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I was wondering which specialties have a good balance between doing procedures and clinic (working with patients).
Are there any that are evenly mixed?
Are there any that are evenly mixed?
You also need to think about what type of clinic time you enjoy. Ortho clinic, for example, is a lot less "medical" than urology or ENT clinic, because their patients are usually pretty well-differentiated.
OB/GYNs are practically PCPs for a lot of their patients, on top of all the procedures they perform.
I definitely prefer medical / complex problem solving + patient interaction for clinic.
So it sounds like Interventional Cardiology may be a good choice? I don't know if I'm super competitive to be getting into the surgical subspecialties. Does general surgery have a fair mix?
1. Re: patients and problem solving: Complex problem solving is not the sole domain of the internist. Plenty of surgical problems are very complex, and it turns out you are operating on, you know, patients.
2. There is a large chasm between surgical specialties and medical specialties. Even in clinic-heavy specialties like ENT/urology, the"medical" part of the specialty isn't like internal medicine.
In regards to balance, you can make your own practice have whatever balance you want. As a general surgery resident, you'll be doing a ton of operating with minimal clinic, but post-training, it's feasible to have a practice where you're seeing GI patients, doing endoscopies/colonoscopies, and only in the OR 1.5 days/week. That being said, no one goes into a surgical field if they don't like to operate.
How far along in your training are you?
Just finished M1. How competitive is cardiology or interventional cardiology? Honestly, I like the surgical specialties but I don't know if I'm good enough on paper. I think I would enjoy operating but not ONLY operating.
Just finished M1. How competitive is cardiology or interventional cardiology? Honestly, I like the surgical specialties but I don't know if I'm good enough on paper. I think I would enjoy operating but not ONLY operating.
I'd like to point out that even for the most OR heavy physician that is never going to be the only thing that you go. (if there were such as thing there are plenty of people that would love to hear about it) Patients don't just pop by the OR for a procedure. Clinic (and the ER) is how you get those people in there.Just finished M1. How competitive is cardiology or interventional cardiology? Honestly, I like the surgical specialties but I don't know if I'm good enough on paper. I think I would enjoy operating but not ONLY operating.
This very question was something I've thought about and researched for myself.
For surgery specialties, the best mix would be ENT, Ophthalmology, Ob/Gyn and Urology. Special honors go to Vascular Surgery (Phlebology clinic), Hand Surgery and Breast Surgery.
For nonsurgical procedural specialties, we have Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Pulmonology, Dermatology, Physiatry and Anesthesiology (Interventional Pain clinic). Special honors for Hem/Onc and Neuro-interventional Radiology.
Every surgeon I know hates clinic. I have yet to meet one who was excited for clinic.
Just finished M1. How competitive is cardiology or interventional cardiology? Honestly, I like the surgical specialties but I don't know if I'm good enough on paper. I think I would enjoy operating but not ONLY operating.
Many surgeons just hire mid-levels to take care of clinic duties... It's less common in uro and ENT, but a lot of ortho, CT, gen surg, etc would rather be in the OR 4-5 days a week and let the NPs/PAs take care of clinic.
So it sounds like Interventional Cardiology may be a good choice? I don't know if I'm super competitive to be getting into the surgical subspecialties. Does general surgery have a fair mix?
The moral of this story is unless you're doing an OR heavy specialty like gen surg, ortho, neurosurg, plastics you can find a balance in various specialties
.....and you generally lose money becoming a peds subspecialist.Don't forget that peds has all the same fellowships as IM, but getting a peds fellowship is significantly less competitive. Even peds cardiology which is the most competitive fellowship is easy compared to the adult match.
For perspective:
Peds cardiology in 2011 match had 157 applicants for 127 positions - 1.23 applicants per spot. 9 spots (7%) went unfilled.
Meanwhile adult cardiology had 1133 applicants for 779 spots - 1.45 applicants per spot. Only 17 spots (2%) went unfilled.
And the odds are in your favor if you are a US Grad - across all fields (since the NRMP doesn't break down individual specialties by applicant type), the unmatched rate for US Grads in peds was 7.7%, compared to 12.2% in the adult match.
Of course you have like taking care of kids...and sick kids at that, which is not appealing for a lot of people.
I'm shocked only one person has mentioned derm so far. Derm allows you to do a lot of short procedures throughout the day: cut this off, laser that off, throw acid on this, freeze this off, inject this stuff there, etc
Surprised no one has brought up EM yet.
It depends what kind of "procedures" you mean. But I spend a ton of my time during my day intubating, starting lines, reducing fractures, doing LPs/paracenteses, lac repairs, conscious sedation, removing foreign bodies from corneas, and less commonly pericardiocentesis or crics.
Don't think you do any clinic though, which is what the OP is looking for.
How common is that in EM? I realize there's going to be variability amongst different programs; I just mean, in general, do EM residents gain significant experience in the bolded procedures? And, if you don't mind answering, how "easy" is it to continue doing those types of procedures once you're an attending? I'm guessing practice politics plays a significant role in that.Surprised no one has brought up EM yet.
It depends what kind of "procedures" you mean. But I spend a ton of my time during my day intubating, starting lines, reducing fractures, doing LPs/paracenteses, lac repairs, conscious sedation, removing foreign bodies from corneas, and less commonly pericardiocentesis or crics.
How common is that in EM? I realize there's going to be variability amongst different programs; I just mean, in general, do EM residents gain significant experience in the bolded procedures? And, if you don't mind answering, how "easy" is it to continue doing those types of procedures once you're an attending? I'm guessing practice politics plays a significant role in that.
How common is that in EM? I realize there's going to be variability amongst different programs; I just mean, in general, do EM residents gain significant experience in the bolded procedures? And, if you don't mind answering, how "easy" is it to continue doing those types of procedures once you're an attending? I'm guessing practice politics plays a significant role in that.
Don't think you do any clinic though, which is what the OP is looking for.
How common is that in EM? I realize there's going to be variability amongst different programs; I just mean, in general, do EM residents gain significant experience in the bolded procedures? And, if you don't mind answering, how "easy" is it to continue doing those types of procedures once you're an attending? I'm guessing practice politics plays a significant role in that.