Is there a specialty which focuses on treating disabled patients?

[Dr.MaddiGuddi]

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I know it is broad when we say someone is disabled. It can mean that they are physically or mentally disabled and there are various reasons as to how they developed this disability.
I think that I would be interested in working with special patients but idk how to make that into a specialty
I want to work with children who may have autism or down syndrome or adults who have muscle dystrophy, or are maybe confined to a wheel chair, maybe suffering with paralysis (you guys get the point)
I really want to help these people out and make life easier for them but idk what this field would be referred to as or how to take steps towards this kind of study

 

[Redpancreas]

I know it is broad when we say someone is disabled. It can mean that they are physically or mentally disabled and there are various reasons as to how they developed this disability.
I think that I would be interested in working with special patients but idk how to make that into a specialty
I want to work with children who may have autism or down syndrome or adults who have muscle dystrophy, or are maybe confined to a wheel chair, maybe suffering with paralysis (you guys get the point)
I really want to help these people out and make life easier for them but idk what this field would be referred to as or how to take steps towards this kind of study

You seem to have a passion for serving persons with non-self-induced disabilities as a whole. Unfortunately there’s no general field where you can reach all individuals and you could probably make a case that every specialty has a disabled population. That said, some have more rehabilitation than others. I recommend you pick one field and then possibly to charity work if you’re not satisfied.

Good fields for working with physically disabled patients are:

Neurology +/- fellowship(s)
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Geriatrics
Children’s Neurology (separate residency)
Pediatrics + fellowship-you seem to like helping kids.

For mental disabilities, there’s psychiatry for kids.

That said, you can make a case for any field. Orthopedic Surgery have people with chronic disabilities although the work with them less. Internal Medicine does a lot of work with people who may as well be noted as disabled with multiple co-morbidities. If you’re interested in pain management, fields like PM&R and Anesthesia have fellowships that work on that.

In regards to Autism, that can be managed by Child Psych/Neuro and you should ask those subforums on SDN to see what their roles are in managing these patients and how they differ. Movement disorders are obviously covered within Neurology + fellowships.

Ultimately I think the best fit for you is Children’s Neurology. It’s median salary is 250K, it’s 3 years, and they treat all the biochem disorders genetic, embryology malformations, cerebral palsy/autism/learning disabilities and stuff along that line. I recommend you do further research in this area and if you like it a lot, commit to it. It’s not super competitive and think scores are around 230 with top programs probably being 10 points higher.

 

[Oso]

I would start by looking into PM&R - physical medicine and rehabilitation. It is a broad field and you can take care of patients with a variety of disabilities (neuromuscular disorders, brain or spinal cord injuries, developmental things like cerebral palsy, musculoskeletal injuries, etc.).

As mentioned in the above post, some other fields that may interest you as well include child psych (autism management, among other things) and child neurology (cognitive/developmental/intellectual disabilities, among other things).

 

[CleverAdvisor]

Treating individuals with disabilities usually requires a holistic approach that goes beyond just the physician. Because there are so many different ways the patient can be affected there are many disciplines that can play a role in their treatment. The major "Doctor" players that I can currently think of would be family medicine, pediatrics, neurology, and psychiatry. When you do your rotations you will be exposed to more or less the sorts of patient you can expect if you were a practicing physician.
If I were to straight up recommend one for you it would be family medicine. I come from a background where I had a lot of exposure to children with autism, down syndrome, muscular dystrophy, and acute brain injuries. The family physician is the one who will be their for most of their journey through life from a clinical point of view. In addition, you could open a clinic that particularly caters to this population if you see it feasible in the future.

 

[Redpancreas]

3 solid opinions in minutes. #SDNSuccess

 

[Dr.MaddiGuddi]

Thank you guys so much !! I will definitely look into everything you guys have mentioned and I truly hope I find something which ends up being perfect for me.
@Syncrohnize @Oso @CleverAdvisor

And Haha yea I love SDN! @Syncrohnize

 

[togaedere]

I’m in a med peds program. One of my attendings, a graduate of my program, went to neurodevelopmental disabilities fellowship and now 95 percent of her practice is the care of people w disabilities of a variety of forms.

Just giving you something else to consider.

Adding stuff for clarity: there are also a few neurodevelopmental disability residencies (I believe 8 in total) that combine pediatrics, child neurology, and neurodevelopmental. If you want to see adults and kids I would recommend the med peds route, though admittedly it isn’t for everybody. My aforementioned attending is the only person in the region doing this sort of work and not only has her panel of patients but sees people on a consult basis when their PCPs have questions about their care. Very rewarding field if you’re interested. Can give you more details if you PM me.

Thank you guys so much !! I will definitely look into everything you guys have mentioned and I truly hope I find something which ends up being perfect for me.
@Syncrohnize @Oso @CleverAdvisor

And Haha yea I love SDN! @Syncrohnize

 

[ortnakas]

+1 for PM&R

 

[Coltuna]

Why is every post bolded how do i fix this? I lolled at the first post in response thought he bolded it too to be cheeky

That's how it is on my end too lol. Idk what's going on.

 

[theberrybest]

I work in a developmental and special needs pediatrics clinic where we see patients like that (especially autism). Not sure about the route if you want to see adults too but my physician did a residency in peds and then a fellowship in developmental-behavioral peds.

 

[ACSurgeon]

I know it is broad when we say someone is disabled. It can mean that they are physically or mentally disabled and there are various reasons as to how they developed this disability.
I think that I would be interested in working with special patients but idk how to make that into a specialty
I want to work with children who may have autism or down syndrome or adults who have muscle dystrophy, or are maybe confined to a wheel chair, maybe suffering with paralysis (you guys get the point)
I really want to help these people out and make life easier for them but idk what this field would be referred to as or how to take steps towards this kind of study

As long as you have a realistic view of what it means to help people and make life easier... chronic medical illness can be frustrating for the patient and physician, despite having the highest quality medical care.

 

[Punkn]

Feel free to message me with any questions about PM&R. I specialize in spinal cord injury, but also see much broader neurological conditions as well.