What's your specialty preference?

[OB1🤙]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey guys-

I'm bored and never posted a poll before, so I figured it might be interesting to see what specialties SDNers were thinking of at this point.

Myself, I'm looking to go into emergency medicine, although I hear a lot of ex-EMTs think they want to do EM and then end up switching to something else. We'll see...

What about you? 😀

 

[xaelia]

Go Pediatrics!

Well, I'm still undecided, but what woman can resist a 6'4" man as a doctor who implies an affinity for kids? That's what I'll be telling people! 😉

 

[Gleevec]

Does Pediatric Oncology/Hematology go under Pediatrics or Internal Medicine?

 

[xaelia]

Originally posted by Gleevec
Does Pediatric Oncology/Hematology go under Pediatrics or Internal Medicine?

Looks like you have to pass your Peds boards before starting a Pediatric Heme/Onc program.

 

[OB1🤙]

Please excuse the "surgerical" typo... 🙄

I must have been watching a Bush speech when I wrote that. 😀

 

[sacrament]

Originally posted by Street Philosopher
holy cow lots of gunners 🙂

You know how in undergrad, freshman year, about 50% of everybody you meet is pre-med, but over the years a lot of them decide to do something else? It's kind of the same way in medical school, except substitute "pre-surgery" for "pre-med."

 

[pyra]

you forgot psychiatry

 

[Biodude]

Yeah, that's totally funny how everybody seems to be pre-med as freshmen...then there's less and less as undergrad progresses.

I guess people should be more informed about surgery then.

As for my specialty choice, currently it's Family Practice as #1, though it changes occassionally. In fact, I'm starting to develop somewhat of an interest in Pediatric Emergency Medicine 😀 I'm still tryin' to dig up more info on that particular sub-specialty though. Hopefully I'll be able to talk to some Peds EM docs...

 

[Jalby]

At my school we had 20% of the school wanting to do Derm when they came in (unofficial survey) Then they took the first test..........

 

[Joe Joe on da Radio]

plastics baby!

 

[tBw]

Originally posted by Hawaiian Bruin
Please excuse the "surgerical" typo...

you shouldn't have pointed it out - surgical types would have been too busy cutting to notice 😉

for some reason I've never been attracted to surgery. Give me something cerebral like neurology (pun intended) or infectious diseases anyday...

of course that may all go out the window 😉

 

[uniqueseraph]

I'm interested in a few, so I don't solidly know yet. At this stage though, I am just praying for an acceptance to medical school first when I do apply.😀

 

[pathstudent]

by the way ENT and Opth are two "other surgical subspecialties"

 

[carrigallen]

Originally posted by Jalby
At my school we had 20% of the school wanting to do Derm when they came in (unofficial survey) Then they took the first test..........

so true. And, i'm guessing most people at usc try to stay in cali, no?

 

[UCLAstudent]

Pediatrics or Ob/Gyn for me! 🙂

 

[steve007]

may be a dumb question, but what's the difference exactly between internal medicine and family practice? don't they often handle similar types of cases?

 

[DrMom]

Originally posted by pathstudent
by the way ENT and Opth are two "other surgical subspecialties"

But you don't start out with a general surgery residency & then do a fellowship in ENT or Optho.

 

[DrMom]

Originally posted by Hawaiian Bruin
Please excuse the "surgerical" typo... 🙄

I must have been watching a Bush speech when I wrote that. 😀

Consider it fixed. 🙂

 

[UCLAMAN]

what about rads, pathology, and anesthesiology? why aren't they up on the poll?

 

[quideam]

I'm one of those EMTs who's gung-ho about doing EM!!! Not just regular EM, but military EM..... at least for now.....🙂

I know this is going to sound silly to some, but how can anyone possibly give up EM after being an EMT? I mean come on guys, other than surgery, is there really anything nearly as exciting or diverse?!? I think not.....😉

- Quid

 

[JM.]

I voted Gen. Surgery, but who knows...

 

[OB1🤙]

Sorry guys- I would have added more fields but the max I could list was ten items.

Dr. Mom-is there any way to add psych, rads, anes, & patho?

 

[pathdr2b]

Pathology all the way but I guess people that want to work on dead folks get no love around here!

