Emergency Medicine

I was just wondering about the competition for entering the emergency medicine specialty, I know its a like a doctor being a 'jack of all trades' but i was wondering if anyone had any insights into it. To be honest i am no where near thinking about specialties but i was just curious.

Reply 1

Johnny C.

9

I've got a great book called, "So you want to be a brain surgeon?" It gives details of all the specialties, what they're like, how competitive, time-demanding etc....

For A&E it says:
Competitiveness: 2 out of 5 (By comparison cardiothoracic surgery is 5 out of 5)
It's highly demanding on your time especially the amount of unsocial hours you will be expected to do. However you will very rarely be on-call.

Apparently it has a historical reputation for being a specialty dominated by disinterested or failed surgeons. (Not sure how true that is)

Hope this helps

Reply 2

feluda_uk

OP

Johnny C.

Apparently it has a historical reputation for being a specialty dominated by disinterested or failed surgeons. (Not sure how true that is)

Hope this helps

aww thats harsh hahaha, i think i might get the book, cheers for the advice!

Reply 3

mlc409

1

It's weird because if I become a doctor (hopefully!!) I have no desire whatsoever to become a cardiothoracic surgeon but would quite like to work in A&E, shows everyone's different I suppose!)

Reply 4

Johnny C.

9

mlc409

It's weird because if I become a doctor (hopefully!!) I have no desire whatsoever to become a cardiothoracic surgeon but would quite like to work in A&E, shows everyone's different I suppose!)

Me too. At the moment, I feel like A&E is something I would really enjoy. Maybe it's because I did my work experience there or maybe it's becasue of TV/Hollywood glamourising it...

I think the reason cardiothoracic is so competitive is because there are very few training placements

Reply 5

j00ni

9

mlc409

It's weird because if I become a doctor (hopefully!!) I have no desire whatsoever to become a cardiothoracic surgeon but would quite like to work in A&E, shows everyone's different I suppose!)

Same here. But then cardiothoracics is a diminishing specialty, with all the advancements in minimally invasive techniques.

A&E attracts me because it is one of the few areas of the NHS that still works pretty well. Plus whilst I have no family or other major commitments the unsociable hours wouldn't be too much of a problem - dunno if I could do it for life though (which with MMC looks like a distinct probability once you have chosen a specialty)

Reply 6

feluda_uk

OP

its wierd with all this new mmc stuff, as usual my dad was having a rant about how he moved from ENT to becoming a GP and ho every1 else should be given the same oppurtunity as people change etc

Reply 7

randdom

20

I don't know about it being not competetive, loads of people in my year seem to want to go into emergency medicine.

Reply 8

j00ni

9

randdom

I don't know about it being not competetive, loads of people in my year seem to want to go into emergency medicine.

There is a lot of variability though, here there are relatively few people wanting to do emergency medicine. Though with the new application system it is irrelevant what your immedicate peers (ie med school year group) want to do as it is all nationalised, so I think the only real indication you have is what the trends have been in previous years.

Reply 9

graemematt

12

I'd hate to work in A&E. From my work experience, everything seems very very strenuous, which is an environment i'd rather not work in. Obviously being a doctor is strenuous, but I'd rather have time on my side...so maybe becoming a surgeon would be more up my alley, where in most cases i can take my time and concentrate on a matter at hand...

Correct me if im wrong!

Reply 10

Johnny C.

9

graemematt

I'd hate to work in A&E. From my work experience, everything seems very very strenuous, which is an environment i'd rather not work in. Obviously being a doctor is strenuous, but I'd rather have time on my side...so maybe becoming a surgeon would be more up my alley, where in most cases i can take my time and concentrate on a matter at hand...

Correct me if im wrong!

From my work experience, I got the exact opposite impression. The doctors and nurses seemed to take one patient at a time then deal with them at a very leisurely pace. There was no sense of urgency at all, which is strange becasue I was expecting it to be hectic.

I love the idea of seeing a patient, diagnosing them, treating them or admitting them then having them out of your hair. I like to focus on a problem then get it out the way rather than dealing with lots of problems over a long period of time. That's just me

P.S. I'm not saying I consider patients to be equivalent to problems btw, but hope you get the idea of what I'm saying

Reply 11

j00ni

9

Johnny C.

