What specialty are you most interested in so far?

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Cornfed101 said:
I am not surprised by ENT, Ophtho, or urology. I am a bit surprised by vascular surgery. That's like the anti-lifestyle specialty.
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DNAJB6 said:
+1

The surgeries tend to be intense and multi-hour.
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Nice thing about vascular is there's always the option to go cosmetic only (varicose vein) for the sweet lifestyle

Tbh I actually think the reason for the matriculants -> graduates increase in vascular is that its a little-known specialty to most people prior to med school. Also might be factor that they are the 5th highest paid specialty according to doximity - higher even than traditionally competitive fields like derm (6th) and plastics (8th).

Lifestyle aside, vascular procedures are way cool - lots of high tech endovascular stuff plus big open surgeries. The patient population is very tough though.
 
OxenFoxen said:
Endocrine or GI (Midwest preferably)
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Exact same. Right now I'm leaning Endo, but the procedures and Admittedly 100k higher pay on average of gi is appealing....

Both deal with my favorite aspects of physiology and I like the patient interaction aspects as well.
 
Psych, then equally or a close second plastics, but I know psych will be much more realistic. Have a preference for cosmetic but saying that out loud apparently makes you sound greedy and awful so I always just mention the psych lol. I have several family members in cosm plastics so I guess being around it I grew to love it, and as an art minor the artistry of that stuff is really interesting
 
TypeADissection said:
False. Easy surgeries. Compliant patients. Lifestyle only gets better as more Americans become healthier, lose weight and control their sugar-betes.
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Very few emergencies as well, right @TypeADissection? Things rarely go clot in the night. It is amazing how much healthier Americans get every year.
 
Kardio said:
Cardiac electrophysiology.

If any of you get the chance to shadow an EP doc, take it. EP studies and ablations are absolutely incredible.
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My husband will be doing a fellowship for this next year. Every time he talks about it my eyes glaze over. Maybe it's super cool in the cath lab.

I don't see myself enjoying anything super procedural, esp anything that involves the same motions over and over again (ahem all sorts of surgery). I'm heavily leaning towards heme/onc. but am also ready to be surprised.
 
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SeamlessForFood said:
My husband will be doing a fellowship for this next year. Every time he talks about it my eyes glaze over. Maybe it's super cool in the cath lab.

I don't see myself enjoying anything super procedural, esp anything that involves the same motions over and over again (ahem all sorts of surgery). I'm heavily leaning towards heme/onc. but am also ready to be surprised.
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Your husband is OG AF
 
Cornfed101 said:
Vascular surgery?
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Oh you know it baby.

memdoctobe said:
Very few emergencies as well, right @TypeADissection? Things rarely go clot in the night. It is amazing how much healthier Americans get every year.
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True dat homey. Easiest surgical subspecialty by far.

Mr. Dr. Prof. Patrick said:
How is life during residency and as an attending, though?
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More seriously, it all depends on where you are and what you sign up for. This topic is covered more extensively in other threads.

Having said all that, I know it's easy to **** on vascular surgery as a specialty, but seriously, take a look if you're into cutting edge tech, sophisticated procedures, robust data driven practice (some of which we are still learning about) and enjoy a certain measure of intraoperative creativity and improvisation. Go to the local and annual meetings and you'll see that many of my generation just love this field and love talking about it and love doing it. Nobody forced us to go into this field, we chose it because we just love dealing with some of the most complex pathology on some of the sickest patients in the hospital. If this kind of crazy appeals to you, then take a look at his awesome and progressive field. Cheers.
 
DNAJB6 said:
+1

The surgeries tend to be intense and multi-hour.
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At the hospital where I went to med school it was one of the specialties where the lifestyle was worse for the attendings than for the residents/fellows.
lem0nworld said:
Psych, then equally or a close second plastics, but I know psych will be much more realistic. Have a preference for cosmetic.
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Cosmetic psych is really booming. The best part is that convincing people they're beautiful is less risky than doing surgery.
 
FlowRate said:
At the hospital where I went to med school it was one of the specialties where the lifestyle was worse for the attendings than for the residents/fellows.

Cosmetic psych is really booming. The best part is that convincing people they're beautiful is less risky than doing surgery.
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What is cosmetic psych? Is it treating pts with body dysmorphic disorder with psychotherapy?
 
FlowRate said:
Cosmetic psych is really booming. The best part is that convincing people they're beautiful is less risky than doing surgery.
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That sounds really interesting, I'm surprised it's booming. There definitely are people with body dysmorphia, but I can't imagine it being that common and usually they wouldn't seek help.

You really don't need to hate your appearance or require psychological treatment for wanting plastic surgery lol. It's just weirdly taboo in the US. You can spend a lifetime hating your nose while trying to convince yourself otherwise, or just get it done how you want it and be happy with it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
lem0nworld said:
That sounds really interesting, I'm surprised it's booming. There definitely are people with body dysmorphia, but I can't imagine it being that common and usually they wouldn't seek help.

You really don't need to hate your appearance or require psychological treatment for wanting plastic surgery lol. It's just weirdly taboo in the US. You can spend a lifetime hating your nose while trying to convince yourself otherwise, or just get it done how you want it and be happy with it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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to be fair, most people don’t have an extra $6000 laying around for a nose job
 
Cornfed101 said:
to be fair, most people don’t have an extra $6000 laying around for a nose job
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Oh absolutely, I should've added "assuming they're even considering it because they can afford it." I just mean in the context of talking people out of it for the sake of the mental aspect
 
lem0nworld said:
That sounds really interesting, I'm surprised it's booming. There definitely are people with body dysmorphia, but I can't imagine it being that common and usually they wouldn't seek help.