 

[MSV MD 2B]

here is my lists of specialties I'm looking into:
1. path- cytopath. surgical path
2. diagnostic radiology ( i doubt i can get aoa or above average onthe usmle though)
3. repro endo
4. peds allergy
5. endo

 

[Thundrstorm]

Originally posted by the boy wonder

for some reason I've never been attracted to surgery. Give me something cerebral like neurology (pun intended) or infectious diseases anyday...

Same here, surgery doesn't really interest me, but I'm really interested in infectious diseases. Anyway, I still have plenty of time to decide...

 

[soonerpillow]

Right now I'm all about GAS. I just read House of God, and I'm looking into all the NPCs.😀

 

[Brewster]

Originally posted by steve007
may be a dumb question, but what's the difference exactly between internal medicine and family practice? don't they often handle similar types of cases?

Family practice training is more outpatient based. FP doctors also handle a lot of outpatient adults, outpatient peds, outpatient ob/gyn. Some also deliver babies. Many are trained in office procedures (mole removal, sigmoidoscopy, etc). They may also care for their patients when they go to the hospital.

Internal medicing training focuses more on inpatient care. Internal medicine residents do spend time in outpatient clinics, but more of their training is focused on the hospital wards and ICUs than FP residents. They also work only with adults. However, at the end of their training, many internal medicine residents will do exclusively outpatient work. However, the opportunities for subspecialization are much greater out of internal medicine than out of family practice.

This is an interesting thread, but be fully prepared to change you minds before the big decision.

 

[TexasGuy41]

How come psychiatry isn't listed in the poll? Its only one of the most important aspects of medicine. Anyone who has shadowed a doctor in any outpatient specialty knows how much psych comes up.

 

[steve007]

Originally posted by Brewster
Family practice training is more outpatient based. FP doctors also handle a lot of outpatient adults, outpatient peds, outpatient ob/gyn. Some also deliver babies. Many are trained in office procedures (mole removal, sigmoidoscopy, etc). They may also care for their patients when they go to the hospital.

Internal medicing training focuses more on inpatient care. Internal medicine residents do spend time in outpatient clinics, but more of their training is focused on the hospital wards and ICUs than FP residents. They also work only with adults. However, at the end of their training, many internal medicine residents will do exclusively outpatient work. However, the opportunities for subspecialization are much greater out of internal medicine than out of family practice.

This is an interesting thread, but be fully prepared to change you minds before the big decision.

thanks for explaining.

 

[e-spin]

I voted for IM...but was wondering if anyone knows what's out there as far as immunology....but NOT allergy!! 😉

I am really interested in autoimmune diseases and cancer......

Dunno. just thought I'd put that out there.

Thanks!!
Spin😀

 

[Biodude]

Originally posted by steve007
may be a dumb question, but what's the difference exactly between internal medicine and family practice? don't they often handle similar types of cases?

From what I've heard, Internal Medicine docs are better-trained for in-patient cases than Family Practice docs. FAMILY Practice (note the caps) is intended for people who wanna be trained in being able to take care of a wide variety of people (like those rural docs who take just about every medically-related problem)...Family Practice docs do get training in Internal Medicine, but they also get training in Pediatrics, Obstetrics and (a little bit) of Psychiatry.

Internal Medicine allows for more choices in specialization than Family Practice, though. FP's only have Sports med and Geriatrics if I'm not mistaken, while IM people get to do fellowships in Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Pulmonology, Infectious Disease, Hematology/Oncology, etc.

Anymore clarification needed? 😀

 

[VienneseWaltz]

Originally posted by steve007
may be a dumb question, but what's the difference exactly between internal medicine and family practice? don't they often handle similar types of cases?

Brewster and Biodude gave good answers, but I just want to add what an MS4 told me: Some people go into FP b/c they want to take care of both adults and kids, whereas some people go into general IM b/c they just want to deal with adults.

 

[VienneseWaltz]

Originally posted by e-spin
I voted for IM...but was wondering if anyone knows what's out there as far as immunology....but NOT allergy!! 😉

I am really interested in autoimmune diseases and cancer......

Dunno. just thought I'd put that out there.

Thanks!!
Spin😀

In practice, you can specialize in whatever you want (just handle immunology), but as far as getting certified for this specialty, I think the two are bundled (they're closely related).

 

[OB1🤙]

Originally posted by TexasGuy41
How come psychiatry isn't listed in the poll? Its only one of the most important aspects of medicine. Anyone who has shadowed a doctor in any outpatient specialty knows how much psych comes up.

