Stuck between a few specialties

[Dr. Pineal Gland]

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Third Year DO, Passed Step 1/Level 1. Have 3 poster presentations and was pretty involved. Stuck between a few specialties (in order of desire):

1. Emergency Medicine
Pros:
- Variety of cases keeps the work interesting and challenging.
- High level of job flexibility due to shift work.
- Opportunity to make a significant impact quickly in life-threatening situations.

**Cons:**
- Irregular hours, including nights, weekends, and holidays.
- High-stress environment with the need for rapid decision-making.
- Concerns of mid-level creep/market saturation

2. General Surgery

-Like the OR and operating

**Cons:**
- Long and demanding hours, including being on-call.
- High-stress environment, especially during complex surgeries.
- Lengthy training and potential for extended education if pursuing a subspecialty.
- Monotony of the same cases over long periods of time

3. Anesthesiology

Pros:
- Like the procedures, pharmacology
- Good work-life balance compared to some other specialties.
Cons:
- Under the command of the surgeon at times
- I don't like being stuck in a long surgery if the patient is adequately managed and I have nothing to do (happens a lot where I rotate).


Internal Medicine

Pros:
- Broad scope of practice, allowing for specialization in areas like cardiology, endocrinology, etc.
-I like rounding on patients and schedule

Cons:
- Potential for high patient load and administrative work.
-Pay does not feel adequate for time commitment
- I don't like the lack of procedures

I really want procedures and adequate compensation for my time, but no so much time where I don't have a life.

 

[BoneWizard]

I'd figure out if you want to cut or not and go from there. You can do a specialty that's procedure heavy but it's never going to be anything like a surgical specialty.

 

[DOswag]

Psychiatry is where it's at 😎

For real though agree with BoneWizard, figure out if you're a cutter (not the same we see in psychiatry though) then then the ER or anesthesia route. Anesthesia probably has less risk of burnout than ER, can do critical care stuff too, pain management, OR etc. Long surgeries figure out something fun to occupy your time with on your phone. IM is fine if you want to specialize but it's a long road of training for sure. Any of them can provide good $$. Straight IM most likely to be the least though.

 

[DocWinter]

Anesthesia oversees CRNA, pops in for intubation and is a comforting face to the patient. I don't actually see them behind the curtain for the most part.

 

[SurgeDO]

Just wanted to pop in and say a couple things about surgery now I’m out of residency:

I too was once concerned about the “monotony” of doing the same cases over a long period of time when I was a medical student. However, over the last several years of residency/fellowship, some of the greatest satisfaction in my career has come from perfecting those bread and butter cases. I look forward to doing my routine surgeries because I can do them with my eyes closed, and it is highly satisfying being able to do them very smoothly and very well.