Specialties that do the least harm

[whoadude]

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[Abraxas65]

No, every field has its risks even neurology and PMR. Honestly this approach seems like a really poor way to approach medicine.

 

[Ace-Co-A]

My personal ideas (which may be totally wrong since I'm an idiot pre-med, correct me on this one) is that physicians who prescribe a lot of medicines have a high chance of harming one of their patients due to unknown side effects of the medicine.

What is this based on?

 

[whoadude]

No, every field has its risks even neurology and PMR. Honestly this approach seems like a really poor way to approach medicine.

That's fair. This is more of a theoretical question I had... I don't think I will base what I do off purely risk.

What is this based on?

Just personal experience (like my mom getting treated for one thing, then going through something else cause of side effects, etc.), but I'm not saying it's always true, just an idea.

 

[WillburCobb]

If that's really how you feel forensic path is about all I can think of that fits.

 

[Ace-Co-A]

Just personal experience (like my mom getting treated for one thing, then going through something else cause of side effects, etc.), but I'm not saying it's always true, just an idea.

Seems limited. Maybe you should diversify your exposure to medicine before considering these kinds of questions? A good place for this transformation to occur is medical school, and you have to get there first.

Best of luck.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Also, some surgeons seem to be "last resorts" who may save the patient's life but at some great cost like chronic pain (maybe ortho surgeons?).

Chronic pain is one of the indications for many orthopedic procedures.

 

[whoadude]

Seems limited. Maybe you should diversify your exposure to medicine before considering these kinds of questions? A good place for this transformation to occur is medical school, and you have to get there first.

Best of luck.

Chronic pain is one of the indications for many orthopedic procedures.

My bad, in over my head on this one. If I get into med school, I will wait until getting more exposure before thinking about this sort of thing.

 

[What's Up Doc]

.

 

[Ace-Co-A]

My bad, in over my head on this one. If I get into med school, I will wait until getting more exposure before thinking about this sort of thing.

Hey it's ok to be curious! Good luck!

 

[Winged Scapula]

My bad, in over my head on this one. If I get into med school, I will wait until getting more exposure before thinking about this sort of thing.

NP.

If you knew everything, you wouldn't need to go to medical school, right?

 

[hoihaie]

medical examiner or forensic pathology. can't kill what's dead already

 

[allantois]

Nah, that's dentistry

 

[zeppelinpage4]

You could look into preventative med, I don't know much about it, but the one or two I've met seem to do more MPH stuff and biostats.

 

[kthxbai]

In any specialty you can muck things up worst than you ever thought possible.

I think that the attitude of more risky vs. less risky in medicine can lead to undue false confidence. Assume a fine line in all specialties.

Disrespect is the root to carelessness.

 

[What's Up Doc]

In any specialty you can muck things up worst than you ever thought possible.

I think that the attitude of more risky vs. less risky in medicine can lead to undue false confidence. Assume a fine line in all specialties.

Disrespect is the root to carelessness.

I think OP's fear of hurting someone would lead to a lack of confidence, not undue false confidence. Confidence is absolutely essential in making tough decisions that have to be made

 

[kthxbai]

If you start believing that your specialty is low risk, you're bound to be overconfident in your boundaries. It's something he should consider as he searches for his niche.

@What's Up Doc
Besides, your point can and does coexist with mine.

 

[What's Up Doc]

If you start believing that your specialty is low risk, you're bound to be overconfident in your boundaries. It's something he should consider as he searches for his niche.

@What's Up Doc
Besides, your point can and does coexist with mine.

Agreed

 

[hoihaie]

If you ahve the chance, you should definitely read the book titled "What Doctors Feel" by Danielle Orfi. She talks about this exact problem beautifully (plus many other emitions that affect physicians).

 

[Spinach Dip]

Some to consider:

Anesthesia - The main goal is to TAKE AWAY pain. And most of the drugs you give last a short time post-surgery. However, it is quite possible to mess someone up if you make a mistake.

Radiology - The worst you can do is miss a diagnosis.

 

[hoihaie]

Some to consider:

Anesthesia - The main goal is to TAKE AWAY pain. And most of the drugs you give last a short time post-surgery. However, it is quite possible to mess someone up if you make a mistake.

Radiology - The worst you can do is miss a diagnosis.

umm anesthesia carries a lot of risk, quite possibly one of the riskiest specialty there is.

 

[blackroses]

My experience has been that doctors who are more scared of side effects than interested in treating their patient's problems are very poor doctors.

 

[Spinach Dip]

umm anesthesia carries a lot of risk, quite possibly one of the riskiest specialty there is.

Any surgical specialty is riskier.

 

[allantois]

Any surgical specialty is riskier.

Considering that radiologists have to go through thousands of images on a daily basis and that they misdiagnose anywhere from 4-9% (depending on the study) of their cases, there's quite a lot of room for a radiolost to cause harm to more people than any surgeon could.

 

[mysdnhandle]

Psych.

But that doesn't necessarily mean you'll make them better either.

 

[Spinach Dip]

Fine. I'll change my suggestion.

Derm. It's hard to cause harm when you're prescribing rash cream all day.

 

[gettheleadout]

Fine. I'll change my suggestion.

Derm. It's hard to cause harm when you're prescribing rash cream all day.

This can't seriously be your perception of Derm.


Sent from my neural implant using SDN Mobile

 

[DrBowtie]

Fine. I'll change my suggestion.

Derm. It's hard to cause harm when you're prescribing rash cream all day.

Any specialty related to diagnosing cancer is going to be risky.

Preventive Med is probably the least risky. Non operative sports med can cause morbidity but rarely mortality.

