Specialties

Come Listen to Me on the Lost in PreMed Podcast

Today, Will from the Lost in PreMed Podcast (lostinpremed.org) released an episode of his podcast that featured an interview with ME!

Will asked a ton of great questions about what it’s like to be a flight surgeon in the United States Air Force, what I thought about the HPSP (health professions scholarship program) and we talked about this website a little.

Important Details About (Almost) Every Medical Specialty

At the time of this writing, there are 26 medical and surgical specialities to choose from when applying for residency in the Match. These include: Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine/Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Neurology, Child Neurology, Psychiatry, Dermatology, Radiology, Radiation Oncology, Nuclear Medicine, Medical Genetics, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Pathology, General Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Otolaryngology (ENT), Ophthalmology, Plastic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Urology, Anesthesiology, and Preventative Medicine.

Many of these fields contain subspecialties which can be pursued during fellowship training after residency. This means that there truly is something for everyone!

Choosing Your Specialty: 8 Things to Think About

Selecting which field in medicine you are going to pursue can be a difficult decision for some medical students. Some students already know what specialty they want to pursue even before they start orientation. Others start to get anxious as the end of 3rd year draws near, desperately trying to figure out which field suits them best. Many use the process of elimination as they move from one clinical rotation to the next, crossing off fields of medicine they don’t like and making a list of those they do. Only 5 or 6 fields of medicine are represented in the required 3rd year clinical rotations, so exploring other specialties is often necessary. The following will hopefully help you in making your decision.

Take every opportunity to explore!

All medical schools require students to pass the following required 3rd year clinical rotations: Internal medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, and surgery. Many also require neurology, family medicine, emergency medicine and radiology. Therefore, if you are interested in ophthalmology, ENT, or orthopedics, you may be asking, when am I going to find out if I really want to pursue this specialty? Some schools provide elective time during the 3rd year, while many do not. As such, there is the summer between the 1st and 2nd years of medical school as well as some time early in 4th year.