Any opinions? I know there are some past posts about this but thought I'd ask again in case there are some new thoughts on the matter. I'm a third year who is torn between the two specialties (and occasionally even considering internal medicine-rheum). Just wondering if anyone else was between these specialties and why they chose one or the other.
Neuro vs PM&R
- Thread starter zee620
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2007
- Messages
- 593
- Reaction score
- 21
IMO if you enjoy an orthopedic surgeon's office hours/rheumatology/PMR, then the only overlap with Neuro is the PNS stuff- neuropathies, spine problems,carpal tunnel EMGs etc.
I feel most people that enter neurology have a significant interest in the CNS. If you don't have that, then I would lean towards physiatry/rheumatology. I spent a few days with a PMR doc and I was absolutely bored out of mind. I'm primarily interested in the CNS and I could never do that field.
I feel most people that enter neurology have a significant interest in the CNS. If you don't have that, then I would lean towards physiatry/rheumatology. I spent a few days with a PMR doc and I was absolutely bored out of mind. I'm primarily interested in the CNS and I could never do that field.
I've pretty much always been on neurology, but I considered PMR briefly. Two of my main interests are head injuries and pain so there's some overlap there. The way I looked at it, the rest of PMR didn't interest me much whereas with neuro, while there are some things I don't like, for the most part I find general neuro interesting and something I can see myself dabbling in beyond my main areas of interest.
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2011
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 1
What do you like about each (including Rheum)?
PM&R has far fewer emergencies (if you're into that).
PM&R has far fewer emergencies (if you're into that).
I picked PM&R because I really like neuro and MSK topics and realized I didn't want to be a surgeon pretty early as a 3rd year med student. It also provides a good background for the two fellowships I'm most interested in pursuing: pain and sports medicine. The specialty's inpatient aspects (stroke rehab, spinal cord injury, brain injury) don't interest me as much partly because they don't provide us the opportunity to act as diagnosticians like our outpatient rotations (pain, interventional spine, MSK, sports medicine, EMG) do. Just my 2 cents. Good luck!
I went through this debate after being PMR driven from the start of medical school but after I did my first real rotation in PMR I decided not to go into because I thought it was a lot of micromanagement and monotonous work. Neuro was the choice for me because of the challenging nature of patients seen.