 

[CherryRedDracul]

Psych.

But that doesn't necessarily mean you'll make them better either.

Some of those medications can have some pretty nasty adverse effects. Lithium is a good example. Also, not properly managing patients with suicidal ideations can lead to disastrous consequences and lawsuits.

 

[Spinach Dip]

This can't seriously be your perception of Derm.

I forgot the [/sarcasm] tags.

 

[Optimus-Prime]

I was thinking this,

http://www.abmgg.org/pages/training_accredprog.shtml

but on second thought its prob one of the worser ones

 

[theseeker4]

perhaps u can go by the number of malpractice claims. that shows the relative amount of harm that each specialty can do. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3204310/

psychiatry or pediatrics?

Lawsuits have little to do with how much harm an individual or a specialty is doing. Many suits are without any basis whatsoever, and many times a doctor misses something/botches something but the patients/their families decide not to sue for any number of reasons. An emergency physician who "kept you waiting" for 3 hours to assess your cold and "missed" the osteosarcoma he never had any reason to order imaging studies for is a lot easier to sue than the wonderful old family medicine physician who cared for you since you were born, delivered your babies, and missed the melanoma on your forehead. Lawsuit rates are good for assessing risk of being sued, they are very poor at determining how does the most "harm."

 

[CherryRedDracul]

that's true. patients could be disappointed for a number of reasons. i suppose it is a better indicator of what field pisses off patients the least.

In forensic pathology, you can't piss off patients if they're dead. Just sayin'.

 

[gettheleadout]

I forgot the [/sarcasm] tags.

In which case it's odd that you'd joke about derm considering, as @DrBowtie said, missing melanoma could be deadly.

 

[hoihaie]

perhaps u can go by the number of malpractice claims. that shows the relative amount of harm that each specialty can do. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3204310/

psychiatry or pediatrics?

naw man, if you mess up in psych, your patients could end up committing suicide or get out and harm others.
i've personally witnessed a psych patient hang himself in the psych ward where I was volunteering.

 

[theseeker4]

naw man, if you mess up in psych, your patients could end up committing suicide or get out and harm others.
i've personally witnessed a psych patient hang himself in the psych ward where I was volunteering.

That, along with all the side-effects of the anti-psychotic, mood stabilizing, and all the other psych medications can be pretty severe, so over-medication is most definitely harmful as well. A psychiatrist might not cut off the wrong leg of a patient, but there is most definitely a great deal of potential for harm, both by not doing enough and by doing too much.

 

[NickNaylor]

Become an ND if you want to do zero harm to patients and, relatedly, offer nothing of value.

 

[DermViser]

Become an ND if you want to do zero harm to patients and, relatedly, offer nothing of value.

It could also be argued that a ND does, in fact, harm patients.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Become an ND if you want to do zero harm to patients and, relatedly, offer nothing of value.

Coming from a community with a very heavy infestation of NDs, I would argue that what some of them do is practically criminal. There is an awful lot of ineffective black salve being put on breast tumors and resulting in a delay of treatments and in most cases I see, fungating masses with metastatic disease.

 

[theseeker4]

Become an ND if you want to do zero harm to patients and, relatedly, offer nothing of value.

Delaying real treatment is a definite harm done to patients. Also, taking their money by convincing them snake oil will cure all their ills is most definitely a harm, thought it might not be a physical/medical harm.

 

[NickNaylor]

It could also be argued that a ND does, in fact, harm patients.

Good point. I was limiting my thinking to homeopathic nonsense but forgot to take into account that they would actually be irresponsible enough and sufficiently poorly trained to not refer to a physician when actually necessary.

 

[DermViser]

Good point. I was limiting my thinking to homeopathic nonsense but forgot to take into account that they would actually be irresponsible enough and sufficiently poorly trained to not refer to a physician when actually necessary.

Well who else would be trained to treat a fungating breast cancer than a naturopath? (definitely not a greedy medical oncologist or surgical oncologist): http://drsangita.blogspot.com/2013/07/breast-cancer-herbal-treatment.html

 

[NickNaylor]

Well who else would be trained to treat a fungating breast cancer than a naturopath? (definitely not a greedy medical oncologist or surgical oncologist): http://drsangita.blogspot.com/2013/07/breast-cancer-herbal-treatment.html

That is... terrifying.

 

[DermViser]

That is... terrifying.

And what's scary is they have the credibility of having a "license" (naturopathic license) from the state.

 

[Spinach Dip]

Well who else would be trained to treat a fungating breast cancer than a naturopath? (definitely not a greedy medical oncologist or surgical oncologist): http://drsangita.blogspot.com/2013/07/breast-cancer-herbal-treatment.html

You know they're legit because the banner at the top of the web page features a bunch of hemp leaves.

 

[DermViser]

You know they're legit because the banner at the top of the web page features a bunch of hemp leaves.

It's bc you have to be high in order to not realize that the alternative therapy is not working.

 

[DermViser]

Coming from a community with a very heavy infestation of NDs, I would argue that what some of them do is practically criminal. There is an awful lot of ineffective black salve being put on breast tumors and resulting in a delay of treatments and in most cases I see, fungating masses with metastatic disease.

Yes! That's what is was black salve! Couldn't remember for the life of me. It was absolutely ridiculous when a woman with breast cancer - peau d' orange changes, the whole 9 yards, was using that stuff as "treatment" for her breast CA.

 

[Winged Scapula]

That is... terrifying.

Weekly occurrence in my community.

 

[DermViser]

Weekly occurrence in my community.

Are they the rich type?

 

[hoihaie]

lololol y'all would've had some "great" stuff to say in the old VCU prompt