Specialties and service

[bobsagat]

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I'm really interested in trying to do some kind of international service, either right out of residency or later down the road. Is there some sort of need for just about any specialty under the sun in the third world, or are there some fields (other than cosmetic plastics) that have relatively little need for pro bono work?

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

You're premed so your life plans may change (blah blah blah) but who the hell am I to argue with Bob Saget?

Any "core" specialty is going be gangbusters in the third world, obviously: family/internal medicine/peds/ob-gyn, you've got opportunities out the whazzoo. Subspecialty surgeons also have their niche: From my limited experience, they tend to do more work in urban centers there that I've seen, but they still see people who are really desperate who are sent there.

Radiology is going to be a bit difficult, but I heard of a mammo program for some disadvantaged areas and I've heard of some rads goes doing philanthropy stuff: trying to get GE and Siemens to donate CT scanners and MRI's overseas. But any field like pathology, radiology, etc. having completed medical school you still know more about medicine than 99% of the world's population, so if you're really jazzed to go overseas you can play internist and treat people pretty decently, and your lifestyle and financial rewards may make that more palatable than a family doc who may not have the cash to go and do as much charitabl ework as he would like.

 

[bobsagat]

If I were to take a year off after medical school to do something like that, would I be deferring my residency spot, or would I have to take a year off and apply the following year? Would that hurt me for residency applications?

 

[Vonsmack]

If you want to practice with any of the established groups (like Doctors Without Borders) you gotta complete your residency first. You can't even practice medicine in the U.S. unless you have completed an internship and completed all 3 Step board exams. I don't know what would happen if you tried to be renegade and practice medicine in the third world right out of med school.

The big question is why would you want to, doctors fresh out of med school still don't know jack (or so I've been told). There is a reason why an internship is required to practice medicine, you will need that extra training and experience to effectively help your 3rd world patients.

 

[bobsagat]

If you want to practice with any of the established groups (like Doctors Without Borders) you gotta complete your residency first. You can't even practice medicine in the U.S. unless you have completed an internship and completed all 3 Step board exams. I don't know what would happen if you tried to be renegade and practice medicine in the third world right out of med school.

The big question is why would you want to, doctors fresh out of med school still don't know jack (or so I've been told). There is a reason why an internship is required to practice medicine, you will need that extra training and experience to effectively help your 3rd world patients.

Haha, it's not like I'd be "going rogue" and setting up all by myself. Peepshowjohnny's post made it seem as though one would be fit to practice under an attending physician in the service realm, though, just as one would in the first year of a residency.

If I understand you correctly, it sounds as if DWB wouldn't have any programs where one could complete part of a residency abroad, which is unfortunate because that would be pretty cool.