Sorry once again- I realized this ommission right after I posted the poll, but couldn't change it once it was posted.

This was especially dumb of me because there's a huge psych convention here in SF this week, and psychiatrists are everywhere!

Oops.

 

[relatively prime]

Originally posted by pyra
you forgot psychiatry

...and radiology

 

[tBw]

Originally posted by relatively prime
...and radiology

... and PM&R

 

[tBw]

Originally posted by relatively prime
...and radiology

...and pathology 😉

 

[tBw]

Originally posted by relatively prime
...and radiology

...and neurology

 

[tBw]

but its still an interesting poll 😉

 

[sd77]

Is anyone out there interested in academic medicine? What is the typical process?

I would like to do family practice and specialize futher in sports medicine, while teaching and researching as well. any thoughts on the normal process?

and no, i am not doing md/phd, don't want it, want to keep my focus on the patients and do the academic stuff secondarily.

 

[Brewster]

Originally posted by sd77
Is anyone out there interested in academic medicine? What is the typical process?

I would like to do family practice and specialize futher in sports medicine, while teaching and researching as well. any thoughts on the normal process?

and no, i am not doing md/phd, don't want it, want to keep my focus on the patients and do the academic stuff secondarily.

The first step, of course, is to go to med school. If/when you decide what specialty you want (be it FP or something else), then look around at residency programs. Some programs will be more focussed on training private practitioners, some will have more a bent toward acedemia. If you are interested in academics, consider the latter group more strongly. Somewhere in the middle of residency, you apply for fellowship positions (eg, sports med) and do that fellowship following the completion of your residency training. Then you apply for jobs. If you want to be in academics, apply for academic positions.

 

[gotgirth]

Guess I would be in an "other" category...but who knows what will happen in 4 years.

Has anyone heard the statistic that roughly 80% of med students change their mind about what to specialize in while in med school?...not sure where I heard that or if it's true.

 

[DOCTORSAIB]

Ophthalmology....the greatest field in medicine. Seriously though, some of you dont know what you're missing out on. Im applying to med school this year and ive been working in ophtho for about a year now....it is extremely interesting and the eye is absolutely amazing. Ophthalmology rocks!

DOCTORSAIB

 

[bjolly]

I'm leaning toward rheumatology, but also interested in PM&R and general IM.

 

[IrishOarsman]

okay, this might be incredibly novice thing to say, but I think that it's excellent / inspiring that people are drawn to so many different parts of the body. although i guess it's not hard to see why: i was following urologists around last week and after a bit of initial heebie jeebies of being around lots of private bits being stabbed, it was very interesting. lots of cancer related cases, many procedures that can be done immediately while doing an exploratory 'scoping...

okay, end dorky rant.

 

[Biodude]

Originally posted by gotgirth

Has anyone heard the statistic that roughly 80% of med students change their mind about what to specialize in while in med school?...not sure where I heard that or if it's true.

I don't know about the statistic, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was true. I know that a lot of medical students decide to change into a different specialty after seeing what life is like for the average doc in the primary specialty chosen. For example, someone may want to become a neurosurgeon, but once he/she goes to med school and sees the rough life a neurosurgeon has, he/she will re-evaluate his/her goals to some other specialty, like Otolaryngology for more time off from work.

In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if I end up doing a residency in Pathology after medical school even though I have no interest in the field NOW, as a pre-med. So, dude, it's great that you have a specialty in mind, but you may or may not change it later...you can't really see what the future holds, so why worry about it?

 

[carrigallen]

Originally posted by bjolly
I'm leaning toward rheumatology, but also interested in PM&R and general IM.

better start choosing ur cardboard box now - remember, location is everything.. try get one adjacent to a steam grate.
(Actually i'm interested those fields too. 😉 )

 

[Jalby]

Originally posted by carrigallen
so true. And, i'm guessing most people at usc try to stay in cali, no?

90% of people do end up staying in Cali.

 

[Lactic Folly]

When they ask what specialty you're interested in, do you think adcoms might view it negatively if you mention something with less patient contact, like radiology?

 

[DOCTORSAIB]

Solid 8 year bump.

Where's all the OG's from back in the day. How many people stuck to their word?

I know I did! 😀