Pediatrics and FP: Patient population and medical underpinning—I would prefer much less patient interaction and would prefer to have a narrow range of focus / knowledge base rather than a broad range.
Geriatrics: Patient population
EM: Medical underpinning—I would prefer to have a narrow range of focus / knowledge base rather than a broad range.
Psych/Neuro: Patient population—I prefer having a definite knowledge of what is wrong with a patient, so I can determine exactly what it is I can perform / prescribe / treat to alleviate patient suffering.
Path: Patient population—I would prefer interacting with and treating live patients.
Heme/Onc: Patient population—I lack the emotional stamina.
ID: Medical underpinning—I would prefer a greater diversity of cases (I have read it is half treating HIV patients and half treating surgical infections).
OB/GYN: Medical underpinning—Hard pass on looking at female genitalia all day.
Uro: Medical underpinning—Hard pass on looking at male genitalia all day.
GI: Medical underpinning—Hard pass on performing colonoscopies.
Cardio: Patient population—Please someone correct me if I am wrong, but my preconceived notion of cardio is that much of patients’ problems could be alleviated by quitting smoking / eating a healthier diet / incorporating exercise.
Optho / Vascular / Thoracic / Cardiac / General: Medical underpinning?
Rads: Day-to-Day—I would prefer having patient interaction and being able to both diagnose and treat patients.
IR: Day-to-Day—I would prefer to have more clinic time than a half day a week.
Neurosurg: I double I will live and breath neurosurg like most attendings do.
PM&R: Patient population—I would prefer interacting with and treating more acute patients and conditions.
Derm: Interested, I value the amount of autonomy, the amount of variety, and the amount of flexibility (ability to do just clinic—although I would never do cosmetic—or incorporate Mohs for a more surgical approach to dermatological issues). Unsure if I would find the medical underpinning compelling. I hear it's boring?
Plastics: Interested, again, I would never do cosmetic procedures because I would not find that fulfilling, but burn / other areas of plastics I may find compelling.
Ortho: Interested, I think trauma would allow for variety, but I think ortho is more “mechanical” than “molecular” so I am unsure of how compelling I will find the musculoskeletal system.
ENT: Interested, ENT has variety of cases and also strikes a good balance between clinic and surgeries for me, but I am unsure of how compelling I will find head and neck anatomy.
Radiation Onc: Interested, but, again, I think I lack the emotional stamina treating cancer patients requires. However, I do think I would find the medical underpinning / physics of the treatment to be compelling.
Anesthesia: Interested, I think the medical underpinning (the pharm and physio) aspect of it is compelling, but the actual day-to-day seems to be now more supervision and less actual doing (unless **** is hitting the fan). And less direct patient interaction than I would like.
TL;DR: I value autonomy, variety, working with my hands and mind, being an “expert” rather than a “generalist,” complex problem solving, seeing quick results, receiving immediate gratification, helping patients recover from / helping them through serious conditions, patient interaction, and working hard (while being fairly compensated for doing so).
Would anyone have any advice on (1) Based on the things I value, does one specialty over the others stand out in particular? Should I cross any off that are on my “considering” list? (2) How do learn if I actually do enjoy operating? From shadow experience I love being in the OR but I don’t know how I could learn for myself if I actually enjoy the act of operating.
Any suggestions or advice is most welcome! Tagging @Raryn because you offered great advice is another one of these threads, but I would appreciate anyone's advice a great deal!
I'm an incoming M1, so I know this seems like jumping ahead of myself, but when I was thinking through my interests, I realized I am interested in some hella competitive specialties and I think getting involved in research early / shadowing early to confirm or deny interest / meeting physicians in the field would prove to be invaluable. Thanks so much, everyone!
Geriatrics: Patient population
EM: Medical underpinning—I would prefer to have a narrow range of focus / knowledge base rather than a broad range.
Psych/Neuro: Patient population—I prefer having a definite knowledge of what is wrong with a patient, so I can determine exactly what it is I can perform / prescribe / treat to alleviate patient suffering.
Path: Patient population—I would prefer interacting with and treating live patients.
Heme/Onc: Patient population—I lack the emotional stamina.
ID: Medical underpinning—I would prefer a greater diversity of cases (I have read it is half treating HIV patients and half treating surgical infections).
OB/GYN: Medical underpinning—Hard pass on looking at female genitalia all day.
Uro: Medical underpinning—Hard pass on looking at male genitalia all day.
GI: Medical underpinning—Hard pass on performing colonoscopies.
Cardio: Patient population—Please someone correct me if I am wrong, but my preconceived notion of cardio is that much of patients’ problems could be alleviated by quitting smoking / eating a healthier diet / incorporating exercise.
Optho / Vascular / Thoracic / Cardiac / General: Medical underpinning?
Rads: Day-to-Day—I would prefer having patient interaction and being able to both diagnose and treat patients.
IR: Day-to-Day—I would prefer to have more clinic time than a half day a week.
Neurosurg: I double I will live and breath neurosurg like most attendings do.
PM&R: Patient population—I would prefer interacting with and treating more acute patients and conditions.
Derm: Interested, I value the amount of autonomy, the amount of variety, and the amount of flexibility (ability to do just clinic—although I would never do cosmetic—or incorporate Mohs for a more surgical approach to dermatological issues). Unsure if I would find the medical underpinning compelling. I hear it's boring?
Plastics: Interested, again, I would never do cosmetic procedures because I would not find that fulfilling, but burn / other areas of plastics I may find compelling.
Ortho: Interested, I think trauma would allow for variety, but I think ortho is more “mechanical” than “molecular” so I am unsure of how compelling I will find the musculoskeletal system.
ENT: Interested, ENT has variety of cases and also strikes a good balance between clinic and surgeries for me, but I am unsure of how compelling I will find head and neck anatomy.
Radiation Onc: Interested, but, again, I think I lack the emotional stamina treating cancer patients requires. However, I do think I would find the medical underpinning / physics of the treatment to be compelling.
Anesthesia: Interested, I think the medical underpinning (the pharm and physio) aspect of it is compelling, but the actual day-to-day seems to be now more supervision and less actual doing (unless **** is hitting the fan). And less direct patient interaction than I would like.
TL;DR: I value autonomy, variety, working with my hands and mind, being an “expert” rather than a “generalist,” complex problem solving, seeing quick results, receiving immediate gratification, helping patients recover from / helping them through serious conditions, patient interaction, and working hard (while being fairly compensated for doing so).
Would anyone have any advice on (1) Based on the things I value, does one specialty over the others stand out in particular? Should I cross any off that are on my “considering” list? (2) How do learn if I actually do enjoy operating? From shadow experience I love being in the OR but I don’t know how I could learn for myself if I actually enjoy the act of operating.
Any suggestions or advice is most welcome! Tagging @Raryn because you offered great advice is another one of these threads, but I would appreciate anyone's advice a great deal!
I'm an incoming M1, so I know this seems like jumping ahead of myself, but when I was thinking through my interests, I realized I am interested in some hella competitive specialties and I think getting involved in research early / shadowing early to confirm or deny interest / meeting physicians in the field would prove to be invaluable. Thanks so much, everyone!
