Ranking medical specialties

The soldiers may certainly be heroes because they put their

lives on the line. The docs are overrated partly because laymen think they have invented the goods. I know exactly what I am talking about because I am surrounded by docs and

physicists, and physics requires abstract thinking and skills

that medicine does not. But medicine requires other skills

depending on specialization.

fff wrote:

The soldiers may certainly be heroes because they put their

lives on the line. The docs are overrated partly because laymen think they have invented the goods. I know exactly what I am talking about because I am surrounded by docs and

physicists, and physics requires abstract thinking and skills

that medicine does not. But medicine requires other skills

depending on specialization.

I don't necessarily agree with the surgeon-carpenter analogy. But, it is true that those who think outside of the box will be the ones that are seen as heros hundreds of years from now.

The one's that simply follow the crowd will never accomplish anything substantial:

epimerase-2 wrote:

I don't necessarily agree with the surgeon-carpenter analogy. But, it is true that those who think outside of the box will be the ones that are seen as heros hundreds of years from now.

And, yes, I do believe they'll be seen as delicious sandwiches.

epimerase-2 wrote:

epimerase-2 wrote:

I don't necessarily agree with the surgeon-carpenter analogy. But, it is true that those who think outside of the box will be the ones that are seen as heros hundreds of years from now.

And, yes, I do believe they'll be seen as delicious sandwiches.

It's "gyro".

fff wrote:

The soldiers may certainly be heroes because they put their

lives on the line. The docs are overrated partly because laymen think they have invented the goods. I know exactly what I am talking about because I am surrounded by docs and

physicists, and physics requires abstract thinking and skills

that medicine does not. But medicine requires other skills

depending on specialization.

I completely disagree. Devoting your life to saving the lives of others is heroic by almost any definition. Secondly, the majority of physicists spend their entire lives exploring things that will never help a single person in a direct way or for many in even an indirect way.

Thirdly, I spent summer researching with MDs. Some of the most brilliant people on the planet. To say that they cant think abstractly is ridiculous. Complete nonsense.

As a lay person, clueless about the medical profession, I'm most impressed by "otolaryngology," because I have no idea what it is and therefore I conclude that it is something very special and arcane and worthy of high esteem. Go into otolaryngology, future doc.

sounds like a fancy ENT (ear, nose, throat specialist)

Vas-t'y frotte wrote:

As a lay person, clueless about the medical profession, I'm most impressed by "otolaryngology," because I have no idea what it is and therefore I conclude that it is something very special and arcane and worthy of high esteem. Go into otolaryngology, future doc.

Nah, I'm sticking with Gas.

Otolaryngology is indeed ENT.

Most non-medical people have only the vaguest idea of what the differences are between the different specialties, so the question is like asking whether the average person assigns more prestige to 800/1500m guys or 5k/10k guys. To most people, they're all just runners and okay maybe they sort of do different things, but who cares, really?

I mean, most people probably think that the Nobel Prize in Medicine goes to people who are really really good at treating patients in hospitals. (I don't mean to sound snobbish - it doesn't matter to most people, so they understandably don't bother with it.)

Plus I think most people put more emphasis on the institution. The guy who empties the trash at a Harvard hospital probably gets more prestige (from the average person) than the head guy at a low-budget no-name clinic.

Having said that, I think people still assign more prestige to "surgeons" (whatever the type, but especially neurosurgeons) than to "non-surgeons."

If you give people a choice between having dinner with an accomplished physician in any specialty versus someone who was on a reality TV show once, I'm thinking 90% of America goes with the reality tv person. So the significance of what most people consider "prestigious" is, I think, pretty limited and

This is probably gonna sound weird but I need help for a school project. You are studying to be an anesthesiologist so you must have medical knowledge( I think). Like I said I am doing a project and I'm having trouble finding a good reliable answer to the easiest to the hardest surgical specialties. The project asks to choose a topic and arrange it according to complexity. So with the topic I chose one of my columns (going vertically down) would be about let's say general surgery. Bellow it, I would put 5 general surgeries the "easiest" to perform to the "hardest". Then, next to general I would put a more complex specialty like cardiac surgery and do the same thing. I don't know how to rank the specialties from easiest to hardest. I am trying to take things step by step so first is the specialties I'm worrying about then the actual surgeries/procedures. If you could (only if you can) help me out. I can "rank" the specialties by how difficult they are to actually achieve them or by lifestyle. Basically anything. I only need 6 but honestly anything could help. Thank you so much!

You forgot one Proctologists are sorely needed.

weird to bump a 7 year old thread. The thread starter is probably married with kids and actually working by now. Maybe you should ask on student doctor .com or some such

As a total layman, I don't see why the hours of an anesthesiologist would be better than a surgeons. Wouldn't they be called in for emergencies and occupied with long procedures?

From a semi-lay person (I've worked in various hospital settings as a social worker, and interacted with most specialties listed) I would say the following have the biggest egos (which I translate into "prestige")

1. Neuro Surgeons

2. Thoracic Surgeons

3. Neurologist

4. Ortho surgery

5. Intensivists

6. ENTs

w/a special mention to the often unsung heroes of anesthesiology

The least respected physicians seem to be (in no particular order):

GPs/Internal Medicine/Family Medicine

Physiatrists

Psychiatrists (bummer)

Podiatrists

And anyone with a DO following their name.

These hierarchies are real, and they are really messing up American medicine, and we could learn a thing or two from our European counterparts, who do not have these rankings.

I would LOVE to be a PM&R doctor focused on interventional orthopedics. I'm too old to go to medical school now, but I've actually thought of making a 5-year plan to become an independent LPN and offering cheap PRP and stem cell treatments

Not a doctor but work with many in a wide variety of specialties and respect almost all. Relative prestige is a dumb concept and only important to those with some sort of psychological defect.

income varies wildly by medical specialty as does the annual cost of malpractice insurance and the amount of time required after medical school before you actually start earning money. Picking a medical specialty based on prestige is not a good idea. I do know that surgeons who operate on things like brains and hearts do well financially, at least the good ones and I would imagine right about now being an infectious disease doctor would have a bright future. One of my colleagues son was an infectious disease physician who was just starting out after years and years of training and he asked his father whether NYC was expensive to live. His father asked him in return what the NYC job offer was paying and it was $700K/year. You can probably afford an apartment on that

You work in the US bro? I doubt it, most neurologists are looked down on here.

Would add in that list hotshot interventionalists such as Cards, GI, Pulm-CCM, Interventional Radiologists/neuro, and other surgical specialties.

Basically everything nonprocedural and not making money is looked down upon. All peds specialties too, they're like the little brother of the equivalent adult specialty.

For my man who said ego doesn't matter, more power and much respect to you. I like that cash money, hot nurses, and flexing in my FIGs bro. But that's just me because Dad went to the corner store when I was 6 and I never saw him again. Check out my IG.

Sorry bro, no ID doc is making 700k anywhere. They max out at 200-250k. Dude's lying to impress his dad, I know cuz I used to do that too even though that jacka** abandoned us.