What specialization is real for female IMG in USA?

[stalvl]

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Hey Folks!
My girlfriend is planning on moving into USA. She got her medical degree in Russia. What would be the best thing for her to specialize in USA?

I would like to hear opinions about:
a) chances to match
b) how long will residency take,
c) how easy it wll be to find a job afterwards.
d) Do your chances to get a jop depend upon school name where you got residency?

She is currently choosing between

1. Plastic surgery
2. Emergency medicine
3. General surgery
4. Pediatrics
5. Family doctor

 

[Miklos]

Hey Folks!
My girlfriend is planning on moving into USA. She got her medical degree in Russia. What would be the best thing for her to specialize in USA?

I would like to hear opinions about:
a) chances to match
b) how long will residency take,
c) how easy it wll be to find a job afterwards.
d) Do your chances to get a jop depend upon school name where you got residency?

She is currently choosing between

1. Plastic surgery
2. Emergency medicine
3. General surgery
4. Pediatrics
5. Family doctor

Matching, IMO, depends on the field. See http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/tables/table6_04.pdf for match statistics.

Plastics is extremely competitive.
Surgery (categorical spot) and EM are highly competitive.
Peds is less competitive.
FM is relatively speaking, not competitive.

 

[Skip Intro]

Hey Folks!
My girlfriend is planning on moving into USA. She got her medical degree in Russia. What would be the best thing for her to specialize in USA?

I would like to hear opinions about:
a) chances to match
b) how long will residency take,
c) how easy it wll be to find a job afterwards.
d) Do your chances to get a jop depend upon school name where you got residency?

She is currently choosing between

1. Plastic surgery
2. Emergency medicine
3. General surgery
4. Pediatrics
5. Family doctor

She should strongly consider OB/Gyn. It's not outrageously competitive, you get the best aspects of both surgery and medicine, and the pay is extremely good. Additionally, it will be fairly easy to carve out a niche practice speaking Russian, especially in a large city (such as New York, Chicago, or LA) where there are many Russian speaking patients. The only downside are the lawsuits. But, that's what you have insurance for, right?

-Skip

 

[Winged Scapula]

Hey Folks!
My girlfriend is planning on moving into USA. She got her medical degree in Russia. What would be the best thing for her to specialize in USA?

I would like to hear opinions about:
a) chances to match
b) how long will residency take,
c) how easy it wll be to find a job afterwards.
d) Do your chances to get a jop depend upon school name where you got residency?

She is currently choosing between

1. Plastic surgery
2. Emergency medicine
3. General surgery
4. Pediatrics
5. Family doctor

Well...those are some rather disparate fields. What is she interested in?

I would agree with Miklos in his ranking of the competitiveness of each of these fields. Plastics has become one of the most competitive of the surgical specialties and each year only about 1 FMG has matched into the Independent Track. The residency is either a) 5-6 years right out of medical school or b) 2-3 years upon completion of AT LEAST 3 years of a general surgery residency (but most likely she would only be competitive by completing the full 5+ years of general surgery for a total of 7-8+ [not including research years in the lab]).

Emergency Medicine is 4 years after medical school. While somewhat on the wane since the heady days of the tv show "ER", this field is still pretty popular.

General Surgery is 5+ years after medical school (some programs require 1-2 years in a research lab, totaling 6-7 years).

Pediatrics is a 3 year residency after medical school and is generally not thought to be terribly competitive, and is rather popular with females.

Finally, Family Practice is also 3 years after medical school and like Peds, not considered very competitive.

Bear in mind that some specialties will be more competitive than others at certain schools (ie, Pediatrics at say Harvard might be more competitive than General Surgery somewhere else).

For more information on these fields, have your GF check out the following link: http://www.ama-assn.org/vapp/freida/spcindx/0,1238,TR,00.html

this is from the FREIDA database and gives specialty info.

Pediatrics

 

[Skip Intro]

Emergency Medicine is 4 years after medical school. While somewhat on the wane since the heady days of the tv show "ER", this field is still pretty popular.

Hey Kim! Don't seem to have heard from you in a while.

Just wanted to point out that there are both 3-year and 4-year categorical EM residencies, with the majority being 3-year.

Otherwise, great post (as usual)!

-Skip

 

[Winged Scapula]

Hey Kim! Don't seem to have heard from you in a while.

Just wanted to point out that there are both 3-year and 4-year categorical EM residencies, with the majority being 3-year.

Otherwise, great post (as usual)!

-Skip

I was under the impression that almost all were 4 years (requiring a Prelim Medicine year). Even looked it up on FREIDA; guess I misunderstood. Thanks for clarifying/correcting me, Skip. 😀

 

[erichaj]

Plastic surgery= good luck
Emergency medicine= good luck but better chance than plastic surgery
Pediatrics= Yes, but hard life style.
Family Practice= yes, more options after you are done.
P&MR=yes
Dermatology= good luck
IM= yes.
IM subspecialty like GI or Cardiology= good luck
Radiology=good luck
Anesthesiology=possible

STRONGLY CONSIDER OB/GYN IF YOU WANT TO HAVE HIGH MALPRACTICE RATES, HIGH CHANCE OF BEING SUED, DON'T LIKE TO SLEEP MUCH.

I hope that helps.

EH.

 

[doc05]

establishing a niche practice is possible and if she's thinking of that, IM, peds, and FP are all good choices. I would caution everyone to stay away from obgyn.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Pediatrics= Yes, but hard life style.

Huh? Pediatricians are generally considered to have some of the better lifestyles although call nights can be painful, what with parents calling at all hours.