Primary care specialties and surgery

[hokte]

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Hi,
I'm wondering if there are any primary care specialties that include surgery as part of training. I'm interested in internal medicine and general surgery, so I wanted to find something that offers a little of both. Thanks !!!

 

[DORoe]

OB/GYN is considered primary care and involves some sugery aspects i believe.

 

[bigmuny]

OB/GYN is the most surgical of the primary care fields. Family practice does some very minor in-office stuff.

 

[TexPre-Med]

You guys need to read the question. Do you become an ob/gyn by taking an internal medicine residency? No! As far as the real answer goes: Everything to do with internal medicine has little surgery connected to it. Cardiology has cardiothoracic surgeons and gastro has colorectal surgeons, etc. The fields and knowledge required is too vast and a waste of time to do both. If you are just naturally rich and just want to have fun do a 5 year residency in cardio and another 5 in gen. surgery!

 

[hokte]

I'm definately not rich, so I'd better just pick one a stick with it.

 

[Kalel]

I've heard (mainly in the forums) that FP residencies have surgical rotations in them. Sometimes (rarely), FP's are expected to perform surgeries like appendectomies if they are the only physician around. I've also heard of Ob's asking FP's to assist them with their c-sections. FP's can also do things like skin biopsies. Anyways, if you are just looking for something procedure oriented, there are tons of IM specialties that are very procedure oriented. GI and cards are two obvious ones. Sometimes, students have trouble deciding between surgery and GI or cards because they require use similar manual abilities.

 

[bigmuny]

Originally posted by TexPre-Med
You guys need to read the question. Do you become an ob/gyn by taking an internal medicine residency? No! As far as the real answer goes: Everything to do with internal medicine has little surgery connected to it. Cardiology has cardiothoracic surgeons and gastro has colorectal surgeons, etc. The fields and knowledge required is too vast and a waste of time to do both. If you are just naturally rich and just want to have fun do a 5 year residency in cardio and another 5 in gen. surgery!

For your education: The following are considered "primary care specialties, " internal medicine, pediatrics, family practice, OB/GYN, and in some places and for certain purposes psychiatry. General surgery(or any other surgery) and internal medicine sub-specialties(GI, Card..) are not primary care specialties. From the list of "primary care specialties" only OB/GYN has any significant surgical component to it.

 

[TexPre-Med]

What you say is correct, but even you are not reading the question. The kid doesn't want to hear about fp or ob/gyn. All he wants info. on is internal medicine specialties.

 

[TexPre-Med]

If the kid is looking into internal medicine, which he states he is, ob/gyn wouldn't be an option is it. Ob/gyn is a residency all of its own. Yes it does have some surgery aspects, but I think everyone's answers are too broad. He wants to incorporate an IM specialty and surgery (not ob/gyn and surgery). At least this is what I get out of it. In my opinion, the closest you could get would be cardiology. Although there is not too much surgery involved, many of the techniques used are very exciting.

 

[WillowRose]

I have to agree with Boomer on this one. OB/GYN is the only surgical specialty that is considered primary care (and there is a LOT of surgery involved when you stop to think about it). If you are in a *very* rural area, then an FP might do some minor surgical procedures. However, I've yet to live in an area so rural that this was necessary. (And I've lived in some very out-of-the way places).

Most FP's stopped doing more than the occasional removal of a mole years ago. And if you want to get down to the level of "procedures," then a pediatrician is often the one who does circumcisions in the hospital (depends on the town). Or you could consider emergency medicine--never know what you'll find there.

If you're looking for a speciality that is anything like IM and has some surgery involved, then OB/GYN is probably the thing for you. Just to give you some idea....my gyn has practically taken the role of my family dr since my FP died. She is the one who orders the standard blood tests to check my sugar, cholesterol, etc. The OB/GYN is definitely part of the management of high blood pressure and diabetes--the main person when the patient is pregnant. If you're *really* into the IM side of things, you could look into sub-specializing in reproductive endocrinology which would give you more IM with an occasional surgery.