From my work experience, I got the exact opposite impression. The doctors and nurses seemed to take one patient at a time then deal with them at a very leisurely pace. There was no sense of urgency at all, which is strange becasue I was expecting it to be hectic.

I think that is an unusual experiance. I would say the majority of other medical and surgical specialties are less intense on average.

I think you need to see what the department looks like on a friday/saturday night to see how stressful it can be. On top of that you are constantly at loggerheads with pretty much everyone else in the hospital, as it is you that is creating work for them!! Things like full blown shouting matches between one of the SpRs and the on-call surgical SHO was scary - but I think I would quite enjoy that aspect :biggrin:

Reply 12

Muse

13

I think A&E will become much more competitive in about 5 years. At the moment I want to be an interventional cardiologist as cardiothoracic surgery is on its way out.

Reply 13

Johnny C.

9

Although it doesn't bother me and I doubt it ever will, I think many people are put off emergency medicine because there is virtually no scope for doing private work on the side.

The reality is most NHS consultants top-up their salaries with highly paid private work in their own time. At the moment there are only a few private casualty departments in the UK and so A&E consultants don't have this opportunity to earn a bit of extra money. For this reason I doubt emergency medicine will ever become a popular specialty.

Reply 14

casablanca

Johnny C.

I've got a great book called, "So you want to be a brain surgeon?" It gives details of all the specialties, what they're like, how competitive, time-demanding etc....

For A&E it says:
Competitiveness: 2 out of 5 (By comparison cardiothoracic surgery is 5 out of 5)
It's highly demanding on your time especially the amount of unsocial hours you will be expected to do. However you will very rarely be on-call.

Apparently it has a historical reputation for being a specialty dominated by disinterested or failed surgeons. (Not sure how true that is)

Hope this helps

could you please tell me what your book says about psychiatry? thx

Reply 15

Johnny C.

9

casablanca

could you please tell me what your book says about psychiatry? thx

Right... Psychiatry:
It's a busy, emotionally-intense profession with medical and legal responsibilities based on scientific principle.

Personality: Someone who is empathic, enjoys communicating (aren't all doctors supposed to be this?)

Hours: 2 out of 5 as a junior doctor, 3 out of 5 as a consultant

Competitiveness: 3 out of 5

Stress: 3 out of 5

On-calls: 2 out of 5

Hope this helps

Reply 16

casablanca

thank you
ive always wanted to do psychiatry but most ppl kind of frown when i say it
this admission tutor was giving a speech about interviews and personal statements and he said you can talk about specialising in ur interview and personal statement ulness it is psychiatry. i think he was joking (hope so because my ps was aound psychiatry) :smile:

Reply 17

Danby

It probably was a joke but I doubt this analogy helps but the divide between psychiatry and the 'rest of medicine' is like the divide between the Foreign Office and the rest of Whitehall.
As psychiatry becomes more 'important' it is being sub-divided. My local health service is about to build separate units for different psychiatric problem types - this is a NEW idea. So at present most psyk wards are 'general wards and sticking bipolars in with shizos is pretty crude.

Reply 18

Johnny C.

9

casablanca

thank you
ive always wanted to do psychiatry but most ppl kind of frown when i say it
this admission tutor was giving a speech about interviews and personal statements and he said you can talk about specialising in ur interview and personal statement ulness it is psychiatry. i think he was joking (hope so because my ps was aound psychiatry) :smile:

OMG exact same thing happened to me. Was it at the BSMS interview day on November 22?
If not, how weird is that?

Reply 19

casablanca

Johnny C.

OMG exact same thing happened to me. Was it at the BSMS interview day on November 22?
If not, how weird is that?

hehe yes. do u wnt to do psychiatry aswell?
after his speech, my father went up to him and said "hello im dr ...... im a psychiatrist" lol it was funny.
i luvd bsms but i got rejected :redface:

i see uve got an offer from bsms well done.

Emergency Medicine

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