combine surgery and medicine?

[sai7608]

Hi guys, i was just wondering if there is any speciality or any possibilty at all, at combing medicine and surgery as a career either as specialist or a general Dr?

Im not even in medschool yet, but i was reading something and thought it would be interesting to know.

So far i have hear that OBN/GYN is the only speciality to kind of mix both together?!

I am pretty intrested in Oncology, as i have quiet an in-depth knowledge of cancer due to my final year project which i am doing (while not on this forum). But i also like the idea of a physician, but im not quiet sure if a physician sub-specialises or not?

Thanx guys!

[James]

What about Dermatology? They are trained as physicians and much of their work relies on sound general medical knowledge. They also operate and can subspecialise as dermatological surgeons doing major excisions and reconstructive surgery. They also do a fair amount of pathology (most are trained in dermatopathology), can specialise in vulval work, paediatrics and infectious diseases. See patients of every age from neonates with genetic skin conditions up to the very elderly and the occasional pregnant woman with a pregnancy related rash. As my old prof said - it is the last truely general speciality left in medicine.

(I am of course totally biased).

[sai7608]

sounds like dermatologists get up to a lot of stuff.

Oncologists might get upto some surgey right? As they know the boundaries and stuff, so they should be good at making excissions to safe margins.

what about physicians, do they get involved in any surgery at all? Can they sub-specialise into some form of surgical speciality?

Is surgery and medicine really worlds apart?
Also is surgey or medicine easier, considering the implication on your family/social life and academia? The nurses i worked with seem to think medicine was harder then surgery, and im guessing nurses should be good judges of this!

[James]

Oncologists don't operate. If you look from a surgical perspective the specialties with the most 'medicine' in them are ENT, Neurosurgery and Cardiothoracics.

[Zedd]

Is emergency medicine still a mix?

[belis]

Is emergency medicine still a mix?

Depends how you luck at it. Generally you are not going to operate on people down in AE. However emergency medicine involves a wide range of invasive procedures and many patients will present with surgical conditions .

Your best bet to combine surgery and medicine is probably obs and gynea. If you are interested in oncology then further specialisations in cervical/ovarian cancer may be your kind of thing. Failing that you may consider practicing in 3rd world country. When you are the only doctor in hospital you have to become a jack of all trades.

[Spencer Wells]

Ophthalmology I'd also throw in is a good way of combining the two.

[rjm]

Dermatology
Ophthalmology
ED has a bit of everything. Not so much "surgery" but certainly practical skills
GP with an interest in minor surgery

Not oncology.

Maybe you should wait until you have actually done some clinical work before you think about it too much!

[alex MD]

(Sorry to hijack the thread guys), but rjm, did you enjoy Soton? I'm applying this year to BM6 and BM5 and your one of the only users on here that I've seen who've graduated from Soton!

Alex

[yazoo]

What is the old saying?

Surgeons do everything and know nothing. Medics know everything and do nothing. Psychiatrists know nothing and do nothing. Pathologists know everything and do everything, but it's all too late.

There is a little bit of truth in most of these old sayings, at least at a very broad level (i.e. many individual exceptions, and clearly pathologists are vital to sureongs and medics, psych maybe less so..., but again, depends on the individual, and they will be vital to their own patients...). Medics tend to enjoy cerebral activities more, surgeons tend to get satisfaction out of cutting and curing. Most gasmen are self-acknowledeged control freaks!

The problem is that most medical students, at least when starting out, will consider themselves to be thinkers. However, it's a relative scale. Surgeons must think, medics must do. On balance, it's about figuring out what you actually enjoy vs what you think you enjoy. (e.g. brilliant student placement experience may delude you into thinking that specialty is for you.)