What are the surgical specialties?

[theaspiringsurgeon]

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I know this is a naive question but I am trying to narrow down my list of medical specialty interests. Now I am mostly sure I want to pursue a career in surgery however I am not sure of my surgical specialty. I know that most surgical physicians decide their specialty during medical school and/or residency but I'd like to know as early as I can. I know that I am interested in general surgery, (cardio)thoracic surgery, and pediatric surgery(neonatal or fetal surgery to be specific). In short my question is, what are the surgical specialties and their corresponding sub-specialties. Thank you and I greatly appreciate it!

 

[efle]

I know this is a naive question but I am trying to narrow down my list of medical specialty interests. Now I am mostly sure I want to pursue a career in surgery however I am not sure of my surgical specialty. I know that most surgical physicians decide their specialty during medical school and/or residency but I'd like to know as early as I can. I know that I am interested in general surgery, (cardio)thoracic surgery, and pediatric surgery(neonatal or fetal surgery to be specific). In short my question is, what are the surgical specialties and their corresponding sub-specialties. Thank you and I greatly appreciate it!

Control F for surgery

https://services.aamc.org/eras/erasstats/par/index.cfm

 

[URHere]

Probably way too early to be thinking about this, but here's what I can think of off the top of my head:

Fully surgery:
-General surgery (you can go on to get a fellowship in pediatric surgery, trauma surgery, etc after you've had general surgery training)
-Thoracic surgery
-Vascular surgery
-Neurosurgery
-Orthopedic surgery
-Plastic surgery

Not entirely surgery, but still see the inside of the OR:
-ENT
-Opthalmology
-OB/Gyn
-Urology

Not surgery, but plenty of procedures:
-Anesthesiology
-Interventional Radiology
-Cardiology

 

[WedgeDawg]

Residencies that are surgical or involve surgery:

General Surgery
Orthopedic Surgery
Otolaryngology (ENT)
Ophthalmology
Obstetrics and Gynecology (OBGYN)
Urology
Plastic Surgery
Thoracic Surgery
Vascular Surgery

Plastic Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, and Vascular Surgery can be either their own residency (called an "integrated residency") or can be a fellowship after General Surgery. As of right now, most Plastics positions are integrated with a few left as fellowships, Thoracic is in a transitional period, and most Vascular positions are fellowships with a few highly competitive integrated positions. All are moving away from the fellowship model into integrated models.

General Surgery has a number of fellowships after completing residency. These include but are not limited to:

Breast Surgery
Colorectal Surgery
Pediatric Surgery
Surgical Oncology
Transplant Surgery
Thoracic Surgery
Vascular Surgery
Plastic Surgery
Minimally Invasive Surgery

Most other surgical subspecialties have fellowships for more specialization too (usually including specialization in pediatrics, cancer, trauma, and then specialty-specific fellowships such as cerebrovascular for neurosurgery).

 

[md-2020]

I know this is a naive question but I am trying to narrow down my list of medical specialty interests. Now I am mostly sure I want to pursue a career in surgery however I am not sure of my surgical specialty. I know that most surgical physicians decide their specialty during medical school and/or residency but I'd like to know as early as I can. I know that I am interested in general surgery, (cardio)thoracic surgery, and pediatric surgery(neonatal or fetal surgery to be specific). In short my question is, what are the surgical specialties and their corresponding sub-specialties. Thank you and I greatly appreciate it!

Don't close yourself off to any specialties until the match.

 

[doc05]

I know this is a naive question but I am trying to narrow down my list of medical specialty interests. Now I am mostly sure I want to pursue a career in surgery however I am not sure of my surgical specialty. I know that most surgical physicians decide their specialty during medical school and/or residency but I'd like to know as early as I can. I know that I am interested in general surgery, (cardio)thoracic surgery, and pediatric surgery(neonatal or fetal surgery to be specific). In short my question is, what are the surgical specialties and their corresponding sub-specialties. Thank you and I greatly appreciate it!

it's too early for you to worry about this.

