Specialties that prefer field-specific research & M2 uncertainty

[reslmc]

Fresh MS2 here - I keep hearing M4's (and some M3's) saying to not worry about being unsure of a speciality choice. However, I know there are certain fields that would definitely prefer to see speciality-specific research going into residency (from what i hear some (not all) include: neurosurgery, plastics, derm, & ENT). I came into med school thinking I wanted to do ophtho and quickly switched to ENT. I'm still pretty set on ENT and am involved in ENT specific projects at the moment; but I guess my concern is, if I wake up one day and decide I want to do plastics or urology, will I be set back? I know any abstracts/conferences/pubs are better than none, but I'd like to avoid taking a research year if at all possible and am confused on how I'm supposed to not worry about falling behind if speciality-specific research seems to almost be an unspoken necessity in some fields.

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[AzBasRad]

Urology and Plastics will expect field specific research and it will be a severe setback if you don't have them. Shadow a plastic surgeon and a urologist now and figure out if you jive with them so that you can switch sooner than later.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

Any chance you could do double duty and find facial plastics research or something else that could cover multiple bases (ENT/plastics)? Not sure how easy it would be depending on what’s going on at your institution but could be a way to keep your options open. Would be unlikely to cover EVERY base though

 

[reslmc]

Urology and Plastics will expect field specific research and it will be a severe setback if you don't have them. Shadow a plastic surgeon and a urologist now and figure out if you jive with them so that you can switch sooner than later.

Okay this is great advice & I want to but my institution still has a ban in place for shadowing :/ I know some residents/attendings are disregarding it though so I'll try to reach out and see if I can find anyone! Thank you so much!

 

[reslmc]

Any chance you could do double duty and find facial plastics research or something else that could cover multiple bases (ENT/plastics)? Not sure how easy it would be depending on what’s going on at your institution but could be a way to keep your options open. Would be unlikely to cover EVERY base though

I also had this thought and regret not spending this past summer doing that / feel like I'm in too deep with ENT projects now but might try to pivot and talk to facial plastics people about any available projects. Thank you!!

 

[FalconSlice]

I also had this thought and regret not spending this past summer doing that / feel like I'm in too deep with ENT projects now but might try to pivot and talk to facial plastics people about any available projects. Thank you!!

Facial plastics is a subspecialty of ENT fyi, so I don't understand your point.

 

[reslmc]

Facial plastics is a subspecialty of ENT fyi, so I don't understand your point.

Oh I know, sorry I wasn't clear! I was saying I'm doing research for 2 other ENT sub specialities now (head & neck surgery - cancer/basic science and rhinology - chart review) so I might try to pivot to talk to ENT facial plastics people too depending on if I can handle taking on another or dialing back with what I'm working on now)