Most/Least Deployed Medical Specialties

[FizbanZymogen]

I just wanted to start a quick list ranking the most and least deployable specialties within the Army/Air Force/Navy (I know no one is immune to deployment). This is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended to be exhaustive. Please include any credible stories of individuals you know who were deployed as a "such & such Dr." so we can all see what the various fields lifestyles are like.

I think we can agree that Psych. & General surgery gets deployed alot but what others like Peds and Rads? Any help from those "in the know" would be appreciated.

As a side note a cousin who serves as an OB/GYN was sent to Iraq as a surgeon. Just goes to show that no one is immune.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Homunculus]

from sheer man-hours and numbers , the last presentation i saw was something like

1. FP
2. Gen Surg
3. Peds
4.
5.
6.
7. Internal Medicine

i can't remember 4-6, i just remember thinking that IM being so low was odd considering peds are forced to see adults when deployed. . .

--your friendly neighborhood fort leonard wood bound caveman

 

[kzjonez]

Recently deployed , here is the list of whom I met or talked over the Voip for consults: Cardiologist in a FOB , Ob Gyn , ID, Familiy, Radiology in the Deed and Balad, Surgeons in all flavors, Orthopods, Anesthesia ,ER , GMO's and Internists including myself and the jewel of the crown a Ped seeing adults. If you got and MD/DO thats all you need for a ticket o Iraq and the Stans.

 

[kzjonez]

Oh! I forgot about Psych both flavors!!!

 

[edmadison]

I recently saw that in the army peds has the longest average deployment length!

Ed

 

[colbgw02]

last time i checked, rads actually had a waiting list to deploy.

it's also worth mentioning that subspecialties are supposed to deploy for less time (6 months) than primary care docs (a year +).

i also think that an ob/gyn counts as 1/2 of a general surgeon at an FST. similarly, some subspecialists can get deployed as GMOs (dermatology).

 

[i want out]

Recently deployed , here is the list of whom I met or talked over the Voip for consults: Cardiologist in a FOB , Ob Gyn , ID, Familiy, Radiology in the Deed and Balad, Surgeons in all flavors, Orthopods, Anesthesia ,ER , GMO's and Internists including myself and the jewel of the crown a Ped seeing adults. If you got and MD/DO thats all you need for a ticket o Iraq and the Stans.

I saw a Heme Onc guy doing flight surgery, on my last deployment.

And a Nephrologist doing general medicine.

i want out

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Here is what the Air Force deploys frequently:

1) GMOs
2) Emergency docs
3) General surgeons
4) Ortho surgeons
5) Anesthesiologists
6) FPs
7) Internists

Less frequently:

1) Peds
2) Rads

The ones I can't really say (cause I just don't know):

1) Ophtho
2) ENT
3) Neurosurg
4) Psych

 

[FizbanZymogen]

so far this has been very interesting. It amazes me how the DoD will find a way to meet their percieved needs in ways that shatter the medical status quo. keep em coming everyone.

 

[edinOH]

When I was in the navy I worked as a corpsman in Ophthalmology at NMCSD. None of our guys ever sniffed a deployment. We weren't at war then of course but there were plenty of fleet surgical hospital opportunties in the Balkans as well as USNS Mercy. The only way you would know those guys were navy was by their uniforms. Most of those guys rarely PCS'd let alone deployed.

I do know however that some of the more junior docs were concerned about their previous GMO designators such as FS and DMO. You could potentially always be pulled back to the fleet in this capacity if they really needed you.

 

[delicatefade]

I'd have to nominate pathology as the least deployed specialty.

 

[kzjonez]

Continuing my list: Also Derm as a Flight Surgeon , Optometry come to think of it the only one I have not seen or heard being deployed is pathology. Figures !!

 

[resxn]

For ENT there is a waiting list for deployment as well. ENT's want to go because as gruesome as it sounds most of the trauma these days is to limbs and face/neck because armor is so good elsewhere. I actually tried to deploy last Sept and they said the waiting list was 18months at that point--to Balad anyway.

 

[texdrake]

from sheer man-hours and numbers , the last presentation i saw was something like

1. FP
2. Gen Surg
3. Peds
4.
5.
6.
7. Internal Medicine

i can't remember 4-6, i just remember thinking that IM being so low was odd considering peds are forced to see adults when deployed. . .

--your friendly neighborhood fort leonard wood bound caveman

Two reasons for that.

#1 A long time ago one of the head honcho's (who was a pediatrician) volunteered pediatrics for several of the positions that the were capable of as a means to keep the program alive. One of the reasons why Army peds is so strong is that the are much more deployable than they are in other branches.

#2 A majority of are boys fighting over their are indeed boys. They are a lot closer to the pediatric population (0-18 years) than they are to the typical IM population (60+)

 

[vikingsfan]

During my tour I met a pathologist at the CSH to help w/ the skin biopsy specimens for leishmaniasis. He told me they rotated every 6 months.

 

[PathOne]

Pathologists being around live patients, esp. those requiring urgent medical care, is really a scary thought.