is optho better fit for a "medicine" guy or a "surgery" guy

[chef]

certain specialties attract certain personalities and from early on people figure out if they're a "medicine" doc or a "surgery" doc.

optho seems like one of those very few fields that have both significant surgery AND medicine components.. so which character does it attract more?

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[TheRetinator]

One of the great things about Ophthalmology is that it DOES attract people from both medicine and surgery. I'm caught in the middle. I like both.

I'll be doing a medicine internship next year, so I guess "officially" I'm a medicine guy. Ophthalmologists tend not to operate as much as those in other surgical subspecialties; therefore, if you hate clinic, ophthalmology is not the specialty for you. Quite frankly, I like the operating room, but I don't want to spend all of my time there.

Does anyone else agree?

 

[Eyeluvu]

The best thing about operating as an ophthalmologist is that you operate sitting down. You can't beat that!!!

Medicine internship? C'mon, transitional is the way to go. Just my 2 cents.

 

[MPS]

Originally posted by Eyeluvu
The best thing about operating as an ophthalmologist is that you operate sitting down. You can't beat that!!!

Some people might think that this is facetious, but you're right. I spent most of Thursday night watching a colo-rectal surgeon take a large portion of some poor girl's intestines out: he (and I) stood the whole time.

 

[TheRetinator]

I agree that transitional is probably the way to go; however, I chose medicine prelim at my institution because our particular program is very similar to a transitional year. Tons of elective time, including time in ophthalmology. Very reasonable call schedule. No MICU. I guess the negative thing about a transitional year is that it reminds me of the third year of medical school. Just as you become comfortable with one rotation, you switch to another. My 2 cents.

I agree. Operating while sitting is very appealing. One really bad burn case on general surgery, and I was sold on ophthalmology