The best decisions come after some experiential learning, which is usually obtained in the student experiences during clinical rotations.
Many medical students find that they love each clinical rotation, which makes a decision about specialty choice quite a challenge. If you find yourself in that position, it might be useful for you to make some notes about each rotation that will impact YOUR decision.
Some things you might want to consider including in your description of the ideal medical career:
- Long-term or short-term patient relationships
- Family-friendly schedule
- Surgery vs. no surgery
- Amount of time/responsibility in the following venues:
- Hospital
- Out-patient
- Procedures
- Patient contact
- Post-graduate training
- Typical call schedule
- Employment opportunities
- Financial considerations
Osteopathic medicine has a proud tradition of educating primary care physicians, but that does not mean that following your 'generalist' educational background, you cannot venture into the realm of the specialists. Virtually any specialty is open to an osteopathic physician.
Your task is to determine what specialty choice is right for you. Hopefully, in working through some of the following pages and links, you will get a better idea of what suits you.
The ERAS web resource provides a list of osteopathic and allopathic residencies and fellowships.