Specialty requiring least memorizing

[TheMaestro]

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So I know there was actgread earlier in 2008 that asked this question but there were too many people scared to be politically incorrect or give honest advice so for some reason on an anonymous forum. So I ask again, what specialty does everyone think requires the least amount of memorization? This is not the same as which is easiest or which doctors are lazy but honestly which specialty does everyone think requires the least amount of memorizing and is most concerned with applying a relatively limited body of knowledge.

I know in medicine we all have to memorize a ton just to get through it but which one is the easiest transition to make from medical school - residency?

No family practice please because I don't really enjoy anything OB related.

Serious thoughtful posts only please I really need some help in choosing a specialty as I still have no clue! And I just want to do something I'm good at and can excel at which is directly related to my job satisfaction and I know I hate and am horrible at memorizing despite my success in Medical School.


Please also have no regards to competitiveness

 

[Arcan57]

So I know there was actgread earlier in 2008 that asked this question but there were too many people scared to be politically incorrect or give honest advice so for some reason on an anonymous forum. So I ask again, what specialty does everyone think requires the least amount of memorization? This is not the same as which is easiest or which doctors are lazy but honestly which specialty does everyone think requires the least amount of memorizing and is most concerned with applying a relatively limited body of knowledge.

I know in medicine we all have to memorize a ton just to get through it but which one is the easiest transition to make from medical school - residency?

No family practice please because I don't really enjoy anything OB related.

Serious thoughtful posts only please I really need some help in choosing a specialty as I still have no clue! And I just want to do something I'm good at and can excel at which is directly related to my job satisfaction and I know I hate and am horrible at memorizing despite my success in Medical School.


Please also have no regards to competitiveness

I'm not sure there's anyone that's going to be able to answer your question with any degree of accuracy. Most residents are only going to be exposed to one residency and so won't have any valid basis for comparison. The other aspect is what you mean by memorization. You have to know an incredibly wide variety of information in EM. For example, knowing how to recognize TTP and starting an FFP transfusion while awaiting plasmapharesis. But you don't have to know the role ADAMST13 plays in TTP's pathogenesis.
In derm you're only focusing on one organ system, but you have to know that organ system and its pathology to an intensely deep degree.

 

[psychphan]

So I know there was actgread earlier in 2008 that asked this question but there were too many people scared to be politically incorrect or give honest advice so for some reason on an anonymous forum. So I ask again, what specialty does everyone think requires the least amount of memorization? This is not the same as which is easiest or which doctors are lazy but honestly which specialty does everyone think requires the least amount of memorizing and is most concerned with applying a relatively limited body of knowledge.

I know in medicine we all have to memorize a ton just to get through it but which one is the easiest transition to make from medical school - residency?

No family practice please because I don't really enjoy anything OB related.

Serious thoughtful posts only please I really need some help in choosing a specialty as I still have no clue! And I just want to do something I'm good at and can excel at which is directly related to my job satisfaction and I know I hate and am horrible at memorizing despite my success in Medical School.


Please also have no regards to competitiveness

I personally think psych has a pretty low amount of memorization. Sure technically it would be a pain to memorize the exact DSM-IV criteria for every disease, but in practice memorizing every criteria probably isn't nearly as important as clinical judgement. That is one of the things that draws me to it. Medicine in general is effectively just one giant algorithm, and thus by nature its a memorization field (esp in the age of frivolous lawsuits). I think psychiatry does a comparatively good job of relying less on algorithms.

 

[Mattchiavelli]

I think it would be better to ask "what kind of material can I memorize better." I am very visual-spatial so I chose neurology because there is a lot of neuroimaging, localizing the lesion, etc. This was not as hard for me as some people.

The way you're presenting it might be some kind of primary care, just because you need to learn to examine and diagnose and refer to specialists as needed, serving as the central point in a patient's care. Not to dis PCPs like they are not as good, I just think it takes a different skill set than the critical care fellow for example.

My biochem professor put it like this- you don't have to have EVERYTHING memorized. Even if you work with kids that have metabolic disorders and you're working up a kid that has failure to thrive you don't have to spit out the entire krebs cycle at the bedside immediately or the kid dies. You need to know there is a krebs cycle, generally what it does, and what problems happen when it is jacked up and you can refresh as needed. The only things you need to have memorized cold are emergent things like ACLS, stroke, acute coronary syndrome, etc. Other stuff you can look up.

 

[lowbudget]

The way you're presenting it might be some kind of primary care, just because you need to learn to examine and diagnose and refer to specialists as needed, serving as the central point in a patient's care. Not to dis PCPs like they are not as good, I just think it takes a different skill set than the critical care fellow for example.

Not a diss, just a lack of understanding of what goes on in primary care.

Primary care is the last place you want to be if you can't memorize or have a lack of attention to specificity. The breadth of the material you need to know sometimes requires you to reduce a large, complicated concept or algorithm. Many specialtists refer/punt as much as primary care physicians.

General medicine is out (FM, EM, IM, Peds, OB/Gyn, Rads, Path, and Derm), and anything that requires intimate knowledge of anatomy is out also (neuro, PM&R, and any of the surgical specialties). For many of the subspecialties that focus only on 1 body part, you still need to get through a huge amount of memorization by way of general medicine or by way of USMLE test taking.

Anesthesia is a possibility because you're relying mainly on cardiopulmonary physiology, but ability to memorize formulas, calculate numbers in your head, react quickly, and execute a checklist for patient safety would require a great deal of memorization and preparation.

The only one I can think of is Psych. It's narrow, it relies on applying principles, and is impressionistic. The USMLE scores needed to get in are reasonable. Agree, that you've got the DSM criteria to memorize, but that's easy to do after you've done your clerkships and have seen the various psychopathologies in person. Your patients give you a point of reference.

 

[isoquin]

Industry consultant. You're welcome.

 

[smq123]

Moving to allopathic.