Medical Specialties and how to get them

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Flack Pinku

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Hi there,

We all hear of Medical Specialties (Cardiovascular Surgery, Neurosurgery, etc.) I was wondering if someone could clarify my confusion about these fields by answering the following questions:

1. What are specialties? I know that Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Ob/Gyn are not specialties (they're Primary Care if I understand).

2. What is the quality of life for a specialist as opposed to Primary Care physician?

3. Right now, what specialties are highly/reasonably/non- competitive?

4. What does one need to go into those highly competitive specialties? Test scores (USMLE or something else)? Med school reputation??

Thanks for your help and effort!

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Specialties are a general term - ie, even Primary Care fields are considered "specialties", although often these fields are referred to as "generalist".

However, SUBspecialties generally connotes something which requires additional training beyong the basic; for example, Cardiology requires a Cards fellowship after IM training, Surgical subspecialties like Plastics, Urology, ENT, require at least some basic general surgery training before embarking on the subspecialty training.

The lifestyle varies from field to field - there are some subspecialties which require very little in-house call, few emergencies, etc. and consequently have a better lifestyle. Derm comes to mind. OTOH, there are those which are the exact opposite - Trauma, Cards, Transplant come to mind in this category. Subspecialties are generally paid more than Primary Care fields, although this doesn't necessarily translate into a better lifestyle.

"Hot" specialties include Ortho (as always), ENT, Rads (especially Interventional), Heme-Onc, Invasive Cards, Anesthesiology, etc. PM&R appears to be picking up.

Non-competitive or less popular specialties would include Path, Psychiatry, and the like.

Matching into a competitive residency requires good USMLE scores, letters, etc.
 
Thanks a lot Kimberli! :)
 
Hi Kimberli!
I just cant decide if i want to do surgery next year.I am very confused about what to do.I am starting in a FP program but my goal is to go for surgery.At this stage i am having doubts.What do you suggest for me to make this crucial decision.
 
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