The road to a successful medical career can be long and challenging. If you’re a medical student, one of the most important roadblocks you need to tackle is choosing a medical specialty. With a lot of options available, it can be intimidating to pick the right one for you. To help you decide, here are five things you need to consider.

How to Pick a Medical Specialty

1. Think About Your Area of Interest

Identify which organ system or type of disease you want to focus on. Know what clinical questions you want to answer. If anatomy intrigues you, surgery or radiology might be a good fit. If treating matters of the brain, spinal cord, and blood vessels is your interest, you can opt for neurology or neurosurgery.

On another note, if you want to handle patients with skin, hair, or nail disorders, dermatology is your best bet.

2. Consider the Interaction Level You Want

It’s important that you know what kind of interaction you’re comfortable with. Simply put, do you want to handle surgery or office-based care? If you’re inclined to pursue a procedure-oriented field, surgical specialties like orthopedics and plastics are good options.

On the other hand, if you’re leaning toward becoming a patient-focused physician, you can pursue family medicine or pediatrics. There are also specialties that are both procedural and patient-centric, like obstetrics and gynecology, which handle the female reproductive system, or anesthesiology, which focuses on relieving surgical pains.

3. Remember Patient Contact and Continuity

Decide what kind of and how much physician-patient interaction you would want to have. Primary care specialties like internal medicine and psychiatry allow you to establish lasting relationships with patients. However, emergency medicine doctors have short and minimal engagement with people, while pathologists have almost zero patient interaction, as they handle the technical parts of medicine.

4. Think About the Work-Life Ratio You Desire

This is important to all professionals. As an aspiring doctor, you have to determine how many hours you’re willing to work. Clinic-based physicians, like those who are in ophthalmology or physical medicine and rehabilitation, have more control and flexibility over their hours.

Surgeons, on the other hand, have to be more available when the need arises, even during late nights or weekends. Know what kind of shifts you prefer and how many calls you’re willing to take.

5. Think About the Earning Potential

With the high costs invested in pursuing a medical career, medical students want the best possible financial return they can get. Specializations that deal with vital organs, like neurosurgery and cardiology, tend to be more highly compensated. Gastroenterology, which touches on the digestive system, and urology, which tackles the urinary tract system, are also part of the highest paid specializations.

Important note: At the same time you're considering your income, also remember to choose something you're passionate about.

Choosing a specialty can be an overwhelming step in your medical career. Knowing the answers to these questions and understanding your personal and professional goals will help you make the right choice. If you need more guidance during your clinical experience, contact C.H.H.A today.