Psychiatry and international work?

[Minde]

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Hi there,

I'm just about finished with my 3rd year of medical school and psychiatry has really stood out for me. I'm rotating through it as a 4th year again because I enjoyed it so much. However, something keeps gnawing at me from within because there are no procedures in psychiatry (except for ECT) and part of the original reason I went to medical school was to do international work. I originally thought I was going to be doing something surgical when I first started med school because I loved the idea of working with my hands. But now after psychiatry my world has gone topsy turvy and although I enjoy the field immensely, I can't help but feeling bothered by this one teeny tiny exception. Does anyone know if it is possible to do meaningful international work as a psychiatrist?

Thank you!

 

[whopper]

I don't understand.

You want to use your hands, and it appears you want to do procedures. Okay I get that.

So how does that correlate with doing international work?

International work can also mean a heck of a lot. Working in the UK is very different than working in Guatemala. If you could describe in some detail what you mean by international work, it may help us to help you.

 

[medium rare]

Hi there,

I'm just about finished with my 3rd year of medical school and psychiatry has really stood out for me. I'm rotating through it as a 4th year again because I enjoyed it so much. However, something keeps gnawing at me from within because there are no procedures in psychiatry (except for ECT) and part of the original reason I went to medical school was to do international work. I originally thought I was going to be doing something surgical when I first started med school because I loved the idea of working with my hands. But now after psychiatry my world has gone topsy turvy and although I enjoy the field immensely, I can't help but feeling bothered by this one teeny tiny exception. Does anyone know if it is possible to do meaningful international work as a psychiatrist?

Thank you!

Medicins San Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) is always looking for psychiatric providers across the globe.

 

[cyneuron]

I don't understand.

You want to use your hands, and it appears you want to do procedures. Okay I get that.

So how does that correlate with doing international work?

same confusion here. did you mistype ?

 

[indya]

same confusion here. did you mistype ?

assuming he is talking about international work in developing countries:

I think that he is under the impression that, in developing countries, psychiatrists don't do much work (or aren't as necessary.) I can say that, at least in the part of India which I am from, the ratio of people who use psychiatric services to who need them is far less than in the US. But, I'm sure this isn't a trend seen throughout the developing world.

or maybe he is under the even more strange impression that mental illness is less common in developing countries.

I think it is safe to assume that in every country, there will be people who need psychiatric services who don't have the money to receive treatment. Therefore, there are plenty of opportunities to travel to these places and help them by doing "international work."

 

[billypilgrim37]

It is far easier to deliver acute services in international work than chronic services. OP's question is fair. You can swoop in to random country in Africa, do a bunch of surgeries, and leave in a weak and have done some real good. While psychiatric care is needed internationally, psychiatric care requires infrastructure and longitudinal followup that does not lend itself to drive-by doctoring nearly as well.

I knew some folks who did disaster psychiatry with Katrina. Their work was awesome and very necessary (calling up drug companies, threatening with really bad PR if they didn't send butt loads of samples RIGHT @#$^% NOW, and just trying to make sure the psychotic people didn't entirely decompensate), but it was very different from what the proceduralists were doing.

 

[maranatha]

You may want to consider looking into a combined family medicine/psychiatry program.

 

[Ibid]

The world is your oyster!

http://www.who.int/employment/en/

http://www.unsystem.org/



If you want to work in the UK you can do worse than look here.

http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/

Alternatively this org is the real thing as well.

http://www.nhsprofessionals.nhs.uk/

Good Luck!