Primary care vs. Surgery

[RedRobin]

Hi everyone,

I will be attending med school next year and I am in need of advice.

Mostly throughout college, I've been volunteering at a local free clinic and shadowed primary care docs there. I always thought I want to go into primary care and be involved in some non-profit work while practicing. I also come from a family of activists so I grew up in an environment where money isn't the most important thing.

Lately I've been doing some research and I feel like surgery is a really good fit for me. The field itself is very interesting and I think I really have good dexterity for it.

Is there anyway to become a surgeon and volunteer my time at a free clinic doing primary care?
Many have advised me to put off my decision until my 3rd and 4th year since that's when I get to learn what each field is like. However, I'm trying to decide between two schools right now. One of them is very heavy on primary care and the other would put me at a greater advantage if I wanted to pursue a specialty.

Any advice would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

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[cpants]

You will have the opportunity to serve your community in either field. You have to do what you like. Go to the school that is more specialty oriented. You will have no trouble getting into primary care from any school, but a lack of research and clinical contacts in a specialty can hurt your chances if you go down that route.

 

[MossPoh]

The reason they tell you to wait till 3rd year is that you don't have sufficient exposure, nor do you really KNOW what you like yet.

Pick what school you like the most. I go to a school that is as primary care oriented as it can get and we still had tons of people match into surgery last year. Doing well in your academics opens up more doors than simply picking a school that is primary care oriented over one that isn't.

I've made plenty of clinical contacts and had plenty of research opportunities so far. It isn't that hard. Besides, most PDs don't really rank research high on the importance level. It is nice to see research experience if it is a very academic program, but they know that most med students don't have much influence in the research they do anyway.

 

[qmcat]

Is there anyway to become a surgeon and volunteer my time at a free clinic doing primary care?

There are opportunities to do community service/free/overseas care in either field. As far as doing primary care as a surgeon, I think it's more likely that you'll be doing community work in your surgical field rather than in primary care. I've worked at a free clinic also, and whenever we have a surgeon or specialist there (which is pretty rare to begin with), they are usually assessing patients for a specialty clinic (bone/joint clinic, ob/gyn clinic, etc.) and not handing out HTN/DM/cholesterol prescriptions.

As far as deciding whether you want surgery or primary care right now, I would recommend doing some shadowing with a surgeon and getting OR exposure. It won't be the same as being on a surgical rotation as a med student, but at least you'll hopefully get a feel for what the surgical culture is like and how the OR is run.

And as for deciding which school to go to, in my opinion, go for the school where you think you can do better academically and the school that has a department in the field you want to go into. You can go into any field from any medical school, but what I think is important is being in an environment that will help you learn/do your best in class and on rotations, and having a department in your school where you can make connections with doctors who are in the field that you want to go into.

 

[bioteach]

I will be attending med school next year...

Don't pick your school based on potential specialty interest. You're not going to know which one you prefer until you try them. You might even find something else entirely. That is why you get a 3rd year.