Monthly Archives: March 2007

What Exactly Are the ROAD Specialties?

24 Replies

Veteran readers, I know this is a topic you guys are very familiar with. Please bear with me. =)

I’ve seen several hits in my stat logs from people looking for the ROAD specialties. For many students new to medicine, this might be something that you’re hearing for the first time.

The ROAD specialties are specialties that are generally considered “lifestyle” specialties in medicine. Lifestyle specialties are those that offer good pay with minimum work hours, low patient loads, above average working conditions, and typically low on-call time.

Historically, the ROAD specialties are Radiology, Opthalmology, Anesthesiology, and Dermatology. More recently, the mnemonic has been revised to E-ROAD or ADORE to include Emergency Medicine.

Anesthesiology is on the high-end of work hours, while specialties such as Pathology aren’t included. Expect the lifestyle specialties to change slowly over time as working conditions, hours, and pay fluctuate.

Other specialties that I consider to be lifestyle specialties are radiation-oncology, radiology (which is included in ROAD, but diagnostic only), pathology (mentioned above, but not included in E-ROAD), and reproductive endocrinology. Watch out, though, as reproductive endocrinology is an OB/GYN fellowship. If you can stomach the traditional OB/GYN residency and manage to match into repro-endo, your life should improve dramatically.

One specialty of special mention is Orthopedic Surgery. Despite the fact that it is insanely competitive, do not believe for a minute that it falls into the lifestyle category. The work hours are long, the work is manually intense, but the pay is great. I think the fascination with orthopedic surgery stems from manual labor with drills and saws coupled with an athletic or “appealing” build seen in most residents.

One last thing I wanted to mention is Anesthesiology. I’ve always heard the work hours and free time is great. Some of the most up-to-date data we have says otherwise. Anesthesiologists are actually working on-par with surgeons. I’m looking forward to seeing some more recent data on work hours before my argument can hold any weight. The students are still pouring into Anesthesiology as of 2006.

Med School Is Pimp! Part II

6 Replies

In my initial post about pimping I discussed it in a general sense. But, you see, there are many, many types to be encountered during medical school. Some are bad, and on the other hand, some are really bad. This list is by no means exhaustive, but kind of a “pimping sampler” of some of the varieties you can expect while in Hell.

1. Open group question: Not a type of pimping, but here for comparison. An attending/professor asks a group a question like, “Where do you find stratified squamous epithelium in the urethra?” He then opens it up to the entire group. This is fair because you’re not put on the spot, and the gunners who study 12 hours a day and read Harrison’s for pleasure will immediately jump in with the answer so they can “shine.”

2. Rhetorical pimping: Pimpus interruptus. You’re asked a pimp question, and immediately you start to sweat about the answer. A pause…then…voila! The attending answers it. Hopefully if the subject matter REALLY blows then the attending will ask a line of rhetorical questions and then answer them all himself. This is the lightest type of pimping and barely qualifies as such. Consider yourself damn lucky.

Continue reading →

Top Links 3-15-07

3 Replies

I found an interesting blog today called Resident Other. Resident Other is written from the standpoint of a “medical spouse.” Here’s a look on why the match doesn’t occur at the most convenient time for students and their families.

Panda Bear, M.D. is in the last stages of making the move to a dedicated domain in his quest to be the most popular medical blog around. Go, go Panda!

Medical Student Musings is a medical student out in Sacramento California. It seems that everyone at her medical school matched this year, which is not a bad achievement if you’re running the school. Be sure to keep an eye out on this one as she continues her journey through hell.

Sterile Field THIS

8 Replies

You’re pissed off at an attending surgeon in the OR. Which, frankly, could be all the time. To heck with a potential illustrious career in medicine, time to get even! Some possibilities*:

  • Secretly deglove and hand the surgeon a retractor with your bare hand. Mention that your hands were uncomfortable since they don’t stock an 8.375 glove size.
  • Walk into the OR while eating a piece of fried chicken. You had no breakfast, and it’s lunchtime, so you have a right to eat. Be firm.
  • Remove your facemask and accidently sneeze/cough/spit on the surgeon’s hands right after he gloves.
  • Unplug the bovie machine when the surgeon least expects it. Laugh and tell him to lighten up…you’re just foolin’.
  • Descrub during an important part of an afternoon surgery, and tell the surgeon you just remembered your dog needs his midday doggie treat.
  • While the surgeon is putting on scrubs, remove your gloves and try to touch everything that is sterile.
  • During the surgery, push on the instrument table lever so it falls. The louder, the better. Chuckle as the scrub tech tries to reassemble everything that’s still sterile.

*This is satire, for all of you easily offended people. Keeping a patient† sterile and safe during surgery is of the utmost importance.

†Unless it was a patient who was also a surgeon‡.

‡Just kidding.