 

[mw18]

Residencies that are surgical or involve surgery:

General Surgery
Orthopedic Surgery
Otolaryngology (ENT)
Ophthalmology
Obstetrics and Gynecology (OBGYN)
Urology
Plastic Surgery
Thoracic Surgery
Vascular Surgery

Plastic Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, and Vascular Surgery can be either their own residency (called an "integrated residency") or can be a fellowship after General Surgery. As of right now, most Plastics positions are integrated with a few left as fellowships, Thoracic is in a transitional period, and most Vascular positions are fellowships with a few highly competitive integrated positions. All are moving away from the fellowship model into integrated models.

General Surgery has a number of fellowships after completing residency. These include but are not limited to:

Breast Surgery
Colorectal Surgery
Pediatric Surgery
Surgical Oncology
Transplant Surgery
Thoracic Surgery
Vascular Surgery
Plastic Surgery
Minimally Invasive Surgery

Most other surgical subspecialties have fellowships for more specialization too (usually including specialization in pediatrics, cancer, trauma, and then specialty-specific fellowships such as cerebrovascular for neurosurgery).

I think you accidentally left off neurosurgery (another integrated residency) from your first list. But, first class info as always.

 

[WedgeDawg]

I think you accidentally left off neurosurgery (another integrated residency) from your first list. But, first class info as always.

You're right. I can't believe I did that lol. Good catch.

 

[Stagg737]

Probably way too early to be thinking about this, but here's what I can think of off the top of my head:

Fully surgery:
-General surgery (you can go on to get a fellowship in pediatric surgery, trauma surgery, etc after you've had general surgery training)
-Thoracic surgery
-Vascular surgery
-Neurosurgery
-Orthopedic surgery
-Plastic surgery

Not entirely surgery, but still see the inside of the OR:
-ENT
-Opthalmology
-OB/Gyn
-Urology

Not surgery, but plenty of procedures:
-Anesthesiology
-Interventional Radiology
-Cardiology

I'd also add emergency med to the middle list. You won't be in the OR, but depending on the hospital it's pretty common to perform procedures to stabilize trauma patients.

 

[WedgeDawg]

I'd also add emergency med to the middle list. You won't be in the OR, but depending on the hospital it's pretty common to perform procedures to stabilize trauma patients.

I mean, if you're going to do that, you might as well add cardiology, GI, interventional rads, family med, and perhaps anesthesiology. I think there's a difference between procedural specialties (these) and specialties that spend time in the OR but also have a significant clinic/office-based component.

 

[Stagg737]

I mean, if you're going to do that, you might as well add cardiology, GI, interventional rads, family med, and perhaps anesthesiology. I think there's a difference between procedural specialties (these) and specialties that spend time in the OR but also have a significant clinic/office-based component.

The person I quoted included all of those except family med, soooooo....yea.....

 

[WedgeDawg]

The person I quoted included all of those except family med, soooooo....yea.....

Oops, you're absolutely right! I didn't see that.

I would still argue that EM belongs with them (in the bottom category) rather than the middle category, however.

 

[Stagg737]

Oops, you're absolutely right! I didn't see that.

I would still argue that EM belongs with them (in the bottom category) rather than the middle category, however.

Fair enough, I just put it in the middle because you can do a pretty significant amount of procedures if you're at a level 1 trauma center. You could also end up doing basically none at other places, so I think it could probably go either way.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Fair enough, I just put it in the middle because you can do a pretty significant amount of procedures if you're at a level 1 trauma center. You could also end up doing basically none at other places, so I think it could probably go either way.

Highly variable.

Level Is are required to have surgeons available 24/7 and management even initial stabilization may be done by them. In my programs, the EM physicians/residents only manage the low level traumas (Level 3) that come in. They aren't even in the trauma bay for level one, two, and pediatric traumas.