What is your SO's Specialization??

[Stella]

Of course we are just starting med school this year, but SO and I keep debating different specialties based on what rumors we've heard (which isn't much.)

What is your SO's specialty and why did they choose it??

[alison]

The meds were aligned...
I think dh picked anesthesiology because he likes patient contact but does not like to do any paperwork/notetaking. He likes his equipment and he likes to line up his meds and needles in neat, orderly rows. He also comes home at at decent hour and rarely has to go in on weekends. He's unhappy doing anything else-- floor rotations (he was overworked), babies (he still has no idea what he was doing in the nicu as an anesthesiology intern), and ER (he was twiddling his thumbs and calling me all the time during his shifts to pass time because it was a really slow month) were the worst months.

[SuzySunshine]

DH is a neurosurgeon - you only pick this field if you can't be happy doing anything else, seriously. He loves it and I support him, we are lucky to be in the best program in the country both by reputation and how they treat their residents, it is very family friendly.

[KCwife]

Urology.
Tools and genitals. Enough said.

Joking.

DH loves surgery, but didn't want to be a GS. Loves the positive outcomes in urology. As a patient when something is wrong with those systems, and you get it fixed, you are a very happy camper. He likes people and urology offers the opportunity for medical management of problems as well as the surgical management. He can choose between large surgeries or an office based practice in the future. Urologists are often referred to as "happy" surgeons.

Pathologist, sub-specialty Transfusion Medicine

Started in General Surgery, but decided he'd like to have a life and a family, so switched at the end of intern year (which still counted, thank God). Did 4 more years in Pathology, and a 1 year fellow in Transfusion Medicine.

DH liked the family friendly hours, loves being with the other uber-nerds, but chose Transfusion Medicine b/c it's the only part of Path where you still deal with LIVING patients.

He likes his equipment and he likes to line up his meds and needles in neat, orderly rows.

Started in internal medicine, 2 yr fellowship in research, and now in last year (woohoo!!!!!) of dermatology residency. He prefers a specialty to primary care and likes the mix of patient interaction and procedures, usually makes people happy, and lifestyle.

[mommax3]

OB/Gyn. He considered Family Practice, too, but wanted to have the chance to do surgeries. He was sold on the specialty from his first night on call as an MS III. He likes it because the patients are mostly not sick, and he loves delivering babies. He is one of those fidgety-type people who are always moving, and he prefers to be busy if he is at work. He was encouraged during residency to do a fellowship, and he considered Maternal/Fetal medicine, but didn't want to owe the military more time, and didn't feel that the financial payoff was worth more years of training.

He really, really loves what he does. The hours can certainly suck, but so can going to a job you hate.

He now thinks he could have enjoyed Derm, but during med school, he thought he would get bored.

Sally

He now thinks he could have enjoyed Derm, but during med school, he thought he would get bored.

That is interesting, Sally. DH also loved ob/gyn and seriously considered it. I had some doubts about his decision not to do it. Had circumstances not worked out they way they did during his first year of IM, I think he would have switched to ob/gyn.

He also really liked ENT. One of the Mohs surgery fellows he worked with started out with plans to do ENT, decided to do ob/gyn, and then switched to derm. There must be some common thread there.

My dh also enjoyed OB/GYN, but was concerned about the market and the current lean towards choosing female OB/GYNs. He did consider derm path ... but again, liked the ONE field of path where you actually get to see the WHOLE patient sometimes. ::

[mommax3]

Hmmm, that's interesting. I guess both have patients who are mostly well, with the option of some surgery?

Very different lifestyles, though. Perhaps I should have pushed him to investigate derm further! At the time, I was excited about his choice, since I had interest/experience in that area by virtue of being female. I'm OVER IT now!

Sally

I'll bet you are over it! I thought I was crazy for pushing him to do ob (before 80 week). I guess it is good it didn't work out that way and he did derm. He would have been happier with ob than IM sub-specialties, I think, and that counts for a lot.

I agree that is the mix of generally well patients with some surgery thrown in. Obviously, DH only does outpatient procedures but I am amazed by some of the things he does in the office. He decided against pursing a fellowship in more derm surgery training and I think that will be ok. Circumstances don't really allow for that right now anyway. He also likes helping people with things that really bother them. He gets ribbed for being pimplepopper MD but a kid with bad acne that gets better is really appreciative.

DH is an ER physician in his 3rd year post-training. He really leaned towards doing ob/gyn, but decided he could do without the gyn part. It's probably a good thing since his least favorite EM rotation was gyn urgent care. He chose EM for most of the same reasons as Alison's husband. The lifestyle was a big factor for us. Most of the ER docs we know average 28-32 hours per week. DH also loves, loves, loves the variety of EM.

[DCJenn]

Child Neurologist-

Loves peds and did a 3 year peds residency but found himself dreading the cold/flu/broken toe visits (although loved the well-baby checkup).

The neurology aspect came in during the peds residency when he realized that the two parts of pediatrics that he enjoyed the most were adolescent medicine and neurology. Adolescent medicine doesn't really exist outside of the military and there's a national shortage of Child Neurologists. Add in the teenage stalker crushes and his never-ending fascination with seizure disorders (causes, effects, medications, you name he is interested in it)

Jenn

[lilponygirl]

DH has decided to go into pediatrics. He would really like to do a pedicatric cardiology fellowship after the 3 years of peds, but he says he'd be perfectly content doing just peds if he didn't get accepted to a fellowship. He said working with kids is so much more rewarding and less frustrating than working with adults. With kids, they are innocent and really want to get better...with adults, you are constantly telling them to lose weight, stop smoking, take their blood pressure medicine, and they never do. I told him, though, in peds he'll have to deal with stupid parents. I guess it's the lessor of two evils.

[migirl]

Urology.

DH loves surgery, but didn't want to be a GS. Loves the positive outcomes in urology. As a patient when something is wrong with those systems, and you get it fixed, you are a very happy camper. He likes people and urology offers the opportunity for medical management of problems as well as the surgical management. He can choose between large surgeries or an office based practice in the future. Urologists are often referred to as "happy" surgeons.

What she said.