You really don't need to hate your appearance or require psychological treatment for wanting plastic surgery lol. It's just weirdly taboo in the US. You can spend a lifetime hating your nose while trying to convince yourself otherwise, or just get it done how you want it and be happy with it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Cornfed101 said:
to be fair, most people don’t have an extra $6000 laying around for a nose job
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I’d assume most people who see a psychiatrist for psychotherapy have $$$ also. Most psychiatrists charge 300-400$ for a session. After 5 months that will amount to $6000. If you’re an employed psychiatrist you will do little psychotherapy unless you take a pay cut. That work is outsourced to psychologists. Some psychologists also probably do cosmetic psych . Some of them also charge 200-400 per session.
 
BorderlineQueen said:
I’d assume most people who see a psychiatrist for psychotherapy have $$$ also. Most psychiatrists charge 300-400$ for a session. After 5 months that will amount to $6000. If you’re an employed psychiatrist you will do little psychotherapy unless you take a pay cut. That work is outsourced to psychologists. Some psychologists also probably do cosmetic psych . Some of them also charge 200-400 per session.
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Yes, but I would assume that is covered by insurance? I have worked for a dozen or so different employers and my health insurance has always covered mental health services.
 
lem0nworld said:
All of a sudden I'm psych or bust
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haha, well you aren't seeing patients out of your basement... don't forget about overhead costs. Medicare pays $800 for cataract surgery and that surgery can be done in 10 min. Most of the ophthalmologists I work with can do 15 in a day. That doesn't mean that ophthalmologists make $12k a day.
 
Cornfed101 said:
Yes, but I would assume that is covered by insurance? I have worked for a dozen or so different employers and my health insurance has always covered mental health services.
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Yeah they’ll cover psychiatry or psychologists but some are cash pay only and insurance won’t cover that .
 
lem0nworld said:
All of a sudden I'm psych or bust
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It’s only possible to have this set up in a major city and you’ll mostly be seeing the worried well . If you saturate the market you won’t have any patients. Only so many high paying psych patients .
 
BorderlineQueen said:
What is cosmetic psych? Is it treating pts with body dysmorphic disorder with psychotherapy?
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lem0nworld said:
That sounds really interesting, I'm surprised it's booming. There definitely are people with body dysmorphia, but I can't imagine it being that common and usually they wouldn't seek help.

You really don't need to hate your appearance or require psychological treatment for wanting plastic surgery lol. It's just weirdly taboo in the US. You can spend a lifetime hating your nose while trying to convince yourself otherwise, or just get it done how you want it and be happy with it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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It's a joke I made up just now. I thought the "convincing people they're beautiful" would be a giveaway... Treating body dysmorphia or eating disorders is just "psychiatry."
 
Cornfed101 said:
haha, well you aren't seeing patients out of your basement... don't forget about overhead costs. Medicare pays $800 for cataract surgery and that surgery can be done in 10 min. Most of the ophthalmologists I work with can do 15 in a day. That doesn't mean that ophthalmologists make $12k a day.
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BorderlineQueen said:
It’s only possible to have this set up in a major city and you’ll mostly be seeing the worried well . If you saturate the market you won’t have any patients. Only so many high paying psych patients .
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Haha I know I know. The number just sounds heavy on paper 😉
 
lem0nworld said:
Haha I know I know. The number just sounds heavy on paper 😉
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This is exactly why people outside of medicine are constantly attacking doctors for soaring hospital costs. It's so stupid (not calling you stupid). Just because you are billed $400 for your appointment doesn't mean the physician pockets all of that. Unless you are running your cash only psych business out of your basement. In that case, :greedy::greedy:
 
FlowRate said:
It's a joke I made up just now. I thought the "convincing people they're beautiful" would be a giveaway... Treating body dysmorphia or eating disorders is just "psychiatry."
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Yeah but psychiatrists may specialize in those. Doesn't sound too far-fetched
 
lem0nworld said:
Yeah but psychiatrists may specialize in those. Doesn't sound too far-fetched
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Eating disorders are some of the most deadly mental illnesses. It's rewarding to treat them but people with ED's are a very difficult patient population to work with. I have a friend who is a dietitian that wants to specialize in eating disorders, and hearing her stories about the work is interesting, but very sad. It would take a lot out of you to just work with this group.
 
tessellations said:
Eating disorders are some of the most deadly mental illnesses. It's rewarding to treat them but people with ED's are a very difficult patient population to work with. I have a friend who is a dietitian that wants to specialize in eating disorders, and hearing her stories about the work is interesting, but very sad. It would take a lot out of you to just work with this group.
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Definitely. My friend from HS's mom went from EDs to forensic psych and hasn't looked back. Stories from the latter are really something else too
 
Endocrinology (such a complex system and restoring homeostasis is my clinical interest in regards to how I wish to treat patients). Physician friends say it’s just a lot of type II diabetic management, which I’m sure is accurate.

Oncology (mostly for the terminal cases and I sort of want to blow up the system as I think the paradigm for treating and “curing” cancer is totally wrong).

Psychiatry (lends itself to private practice)

Neurology (fascinated with our brain, but not so much the spine or PNS)

Peds (much better patient population than adults)

Paramedic currently, and not much interest in emergency medicine (go figure). Could be a pretty good gig I guess in the right setting.
 
OxenFoxen said:
Make sure you mention this in interviews, those stupid oncologists will thank you
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I wouldn’t dare. You’ve gotta play the game to blow up the system from within. And for the record, no one that made it through med school and rad/onc residency is stupid.
 
WedgeDawg said:
So just neurosurgery
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definitely trauma neurosurgery at least - sooooo many elderly people with falls -.-
the demographics are more varied for other neurosurg subspecialties (tumor & functional are also fairly high in the old people dept)

source: work in a neurosurgery dept. zero desire to go into neurosurg lol
 
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