<p>this thread is for all to post what kind of doctor they plan on becoming. For me, I am not sure, and being female, i have heard that my options are limited because residency will take until I am around 31, which will leave little time for family. Also, for those who know, please tell how you came to realize what you wanted to become without much exposure...also post whether you are male or female.</p>
<p>First, realize that even once you get to medical school, many people change their minds multiple times. Personally,(as a male medical student) I've gone from Orthopedics -> Pediatric Ortho-> General Peds -> General Surgery -> Med/peds residency to do Adolescent medicine -> Pediatric General Surgery -> Peds Cardiology -> Infectious Diseases -> Peds Pulmonary -> Peds Cardiology -> Peds Endocrinology ->Peds Cardio -> Neonatology -> to right at this moment thinking Peds Cardio or Peds GI.</p>
<p>That progression has all happened since my first day of medical school. At my white coat ceremony I said ortho, and now all I can get it down to is some type of pediatric subspecialty. I like the idea of cardiology, but GI has some interest too, and it really comes down to getting some more exposure during third and fourth year. However since I'm pretty sure about the fellowship for peds, the real decision for that is the second year of residency...so even as a current medical student I'm a ways off.</p>
<p>The thing I would tell you is to keep your options open. Keep an open mind, and first worry about the type of medicine you really want to do, then about how to make a family work. You'll be a lot happier in the long run. Also realize that residency lasts from 3-7 years (so 29-33 if you only take 4 years to graduate college and get into medical school on your first application - doesn't always happen). Further, the time commitment required varies a lot depending on the specialty. Being general surgery resident is a lot different than being a physical medicine and rehabilitation resident. Even program to program the amount of call and weekly scheduling can be very different. If you're still in HS though, you've got a long ways to go before any of this even becomes an issue.</p>
<p>thanks for the reply...i know I have a lot of time, but I was thinking about it recently because I have to write a career paper for school. What do you think about woman and orthopedics. I was thinking there would not be too much physical strength required if I do a hand specialty...</p>
<p>Surgery or Private physican practice</p>
<p>Peds or Emergency or Emergency Peds</p>
<p>Plenty of women enter ortho and practice successfully. Some ortho procedures such as reducing a dislocated hip prosthesis require a great deal of strength. Most ortho procedures, however, require only normal strength and an exceptional ability to visualize structures in three dimensions.</p>
<p>As BRM has noted, most medical students and some residents change their minds about specialty selection at least once.</p>
<p>i really don't think orthopedics will be difficult for me...however, i am just thinking whether hospitals don't like to give residency positions to woman for ortho...i will probably specialize in hand surgery, which won't require a lot of strength...</p>
<p>If you have the grades, the USMLE scores and the interview for ortho, then they'll take you. What you've described as hospitals not "like(ing) to give residency positions to [a] woman for ortho..." would be discrimination and is illegal.</p>
<p>exactly...lately people have just been discouraging me from ortho...and women are sometimes turned away because residency will end at age 31, which leaves little time for husband and children...what do you all think about that argument?</p>
<p>I think they're justified in being concerned, but is that ultimately really a choice for the hospital to make, or for the woman to make?</p>
<p>And family-oriented men have to face the same choice, don't they?</p>
<p>See the 2005 NEJM essay "Women in medicine"</p>
<p>
[quote]
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) reported that for the first time in history, women made up the majority of medical school applicants, and that the number of black women applicants exceeded 1,900 ? a 10 percent increase over the previous year. And in 2002, 40 percent of all residents were women, a statistic that clearly supports the prediction that by 2010, approximately 40 percent of U.S. physicians will be women.</p>
<p>In certain specialties, especially primary care, women have made large strides. Women comprised only 20 percent of pediatricians in 1970, for example, but accounted for 49 percent in 2002. In obstetrics and gynecology, the growth of women in the field is even more dramatic: from 5 percent in 1970 to more than 70 percent three decades later.</p>
<p>Despite how the overall numbers picture is changing, women in specialties such as orthopedics are still relative rarities ? in 2001, less than 9 percent of orthopedic surgery residents were female. Yet times are changing, if slowly, even in this traditionally male-dominated specialty. Sybil Biermann, M.D., associate professor of orthopedics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who has conducted research on orthopedics work force trends, is buoyed by the changes she has witnessed in the field since she completed her residency in the early 1990s. She is also well aware that much work is needed to increase recruitment in orthopedics and other surgical specialties.</p>
<p>?In my field there is tremendous opportunity for women, and there really are no obstacles in terms of gender bias when you are at the level of being considered for a residency program,? says Dr. Biermann. ?The issue is that we?re not recruiting women into the field early enough.?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>BTW, a hand fellowship is usually preceded by a general surgery, plastic surgery or ortho residency.
<a href="http://www.assh.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Basics%5B/url%5D">http://www.assh.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Basics</a></p>
<p>I'm a 29 year-old 3rd year woman resident in orthopedics. I will be 32 when I finish fellowship. It's a great career. I love my work. Certainly a surgical residency has greater sacrifices than a 3 year medical residency, but many folks end up doing 3 year fellowships to become specialized in cardiology, endocrinology, etc. In terms of the time commitment, orthopedics is no greater than other surgical fields, and probably less compared to neurosurgery or general surgery. Only go into medicine if there is nothing else that you would rather do. Only go into surgery if there is no other field that would make you as happy. It's a long but interesting and rewarding road.
I have two women colleagues who have had children during residency, and it's certainly possible with a supportive spouse or extended family. Many other women have families during the first years of practice or during fellowship.<br>
Orthopedics is a physical occupation. You stand for many hours a day and occasionally have to push or pull in a controlled fashion to reduce a fracture or relocate a joint. Mostly this can be accomplished with average strength using good leverage techniques. More women do end up going into hand surgery or pediatrics, foot and ankle, or sports medicine, perhaps because they are less physical than the other subspecialties. I know women going into general orthopedics, spine and joint replacement, too. I believe there are still some residencies that are not friendly towards women, but during my interview experience I found being a woman more an asset than a detriment.
Best of luck!</p>
<p>If i go into medicine it will be anesthesiology.</p>
<p>I want to be a cardiothoracic surgeon.</p>
<p>When i go into medicine, i want to be either an anesthesiologist, or the surgeon who does the surgies related to cancer, though i dont know the proper name for that doctor.</p>
<p>Please don't limit your options because of your chromosomes! I'm a 48 year old physician, on CC as mom of my 18-year old D who is considering colleges to which she has been admitted. Doing the math, this means I had D at age 30, which was during my internal medicine subspecialty. I have worked full time in academic medicine ever since, except four months off for child #2, and am here to say that much has changed. We have women in our institution in almost every subspecialty, surgical or otherwise. When I had my kids in my 30's, I was 10 years younger than any colleague in starting a family. Now it is commonplace to have kids in one's 30s, regardless of subspecialty. We now have male colleagues who want paternity leave. Finally...I don't think it is ok to ask candidates about issues of planning one's future family. Personally, I would not recommend bringing up that issue, either. Best of luck! don't give up!</p>