"Competitive" specialties like dermatology & o

[Guest DuncanChick]

After browsing around this forum, I feel very unversed on the Canadian healthcare system in general, and the various specialties/subsets within the medical community.

 

I don't know any doctors very well and haven't had much personal experience with doctors or the Canadian healthcare system (I guess I should be thankful for this last one). There are no doctors in my family and none of our family friends are doctors. Basically the only doctor I know is my family doctor, and even then, I don't know her well at all since I see her one time MAX each year (for about 5 or 10 minutes).

 

However, I am sure that I will become more knowledgeable after being a med student. In the meantime....

 

From this board, I've learnt that dermatology and opthalmology are two of the so-called "competitive" specialties. Why are these, in particular, so competitive? What makes a specialty competitive? Is it cyclical?

 

I'm just curious at this point. I haven't thought about any specialties so far since my main goal is to just survive first year! Thanks...

[Guest UTMed07]

I've learnt that dermatology and opthalmology are two of the so-called "competitive" specialties. Why are these, in particular, so competitive? What makes a specialty competitive? Is it cyclical?

If you look at the match results you'll understand... why they are called "competitive."

 

I think it boils down to four things... lifestyle, prestige, the number of spots (or lack thereof) & the green.

[Guest scrubbed]

Hey DuncanChick, it seems as if you and I will be classmates next year (0T9).

 

To expand a bit upon UTMed07's pithy comments:

 

Check out the 2005 match report:

 

www.carms.ca/jsp/main.jsp...rt/re_2005

 

The table "Discipline Choices of Canadian Applicants 2005 Match First Iteration" will tell you how many applicants applied to how many positions for each speciality.

 

Lifestyle considerations ncludes such things like number of hours spent on call vs. working in shifts, renumeration (which is higher in more procedural-based specialties),

 

For ophthamology, there is little call, as often there are not ophthamological emergencies; and they are renumerated well. A commonly cited example is cataract surgery which the ophthamologist bills $406.50, for a half hour procedure!

 

Dermatology does not have much call, as there often are not dermatological emergencies.

 

Emergency medicine work is often shifts, so though hectic, you can do your work and go home.

 

In addition, some specialities often have potential for private side ventures such as laser-eye surgery or Botox injections, for example, that can generate extra revenue.

 

If you wish to know more about specialities, some good books, though American-based, are The Ultimate Guide To Choosing a Medical Specialty by Brian Freeman www.amazon.com/exec/obido...ce&s=books

 

and

 

Iserson's Getting into a Residency: A Guide for Medical Studentsvby Kenneth V. Iserson

www.amazon.com/exec/obido...8&v=glance

 

I believe that U of T puts out a book as well.

 

See you in September!

[Guest physiology]

Hello,

 

One thing to think about is, good lifestyle/good pay = BORING. (Usually)

 

Personally, I want to love to go to work everyday and see interesting, new, and complicated cases.

 

If you go into ophthalmology, especially now with the aging population, it's cataracts, cataracts, cataracts, cataracts, detached retina, and then cataracts (x100).

[Guest studentz]

Last year 45 people applied for 4 ophthalmology spots at Toronto. That's competitive. I think the program just went up to 5 but it's still brutal competition.

 

I don't know how much I agree with physiology, there's a lot of things you can do in ophthalmology. My grandparents' ophthalmologist was the eye doc for the Leafs and Raptors and had a pretty varied practice (he doesn't operate any more). There are a fair number of subspecialty fellowships in that field as well. The coming years will also see an increase in the number of diabetics which is relevant to the field as well.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Last year 45 people applied for 4 ophthalmology spots at Toronto. That's competitive. I think the program just went up to 5 but it's still brutal competition.

 

I apologize as this is going to be a bit of a ramble. . .

 

As long as you're not that picky (ie have to be in Toronto to watch the Leafs NOT win the Stanley cup yet again) the situation isn't quite that bad. Some of those 40-41 applicants who didn't match to U of T ophtho will match to an ophtho program somewhere else. It's the same as while 1700 people apply to UWO but only 133 get in, quite a few more of those 1700 will get in to med school somewhere else.

 

If you look at the CaRMS statistics as to how many people end up ranking ophtho #1 as a program against how many actually match to it, the ratio has been the last few years, 1.5:1 to 2:1. This year, 60% of the people ranking ophthalmology #1 actually matched to the specialty. . . but only 40% got their first pick for location.

 

The problem with THAT analysis is that it excludes some of the applicants to ophthalmology who didn't get an interview anywhere. Those people usually don't end up ranking ophtho #1, so don't count in the CaRMS stats, but That happens not infrequently.

 

I would take 2 things from the above ramble

 

1) Trying to figure out how 'competitive' a specialty is can actually be quite difficult as there are several sets of stats and numbers to use. Your "chance" of getting in to ophtho than 1.5 to 1, but probably less competitive than 45 to 5.

 

2) If you want a super competitive specialty, you need to be willing to go ANYWHERE.

 

You might even get stuck spending 5 years in Toronto, watching the Leafs disappoint their fans, yet again.

 

Many of the people I knew who went unmatched probably didn't match because they didn't rank "deep" enough. . . ie they only picked their top 4-5 locations they wanted to live in. Had they ranked less popular locations, there's a chance they would have had their choice of specialty.