ortho sub specialities

[Nagar]

hi,
this question is for the residents
what r the advantages and disadvantages of each speciality?
begining from pediatric ortho for example...

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[dawg44]

Trauma-
pros - exciting cases nobody goes into ortho not liking broken bones good pay
cons - exciting cases at 3:00 in the morning, no pay femurs at 3:00

Totals
pros- baby boomers huge demand
cons- hospitals lose money on revisions and some long revision cases are no picnics

Hand
pros- sit down surgery, short cases for those with a short attention span unless you want to do alot of microvascular lots of jobs
cons- depends on your replant situation, other orthopods view it as gay hand ****

Spine
pros one of the highest paying positions in medicine, can work almost anywhere huge demand
cons back patients, long cases gotta love spine

Foot and Ankle
pros- sit down surgery, not alot of foot and ankle guys so lots of referals, probably the best lifestyle of them all. Not may foot and ankle emergencies and trauma guys take most of the trauma
cons- diabetic feet, public ignorance on the difference between a pod and a podiatrist

Pediatrics
pros- kids do well and growth takes care of alot of things
cons- parents, parents and parents and they don't get paid as well as other orthopods

 

[webbjj]

Trauma-
pros - exciting cases nobody goes into ortho not liking broken bones good pay
cons - exciting cases at 3:00 in the morning, no pay femurs at 3:00

Totals
pros- baby boomers huge demand
cons- hospitals lose money on revisions and some long revision cases are no picnics

Hand
pros- sit down surgery, short cases for those with a short attention span unless you want to do alot of microvascular lots of jobs
cons- depends on your replant situation, other orthopods view it as gay hand ****

Spine
pros one of the highest paying positions in medicine, can work almost anywhere huge demand
cons back patients, long cases gotta love spine

Foot and Ankle
pros- sit down surgery, not alot of foot and ankle guys so lots of referals, probably the best lifestyle of them all. Not may foot and ankle emergencies and trauma guys take most of the trauma
cons- diabetic feet, public ignorance on the difference between a pod and a podiatrist

Pediatrics
pros- kids do well and growth takes care of alot of things
cons- parents, parents and parents and they don't get paid as well as other orthopods

What about Sports Medicine or Orthopedic Oncology pros and cons?

 

[pottsy2]

sports
pro: Lots of cool arthroscopic procedures (rotator cuff repair, etc) , very few inpatient procedures so good lifestyle
con: a lot of clinic needed to get cases, if you do mostly knee scopes and acl's it could get boring

Not too sure about oncology

 

[Nagar]

althogh I m just starting my internship, from the bit I saw, I got the impression that pediatric has the biggest variety of cases. In addition to surgeries there are a lot of nonsurgical things which u can do. I think peds orthos get the highest satisfaction.
How wrong am I ?

 

[moquito_17]

althogh I m just starting my internship, from the bit I saw, I got the impression that pediatric has the biggest variety of cases. In addition to surgeries there are a lot of nonsurgical things which u can do. I think peds orthos get the highest satisfaction.
How wrong am I ?

Go do an all-day clinic full of screaming kids, cerebral palsy patients, spina bifida, intoeing and toe-walkers--then tell me that it's satisfying.

Some stuff in peds is cool, no doubt, but some stuff is mind-numbing.

 

[k-wire]

onc:
pros: combines pathology, some basic medicine, and complicated diagnoses with cool ortho procedures.

cons: probably the only ortho specialty where patients die on a regular basis, or at least are really sick. need a stethoscope sometimes. sometimes really long resections/reconstructions

 

[dry dre]

sports
pro: Lots of cool arthroscopic procedures (rotator cuff repair, etc) , very few inpatient procedures so good lifestyle
con: a lot of clinic needed to get cases, if you do mostly knee scopes and acl's it could get boring

And to repeat what is often said:

Pro: Increasing demand.
Con: Every pod in America can stick a scope in a joint and "do" sports. This can effect your market.

 

[dawg44]

there are alot of politics involved with sports you have to pound the pavement and cover games or teams to get your name out there. In alot of places the ACLs and Shoulders don't just show up at your door.

Peds
If you like office and don't like surgery peds is for you. Way Way too much office for my taste and lots of medicaid and self pay.

 

[bonefixr]

I agree with much that has been said. Here are some additions.

Onc:
-pros: very few in the country, really do alot of good for the patients, mortality much less than in the past, lots of referrals, good lifestyle

-cons: also do alot of benign tumor removal (kind of like general), get some reconstructions of other people's screw ups, sarcomas are really rare

Sports:
-pros: fun cases, can lean towards shoulder or knee, patients get better quick, lots of future with the scope.
-cons: more and more people doing these fellowships, more and more calling theirs a "fellowship".

 

[modelslashactor]

thanks for all the great info!

what is the competition like for the different fellowships? i know a lot of surgical specialties have fellowship programs with more spots than applicants, are some more competitive than others in orthopaedics?

 

[trapperjohn]

thanks for all the great info!

what is the competition like for the different fellowships? i know a lot of surgical specialties have fellowship programs with more spots than applicants, are some more competitive than others in orthopaedics?

is ortho onco specialty only for academic surgeons since its so specialized? or are there a lot of private practice surgeons in that field?

 

[hammena1]

is ortho onco specialty only for academic surgeons since its so specialized? or are there a lot of private practice surgeons in that field?

In the private sector most ortho onc tends to be at academic centers. Another avenue of ortho onc is military. Huge referal base with VERY few ortho oncs. Young people are the ones often found with sarcoma.

 

[moquito_17]

Musculoskeletal oncology is a very small field. There are very few musculoskeletal oncologists in the US overall. I don't know of any in private practice that are not affiliated with or work at an academic center--although there is probably one or two. This is an area that is nearly exclusively academic.