Specialties that provide the most obvious benefits to patients

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As an aside, can anyone explain the difference between female urology and urogynecology? I don't want to deliver babies.

The urogynecologists I worked with were basically specialists of the female pelvic floor - prolapse and incontinence, primarily - but female urology is going to go from the urethra all the way to the kidney, largely ignoring the reproductive organs.

Like Humble pointed out, urology is very competitive. OB/gyn is not. I don't know how competitive urogyn fellowships are though.

 

[startswithb]

The urogynecologists I worked with were basically specialists of the female pelvic floor - prolapse and incontinence, primarily - but female urology is going to go from the urethra all the way to the kidney, largely ignoring the reproductive organs.

Like Humble pointed out, urology is very competitive. OB/gyn is not. I don't know how competitive urogyn fellowships are though.

I read that there are about 40 programs, but I think it's split between whether your have done obgyn or urology. Not sure.

I know you can treat female urology problems as a general urologist so I guess one wouldn't have to do a female pelvic medicine fellowship necessarily unless they wanted more training in reconstruction?

At this point I'd rather train in urology but at least obgyn is a fallback option. So I guess that means I have to study hard! My school has a urology residency so that's good.

Thanks for the info, guys. 👍

 

[fzwarrior]

Rheumatology.

 

[startswithb]

Rheumatology.

sarcasm?

 

[Jack is Back]

Fair enough. Preclinical students who are dead set on a prestigious/ROAD specialty w/o much exposure to it can be annoying.

There are physicians in every field who just show up for a paycheck. There are many with that mentality who don't have the numbers for derm. EM was popular in my class in the preclinical years just because of the shift work and most interested ppl hadn't had much exposure to it at that point in time

I'm curious to know if you feel the same way about preclinical students who are dead set on specialties like neurosurg or pediatric cardiothoracic surg because they carry a lot of prestige.

I would say I don't have the same feelings towards those chasing prestige because I see them as really hard workers typically (slaves to the profession) as opposed to someone playing political games and gunning for the $/lifestyle. Although they seem similar, I just respect the tenacity it takes for Nsurg/pediatric surgery. I guess it's all about the mentality of the students, more than what they are chasing after.

I don't think I could dedicate my life to Nsurg and work 90+ hrs a week (nor do I envy them), but I do respect their contribution to medicine.

 

[2012mdc]

I would say I don't have the same feelings towards those chasing prestige because I see them as really hard workers typically (slaves to the profession) as opposed to someone playing political games and gunning for the $/lifestyle. Although they seem similar, I just respect the tenacity it takes for Nsurg/pediatric surgery. I guess it's all about the mentality of the students, more than what they are chasing after.

I don't think I could dedicate my life to Nsurg and work 90+ hrs a week (nor do I envy them), but I do respect their contribution to medicine.

I can understand that. The thing is most people chasing the prestige/ROAD won't end up matching it anyway, either by choice or not

 

[kitsunepixie]

I won't lie that my specialty has some of the worst lows that you can get and that's something that I hear about from detractors all the time, but man the highs are what we are in it for! I had a 7 year-old boy with IVH from an AVM go from completely obtunded to perking up and introducing himself to me within minutes after plopping in an EVD, and the adorable 90-something-year-old veteran whose enormous subdural I drained (one of my first surgeries) and his sweet little old wife sent me a thank you card and ask for me by name at their follow-up appointments. Every specialty has their own perks and downsides, so you have to decide what you want to drag yourself out of bed for every morning.

 

[Dral]

Think of the fields that do things that the patient can notice. Someone can't walk because of a hip problem, ortho fix, patient can walk again. Patients really notice that.

Derm, someone comes in with basal cell, Moh's surgeon takes if off, patient doesn't have lesion anymore. Patients notice that.

Managing blood glucose? Unless the pt goes hypo or hyper glycemic every other day, they're not gonna really notice. Should they be thankful? yes. Are they? Most often not I think.

 

[CodeBlu]

What about Anesthesiology with Pain Fellowship?

It's easy to fix the structural problem, but managing pain is difficult.

 

[loveoforganic]

Depends! Do you like saying 'yes' or 'no' to people? 😀

 

[PMPMD]

The urogynecologists I worked with were basically specialists of the female pelvic floor - prolapse and incontinence, primarily - but female urology is going to go from the urethra all the way to the kidney, largely ignoring the reproductive organs.

Like Humble pointed out, urology is very competitive. OB/gyn is not. I don't know how competitive urogyn fellowships are though.

Urogyn was very competitive this year - match rate was 57%.