# If You Were Going to Be a Physician, What Type Would You Choose to Be? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 8, 2007, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252 "2007-12-08T04:01:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Crawlspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/21 "2007-12-08T16:46:53Z")
First year med-student here. It might be interesting to revisit this in 3 years when I’ve actually had to choose a specialty. I entered school with three specialties in mind: 1. Surgery (Cardio-Thoracic in particular) - I love working with my hands to the point that I don’t feel like I’ve done any work unless I’ve used them to physically alter something. 2. Emergency Medicine - you’re the Jack of all trades, have an endless diversity of symptoms and injuries to treat, and when your shift is over you go home (i.e. no on call nights). --------2b) Trauma Surgery - combine one and two. 3. Research - spend one or two mornings a week in the clinic, spend the rest of the time in the lab trying to figure out the cause/some treatments for disease X. I don’t really have any interest in being a typical physician, which confounds most of my classmates. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/22 "2007-12-08T16:50:14Z")
Hhmmmm…re-thinking, I’d go for Physician’s Assistant, instead. Wish they had a better name, though. ---
**Author:** ![kitemaker\_chuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a88e4f/32.png) [@kitemaker\_chuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitemaker_chuck)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/23 "2007-12-08T17:52:41Z")
My three choices would be: (1) Emergency Services Physician (2) Otorhinolaryngologist (3) General Practice Physician ---
**Author:** ![Tully\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@Tully\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tully_Mars)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/24 "2007-12-08T17:55:08Z")
If You Were Going to Be a Physician, What Type Would You Choose to Be? A retired one. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/25 "2007-12-08T18:08:12Z")
[QUOTE=Attack from the 3rd dimension] Psychiatrists have more patient contact than a normal person can stand. Listen to the person talk for an hour. Then the next one. rinse, repeat. That said, they rarely touch anybody. [/QUOTE] Exactly. By “physical contact” I meant touching. Talking is no big deal. But according to your description, radiology is now out. Um…there was a woman selling telepathic Reiki sessions on eBay, where she would think the manipulation at you from a distance. I could totally do that. No, I can’t. Stupid ethics. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/26 "2007-12-08T19:08:15Z")
[QUOTE=Tully Mars] If You Were Going to Be a Physician, What Type Would You Choose to Be? A retired one. [/QUOTE] Dammit, you beat me. 1. Neurosurgery. Neurology is absolutely fascinating, and sweet lord they make lots of money. 2. Slightly more ethically, gynecology. I know that in a lot of places it’s still very hard for women to find decent gynecologists. Of course, that will never happen, because I’m at best mediocre at biology, comically bad at chemistry, tend to get woozy at the very mention of blood or horrible diseases, and generally hate people as a rule. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/27 "2007-12-08T19:09:57Z")
How do you know when you’ve met a neurosurgeon? They’ll tell you! ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/28 "2007-12-08T19:18:22Z")
I’m actually working towards applying to med school this spring. (I should be taking a practice MCAT right now). If I get in, my choices are: 1. Emergency Medicine 2. Cardiology ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/29 "2007-12-08T19:30:19Z")
I’ve given this thought in the past and concluded I’d only be suited to being a Coroner. The thought of accidentally harming someone or killing them through some mistake terrifies me. You can’t accidentally hurt someone who is already dead. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/30 "2007-12-08T19:30:30Z")
I would be an orthopedic surgeon, physical therapist or a cancer researcher (but not oncologist). I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon when I was young (from about age 4 to about age 13), I like the power tools, the blood (hehe) and the mechanical part of it. I like the way joints work. Then I went to film school. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/31 "2007-12-08T19:44:56Z")
I thought orthopedics was very cool. They have all kinds of big power tools and drill holes in people’s knees, then stick big metal prosthesis thingys into the bone with cement. The best part is that while the cement is curing in the bone, you can use the extra curing cement that got squoze out of the bone and make li’l bunnies and stuff. I was really good at making lil bloodstained cement animals. 😃 Good times. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/32 "2007-12-08T20:27:15Z")
[QUOTE=NinjaChick] Of course, that will never happen, because I’m at best mediocre at biology, comically bad at chemistry, tend to get woozy at the very mention of blood or horrible diseases, and generally hate people as a rule. [/QUOTE] I had a doctor like that once. ---
**Author:** ![Crescend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Crescend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescend)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/33 "2007-12-08T21:43:48Z")
Radiology. MD/PhD student here, mid-way through his PhD and first-year medical courses. Radiology is probably closest to my core competencies; it’s strongly computational (my PhD is in biophysics and computational biology), and gets more so with every year. Sitting in a dark room staring at a computer screen doesn’t bother me, I do that anyway. I’m very strongly visual and associative, so I think that I’d be good at the visual data interpretation skills necessary in radiology. And, y’know, [this](http://www.accuray.com/TabContent.aspx?id=470). What sort of self-respecting mad doctor would I be if I didn’t like the idea of a **robot** unleashing the **Power of the Atom** upon the **brain**? ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/34 "2007-12-08T22:39:34Z")
Sorry, this isn’t a helpful reply, but it’s very probably the only time on these Boards that my favourite joke will be even remotely applicable to a question. Here it is. _My father was a gynaecologist. He wanted to be a psychiatrist, but he wasn’t tall enough._ Okay, I’ll go away now. ---
**Author:** ![Purgatory\_Creek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@Purgatory\_Creek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purgatory_Creek)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/35 "2007-12-09T00:22:20Z")
Definitely a psychiatrist, and if not, a neurosurgeon. I like brains. The one I’d not choose would be emergency medicine. Once in a while, they see interesting or truly desperate cases, but most of the time they’re either dealing with drug-seeking chronic pain patients, kids with runny noses or ear infections, or teenage girls with cramps. I’d die of boredom. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/36 "2007-12-09T00:50:59Z")
1. Anesthesiologist. 2. Pharmacist. I think I’d prefer studying drug interactions more than actually dealing with sick people. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/37 "2007-12-09T05:14:59Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] Oh, and for all you deves who are picking gyn for all the wrong reasons, be assured that there’s nothing like delivering routine gyn care to really dampen down a normal sex drive. [/QUOTE] Well, it wasn’t really ‘all you deves’ it was just me, and I’m chagrined to learn you found my opinion sullied the sacred name of Galen, or something. But, since opinions are like assholes, I hereby change my answer to: 1. Proctologist. 2. Vetinarian (Horse rectum specialist) SLK ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/38 "2007-12-09T05:35:33Z")
[QUOTE=Attack from the 3rd dimension] Psychiatrists have more patient contact than a normal person can stand. Listen to the person talk for an hour. Then the next one. rinse, repeat. That said, they rarely touch anybody. [/QUOTE] Nowadays, it’s almost impossible to get an hour-long visit with a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist gets maybe 15 minutes with a patient, just long enough to go over the history and write a prescription. Typically, if there’s listening to be done, someone far less expensive than a shrink will be doing it. In some fantasy world where I could pass basic chemistry and become a doctor, I think I’d like to an OB/Gyn (regardless of the malpractice issues). I have _so_ much good advice for young women! ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/39 "2007-12-09T08:32:43Z")
Back when I wanted to be a doctor, I was looking at either General Practice or Surgery, in no particular order. I still think I’d be good at either one, but I’m too old now. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252/40 "2007-12-09T08:35:21Z")
Doctor of Love. (That’s ob/gyn, but with more anal “probes” and less baby-delivering.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-going-to-be-a-physician-what-type-would-you-choose-to-be/429252.md?page=3)