I would think a big down side to neurosurgery is that the majority of your patients die or go crazy or become vegetables anyway. I for one would find that a bummer.
I once saw a help-wanted ad for a proctologist needed at a hemorrhoid clinic to perform hemorrhoidectomies all day long. No diagnosing, just performing the procedure. Basically, assembly-line work. I couldn’t think of a more dreary job. At least it had regular hours.
Oncology is probably another depressing specialty.
They are not called proctologists - least not around these parts - they are gastroenterologists (or GI docs).
My favorite GI doctor once said to me, “it may be shit to you, but it’s bread and butter to me”.
mmm
I would like to think that too, but with student debts of $200,000+ and residencies of 90-140 hours per week (in some fields?) I think that that practicality has to override interest or challenge at some point.
I’m sure it’s like any other career choice: it’s a nuance weighing of factors that are important to you, personally. I’m sure that for most doctors, some part of that is what they find interesting–or else they’d all try to do the exact same thing.
I’ve read that that sort of debt burden is a reason for the shortage of general practitioners and internists, as new doctors choose more lucrative specialties.
Given that one of the typical job responsibilites for a CNA is assisting patients with basic hygiene (including, if needed, cleaning them after they go to the bathroom), if what you wrote wasn’t an intentional pun, it should have been. 
CNAs defintely wind up doing the dirty work, in places like nursing homes (my niece’s husband is a CNA).
Also, compared to the other fields being talked about in this thread (physicans, pharmacists, etc.) the educational requirements for becoming a CNA are far, far lower (as is the pay). My understanding is that CNAs aren’t required to have a degree, but must pass a certificaton course (which, it appears, based on this site, typically takes a few months to complete).
Back when I was in university and knew a few medical students, I was told that being a sports physician/orthopaedist was a popular track, and geriatrics was one of the least popular. Looking at the charts from DSeid’s link, it seems like the former is true, but geriatrics isn’t considered a specialty. Does that get lumped in under general physician?
It’s a misconception that the vast bulk of what neurosurgeons do is operate on the brain itself. For one thing, they also operate on the spinal cord, and some of them specialize in spine and wind up making a career out of operating only on the spine. Also, a lot of their bread-and-butter is shunt placement and evacuation of hematomas.
Seinfeld episodes aside, “proctology” is not the name of a medical specialty. It’s an unofficial term referring, not to gastroenterology, but really to colorectal surgery. The person doing hemorrhoidectomies is a colorectal surgeon. To become one, you first do a residency in general surgery, then do a fellowship in colorectal surgery.
Another thing that is not an “official” term (at least in the USA) is “general physician” or “general practitioner.” GP used to refer to a primary care doc back when docs would set up shop doing primary care after doing just a 1-year internship and that’s it. Today, a primary care doctor is someone who has done a residency in family medicine, internal medicine, or pediatrics, all of which are three-year residencies.
Geriatric medicine is a subpseciality. To specialize in geriatrics, you first do a residency in internal medicine or family medicine, then do a fellowship in geriatrics. The document DSeid linked discusses only specialties (residencies,) not subspecialties (fellowships.)
I once worked with a pharmacist who took a gap year before medical school - and she wanted to specialize in PEDIATRIC oncology! I said, “Well, I guess someone has to do that” and she replied, “It was my favorite clinical rotation. It’s the happiest place in the hospital.”
Okay, whatever…
I later heard that she ended up being an infectious disease specialist, which in the 1980s and 1990s was basically treating AIDS patients but has gone back to its original focus, which is dealing with something equally challenging - antibiotic-resistant infections.
A few years ago my father had an emergency urology situation (documented elsewhere on the board) that required a trip to the ER late at night on Thanksgiving. The urology resident on call was a guy by the name of Dr. Cox. No lie.
I’ve had to see a proctologist once or twice. The small talk was great.
“So, black rabbit, what do you do for a living?”
“I work with a bunch of assholes.”
If I were to go into medicine, I would aim for a job at a Rodeo Drive plastic surgery clinic. I would avoid pediatrics and geriatrics like the plague.
The way I see it, if you work in high-end, elective plastic surgery, you’re not going to have to tell a parent that their child is dying of cancer, or deal with children whose caretakers have abused/neglected them, or old people with a foot in the grave, or whatever.
But you’ll be dealing with rich people who are very pissed that their nose job/other job didn’t look the way they want.
Yes, it’s incredibly stressful to deal with people who have a VIP, “I’m the customer and the customer is always right” mentality. I believe there have even been some studies suggesting that VIPs get worse medical care because doctors give in to their demands instead of doing what’s actually best for them.
What is desirable depends on what you want, don’t it? And that varies lots by individuals.
So I’m in Peds and you could not pay me enough to be a dermatologist or an ENT or a plastic surgeon (all of which are very competitive). Blech. Double blech. Glad some want to but glad it aint me.
Most I think enter medicine assuming that they will be paid well enough and want to feel like they are doing something that is meaningful and satisfying.
Referring back to that cite I linked to - the residency that *most put as their number one choice *is Internal Medicine at over 9300 wanting it as their first choice, and second is Family Medicine at over 4000. Then Peds at over 3300 with a big drop off from there. Derm is very competitive but few want to become dermatologists … under 600 choosing it as the first choice. And in terms of applicants per position, the supply demand of the spots, IM and Derm are tied. Also in the low hundreds wanting ENT, Neurological surgery, and Plastics as their first choices.
By that “first choice” metric of “desired” the Primary Care residencies are leaps and bounds the most desired. They are what most go into medicine to do, what they want to do, what they feel would be meaningful and useful while, so far still but getting closer, paying well enough to manage their debt loads.
As for Peds Heme/Onc - the path is through pediatrics first and my friends who went into it are very skilled at compassionate care and it gives them great satisfaction. Which is not to say that they have not had periods of burnout. (We almost tempted one of my friends out of his specialty into general practice at one point but he stuck with it.) Peds cancer patients FWIW may have some tough courses but often do very well and go on to live pretty normal lives … not many brain cancers but many of the leukemias and lymphomas at least. Accomplishing that and helping families deal with difficult circumstances - for these people that is what it is all about, not good hours and no call.
I always wanted to be and orthopedic surgeon and from what I can see its one of the more desirable specialties for new docs. You get to help people out in a way that very much improves their lives, meet interesting people, generally athletes, and you don’t have to worry about patients dying or getting you sick.
I suspect that this is untrue and many patients would be elderly who need hip replacements. And some will never wake up after a surgery this major. (Happened to my grandmother)
Even for orthopods who get to eventually do all athletes all the time, they would still deal with 10-15 years of death before getting such a cushy practice. Also they still practice procedures on corpses periodically, for teaching and to practice new methods and so on
That makes sense. all my experience has been with people like the Steadman clinic and the docs that operated on me in college. It seems people specialize based on joints so I’m sure the knee and hip guys have very different practices.
Yeah but if you think most hip and knee surgeries are on athletes you’d be mistaken. It’s mostly heavier set older patients with osteoarthritis getting joint replacements. Big issue is that if too heavy, or if their diabetes is not well enough controlled, or if a smoker, they do *really *poorly (and should not be operated on).
ACL tear repairs are a young athlete procedure but there are many fewer of them than either hip or knee replacements.
What IS the best metric to decide what is the most desirable?