Come to think of it, I'd say OB is probably closer to IM than any of the other primary care specialities. On top of that, you get to bring babies into the world on a daily basis and you still get to do plenty of surgery. It's that surgery thing that is holding me back from pursuring it for myself. I'd rather not have to go in through the belly to get a baby. LOL

Tex Pre-Med can certainly feel free to disagree. 🙂 But, like Boomer, I read the original question to mean the OP is looking for a primary care speciality and gave IM as an example of something he/she is interested in--not a starting point looking for a sub-speciality. And I'm also not assuming the OP is a "kid."

Now if you *are* looking more in the sub-speciality line...there are plenty of options--ENT, opthamology, as well as others mentioned.

Willow

 

[Goofyone]

Urology is another field like Ob/Gyn. While you don't do IM to get there, you certainly do learn IM.

ENT, I'd say, is more FP/surgical than IM/surgical, just in terms of the typical problems you'll be dealing with.

Now you just need to decide if you want to look at pee-pees or woo-woos all day.

 

[WillowRose]

Originally posted by Goofyone
Urology is another field like Ob/Gyn. While you don't do IM to get there, you certainly do learn IM.

ENT, I'd say, is more FP/surgical than IM/surgical, just in terms of the typical problems you'll be dealing with.

Now you just need to decide if you want to look at pee-pees or woo-woos all day.

Great addition on the urology!! I wasn't really sure on their daily lives. I've only dealt with them in a surgical way. Agree on the ENT, but was trying to think of something more surgical than the ones previously mentioned.

And glad to see you've learned the proper terminology for the penis! LOL But you really need to work on the female genitalia--it is "hoo hoo" not "woo woo." I won't even mention the discussion my husband and I had about gynecology last night. Needless to say, I don't think I'll have to worry about him becoming an GYN some day.

Willow

 

[TexPre-Med]

I am not in disagreement with anyone on this post. Your facts are correct. I am merely trying to incorporate the question. It has to do with primary care "specialties". I consider fp, pediatrics, and ob/gyn primary care, but the way the question is worded, I perceive him to mean sub-specialties to us who know the system. Why else would he bring up IM and specialties? Yes we all know ENT, ob/gyn, fp, optho, urology etc. have surgery aspects. I will offer the question if the author hasn't already, but is there any IM "sub-specialty" that incorporates much surgery?

 

[bigmuny]

An IM sub-specialty is not primary care. However, GI, interventional cardiology, pulmonology/critical care are the most procedure intensive of the medicine sub-specialties, though the procedures that they do, although invasive, are not surgery. As has been stated the primary care specialty that has the most medicine and surgery involved would be ob/gyn(they do actual surgery regularly).

 

[hokte]

Thanks everyone for helping me with this question. It really has been quite helpful. My reason for even asking is this, I am attracted to surgery. There happens to be incentives available for doctors in primary care and returning to rural areas. I wanted to know if anything met both requirements, that is being primary care and have surgery involved. The way it seems ob/gyn is about the only thing that fits that criterion, and I'm not really wanting to do that. As it stands, I have one acceptance and one waitlist, so I still have quite a bit of time to decide.🙂 I cant believe I've gotten to this point!!! Thanks again!!!

 

[bigmuny]

Hokte, tuition reimbursement programs for physicians willing to practice in rural areas are looking for primary care physicians(family practice, peds, ob/gyn, general internal med, maybe psych) as this is where the greatest need lies, and most rural communities can't support a full-time surgeon(not a significant enough pop, therefore surgical care is referred out). Many states have these programs so you might want to look around, there might be a program out there for a general surgeon(doubt it though, i've never heard of one). The federal underserved area program,NHSC, is only looking for the above metioned specialties. If you are looking to get a free ride through school, and do surgery, you might want to look into the military. If you want to do a little surgery, a little med, and like reproductive health, as has been said ob/gyn might be a good choice for you