me I shouldn't completely count out medicine. My issue is this, I find my research work in organic chemistry very difficult, challenging, and creative. However, I've always planned on becoming a doctor. So my question is: Is my perception of medicine not being that intellectually challenging simply based on the fact that I've really only been exposed to Emergency Medicine? Are there specialties out there where the specific algorithms are not so clear cut and "what to do" requires creative analytical thought? Does anybody have any specific specialties to suggest that would good to shadow to see if they're more challenging?

Thanks for the input.

Medicman

Try shadowing in either an ICU or a NICU. Also look at oncology, nephrology, and cardiology. Basically the sicker the patient the harder the medicine. That being said you may hanestly like research more.

 

[ReptarBar]

doctors work. mental stimulation comes secondary.

 

[loveoforganic]

Obviously, I'm not speaking from experience, so take my thoughts with that in mind. Primary purpose of a physician is medicine - cure the disease, alleviate the ailment, etc. This part is algorithm heavy. Secondary purpose of a physician is human - your interactions with the patients; interactions where the purpose can be developing rapport, behavior modification, delivering bad news, education, etc. It might be more difficult to find intellectual stimulation in the former than the latter.

 

[Funky]

There are a lot of specialties out there. Just rotate through all of them and find out what fits you. I feel like there's something for everyone if you want to become a physician.

 

[bucks2010]

My limited impression of medicine so far is that on the whole, medicine and science are two very different fields. In the scientific world, you usually make time to sit around and think about your project, read the literature, etc. Doing the procedures is technical, and interpreting the results is very intellectual.

In medicine, you come to work every day to see patients. The bulk of your time will be spent talking the patients (or operating on them), coordinating with/taking calls from the nursing staff, and charting. Hopefully by the time you're a practicing physician you will have a knowledge base such that you won't have to look something up or sit around and think about something every time you need to make a treatment plan (especially in a place like a high volume ED where you need to get them out or seen by someone else). Like some have mentioned, specialties that deal with a lot of critically ill patients could require a little more time to think things out. Do some shadowing and see what you do/don't like. Also remember that the physician you're shadowing probably has an order of magnitude more information in his head than you do, and thus he's probably thinking through quite a bit in his head that you're not aware of (in short - you may not even realize the thinking the attending is doing because you don't know what he does).

 

[muhali3]

Rad Onc, Infectious Diseases, Nephrology, Rheumatology, Allergy/Immunology, Neurology

 

[MossPoh]

When you do ANYTHING enough you will be on some degree of autopilot. There will always be a small percentage of your job that is truly intellectually stimulating. Research in organic chemistry is extra intellectually stimulating now relative to the monotony, but if you progressed to being a professor there is still plenty of NON intellectual stuff involved.

I've even found most research I've done not very intellectually stimulating for the large chunk of it. Just lots of repetition with slight variations.

 

[IvyHopeful20]

If you become a professor of organic chemistry most of your time will be getting grants and not lab work.

Try math for truly creative and intellectually stimulating work.


I am not biased in any way.

 

[Lil Mick]

I will second the suggestion of mathematics. There is so much theory and application in the field that you'll never run out of creative and stimulating endeavors 🙂

 

[medicman327]

Thanks, everybody, so much for your input, however casual. These were exactly the sort of responses I was looking for. I will definitely include oncology( and perhaps radiation oncology) in my list to shadow, since I'd been thinking about that beforehand. And there is always monotony attached to any endeavor, which is why the emotional draw to medicine is so important for me. Thanks again.

So if I may press my luck here. Has anyone heard of a someone with just a BA in Chem, math, Bio or Physics get into an MD/Phd program?

 

[sideways]

Medicine sucks. Thank God I went into it for the right reasons (financial security and for attracting a higher quality mate) rather than the illusion that it was a paradise for my brain - otherwise I would have really been disappointed.

 

[DrMom]

Pretty much any specialty (or any other job, for that matter) is largely routine stuff. Some have a slightly higher percentage of patients that are more intellectually intriguing, but no specialty is immune from some degree of monotony.

Specialty choices generally come down to personal preferences of types of patients/disease processes, pace of work, atmosphere of the work environment, scheduling, procedures or not, etc. All of them require thought, regardless of how protocol driven they may seem. As others have already suggested, shadowing different specialties will give you a better idea of what areas of medicine are a better fit for you.

 

[DoctwoB]

+1 for Infectious disease, Neurology, Nephrology, or Rheumatology/immunology in an academic setting

These guys all tend to be very intellectual. Of course the downside is that neuro gets the rep for being all diagnosis and no treatment, Rheum has a million diseases but everyone gets put on prednisone, and Nephrology = dialysis in most peoples eyes.

 

[Lil Mick]

Most of us only have a BA/BS when we apply (some have master's degrees); we generally did our research during undergrad or for a couple of years after undergrad.

My research is mainly biomathematics, though I'm not sure which department I will declare for my PhD (something math/stats/epi-related). There are several schools out there accepting students in math/stats/chem/engineering (Minnesota, MUSC, UIC, Stanford, Florida, Miami, U of Chicago, UGA...). PM me if you want to know more about applying/the program in a non-biology field 🙂

 

[muhali3]

I'd also add Medical Genetics, Sleep Medicine, and Radiology to my list.

 

[IvyHopeful20]

Has anyone heard of a someone with just a BA in Chem, math, Bio or Physics get into an MD/Phd program?

Yes

Seriously though, just get a PhD in math if you love it. I'm nowhere near good enough or smart enough for it, and I Envy (with a capital E) those who have that natural ability.

 

[Lil Mick]

Yes

Seriously though, just get a PhD in math if you love it. I'm nowhere near good enough or smart enough for it, and I Envy (with a capital E) those who have that natural ability.

What's your area of research, IvyHopeful20? Have you considered doing something math-related for you PhD, such as biostats or biophysics? I'm just curious, as I don't know anyone else doing/considering those areas for their PhD part...

 

[Shelovesbigdogs]

Medicine sucks. Thank God I went into it for the right reasons (financial security and for attracting a higher quality mate) rather than the illusion that it was a paradise for my brain - otherwise I would have really been disappointed.

Wow that's really sad! Why didn't you become an attorney? ?

 

[Shelovesbigdogs]

You might really enjoy electrophysiology!