Which specialties in medicine allow you to be creative?

[medicine200000]

I really enjoy designing things and I would like to be in a creative specialty. I was wondering which specialties in medicine allow for creativity?

[NeuroD]

15 minutes ago, medicine2019 said:

I really enjoy designing things and I would like to be in a creative specialty. I was wondering which specialties in medicine allow for creativity?

Tough one...much of medicine is repetition for mastery. Maybe psych? Or something surgical where you can design unique approaches, or use creativity for anatomical variation? Tough question indeed!

[Lactic Folly]

Define "things".. Essentially all areas could allow you to design new programs, processes (think creativity in quality improvement), protocols (problem solving to address needs with limited resources), communication materials for education, etc.

[rmorelan]

yeah a lot of that sounds like what you would be doing outside of the core job in most cases - I mean medicine being evidence based as much as possible is going out of its way to reduce coming up with novel solutions etc. 

That doesn't mean that creativity doesn't or cannot play a role. Just that your admin, research, teaching and so on are more likely to be the creative side of the profession. Some branches require creative thought because each patient's problem is unique though - and that requires coming up with a unique solution. Super high end surgery can be like that and a few areas of other fields. 

[Edict]

Medicine is almost the opposite of creativity haha, a lot of innovation happens outside medicine, so one option is to go for a career that lets you make your own schedule like family medicine. 

If by design you mean you have a knack for spatial orientation, mechanical stuff and working with your hands as opposed to designing aesthetic things, consider a procedural specialty. Although, keep in mind that procedural specialties are long hours and training and tend to have cultures that stifle creativity. 

[jlkhhylyiluh6]

psych. Its literally the wild wild west out there in terms of choosing meds/therapy at this point lmao- look at any guidelines, all based on little/poor evidence, and then theres like 5+ "first line" treatments that are all equal to each other. You can find 5 different psychiatrists treating the exact same patient 5 different ways.

[blacktowel]

Palliative! Very limited evidence/new specialty, so for example approach to symptom control in advanced disease can require complex interventions (meds, procedures, psychosocial approaches, etc) that are unique to each patient.

[freewheeler]

There are some potential ideas in this thread, but I think the most honest answer is that the day-to-day clinical practice of medicine does not involve much creativity. It's really pattern recognition and regurgitation of the most recent clinical guidelines.

[Aetherus]

Plastic surgery has very creative aspects with regards to reconstructions and using various flaps.