Originally posted by DrWuStar
i read this on another web site (MomMD) and thought it was funny. if you're looking for stereotypes, here you go!:
Here's another stereotyping post. It's off of a newsgroup and was written by a guy who claims to be a CT surgeon. If he isn't, he certainly does a good imitation. And these aren't my opinions, so no flames!
To all you young studs out there, here's an overview of what's available with opinions on each:
Internal Medicine - these guys are flies that deal with the crap no one else wants. Doing grunt work that the rest of us dump onto them. If you're a "thinker" and not a do'er, int med and it's specialties are for you...if you love research then it'll be right up your alley (although you can do research in any field you choose). Pay is poor except for a few of the subspecialties like cardiology, GI, and heme-onc. Most internal medicine docs are drug pushers that allow pharmaceutical companies to survive.
Cardiology - wannabe cardiac surgeons. Need to call us when they mess up.
Gastroenterologists - wannabe GI surgeons. Call surgeons when they mess up.
Family Practice - cough and cold docs. Usually lazy and not very bright (there are exceptions...esp for FP'ers in small towns that do *everything* since there are no specialists in those areas). Don't do FP unless you're going to a rural area where you will be the king of the community. Pay sucks but lifestyle is good.
Pediatrics - usually can't deal with adults and have an inferiority complex (?) so they work with kids who they're more comfortable with. Pay sucks...good lifestyle. Also cough and cold docs with no scope and same stuff every day (sore throat, OM, fevers, cough).
Radiology - great pay given their work up in and great hours, but they are not real doctors. Don't treat, only HELP diagnose. They are on the fringes of medicine....never give a straight answer...work in the dark most of the day. Horrible way to live. No one will ever say "this person is my doc" because you hardly ever develop any relationship with actual, real life patients! Excellent field for those who are smart but lazy.
Interventional Radiology - cool field with excellent and changing future, however they are wannabe surgeons and have to call surgeons when they mess up. Think they're surgeons but don't have the general background that we do (5 yrs of radiology doesn't teach you how to run a code or understand the human body from a CLINICAL aspect). Just be a surgeon.
Anesthesia - great pay for the work involved. Good hours. However, you are basically the surgeon's bitch and only 1/2 a doc. No one respects you unless you are in charge of SICU for example. Otherwise you get yelled at and take orders from surgeons. Nurse anesthesists can do you job so what does that say about future job security? Don't really deal with patients except when you put their IV's in and intubate them. For people who regretted going into medicine so they want to work short hours and don't mind being treated like a nurse because they like the pay. usually second banana type personalities.
Orthopaedic surgery - lots of testosterone all over the place. These are the guys that would have been lawyers and investment bankers if they didn't go into medicine. Love the money, do a lot of cool drilling and hands on work. Great field overall but very competitive. Great pay. Most of these guys are happy. However, most don't have a general surgery education to take care of the whole patient...just know their niche.
Urology - Good hours, cool surgeries, good pay. But don't know anything outside of the urogenital tract. Wouldn't know how to run a code or even diagnose a common cold. These guys tend to be happy.
Opthamology - great pay great lifestyle. Like urology...both are competitive but these aren't real doctors...they're so specialized that they can't deal with patients in general. But these guys are happy.
Ob/Gyn - Allows you to do primary care AND be a surgeon. Great field for women to go into, less so for men given the trend for women wanting to see female gynocologists. Hours suck as even in your prime will be doing about 1 night/wk in house call. That sucks. Pay is pretty good but the malpractice risk is ridiculously high. Rewarding field.
General surgery - best docs around. Can treat the whole patient. Can do everything internal medicine docs can do AND do surgery. Well respected. Good pay. Can be good hours IF you're in a group. Some consider the work repetitive (gallbladders, appendix work, colostomies), but can branch out to
breat tumor removals and other more diverse surgeries.
Cardiothoracic surgery - best surgeons because they have the most respect, get the best looking women (esp nurses), make good money (not as much as before but still great). and do rewarding surgeries. Lifestyle is tough so if you're not
ambitious you will get eaten alive, which is true for almost all surgical fields. Other doctors look up to us as does everyone else.
Neurosurgery - get a lot of respect in the community and the pay is great, but they are not real well rounded docs like cardiothoracic docs are. The know the brain and spinal but that's about it. Kings of the ER because when they show up to eval a patient, everyone else gets out of the way. Hours suck HARD and
need to be very ambitious as in cardiothoracic.
ENT / Otolaryngology - see urology. Same type of stuff. Cool surgeries, good pay, good respect but limited to ENT stuff and don't know anything else.
Pathology - have no personality, should have gone into research or PhD studies.
Emergency Room - triage nurses that just talk to nurses all day and don't know much about anything in particular, just know who to refer to. But many like the lifestyle and don't have to worry about patients once the workday is over and you "punch out". Most are incompetent and lazy. Pay is good relative to the amt of work they actually do.
Dermatology - not real docs but have nice little procedures, great lifestyle, good pay. Highly sought after because these people don't have a physical lifestyle or the stress of a real doc. If you like it and can get in, do it....you prob didn't want to go into medicine in the 1st place.
