When it comes to the medical field, some specialties are easier than others. This can be for a variety of reasons, including the fact that they have less competition and their patients tend to feel better while they’re still under your care. Let’s explore these so-called “easiest” specialties, as well as what makes them so popular with both doctors and patients alike.
Easiest Medical Specialties
Introduction
Plastic Surgery
Plastic surgery is the most popular specialty in medicine, with nearly 20,000 new surgeons joining the field each year. It’s also one of the most competitive specialties, with only 10 percent of applicants being accepted into medical school to become plastic surgeons. If you’re lucky enough to get in and become a plastic surgeon yourself, you’ll likely earn more money than other physicians because demand for your services is high and there are fewer people who provide those services.
Married couples may wish that their spouse would stop talking about his or her patients so much at dinner parties; but if he’s a plastic surgeon this won’t be an issue—they can talk about themselves instead!
Radiology
Radiology is a medical specialty that deals with the use of imaging to diagnose and treat medical conditions. It is considered a subspecialty of medicine, although it may be practiced by non-physicians such as radiographers who are more concerned with technical aspects than clinical care. Some of the more common types of imaging modalities used include X-ray (radiography), ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) scanning and nuclear medicine.
Ophthalmology
Eye diseases are a major cause of blindness throughout the world. Ophthalmologists are trained to diagnose and treat eye diseases, including conjunctivitis (pink eye), glaucoma and cataracts. They also specialize in treating eye injuries such as corneal abrasions and foreign body removal. An ophthalmologist may perform surgery to repair or remove damaged parts of the eye (such as removing a torn retina) or prevent disease by performing laser surgeries on the outer surface of your eyes (like LASIK).
For many patients, an ophthalmologist is their main source for routine exams that include measuring pressure inside your eyes (to detect glaucoma) and testing side vision with special lenses called refraction tests. If you are having trouble reading small print at home or do not see well up close (near-sightedness), then an optometrist will likely refer you to an ophthalmologist for treatment options like contact lenses or glasses that can help improve how well you see up close.
Dermatology
Dermatology is a medical specialty that deals with the skin, nails, hair and its diseases. Dermatologists are doctors who diagnose and treat diseases, in particular skin diseases, hair diseases, and other non-cancerous (benign) growths. They also provide cosmetic services such as laser surgery or chemical peels to reduce acne scars or treat wrinkles.[5]
The training of a dermatologist involves five years of education after medical school on average. To be fully trained most dermatologists complete at least another 2–4 years of specialized residency training after completing their general dermatology residency.[6] In the United States it takes between eight and twelve years to become a board certified dermatologist: four years for an undergraduate degree; four more for medical school; three for an internship; three for a dermatology residency program; plus one-year post doctorate clinical fellowship training (optional).[7]
Pathology
Pathology is the study of disease, and pathologists are doctors who diagnose diseases. Because it requires a lot of knowledge about how cells work and how they interact with each other, pathology is one of the most difficult medical specialties to master. Pathology can also be quite tedious: you might spend your entire day in front of a microscope looking at slides, trying to find out what caused an infection or disease in a patient. However, pathology is an important medical specialty because it allows doctors to understand what’s going on inside their patients’ bodies before they give them treatment.
Urology
- Urology is a surgical specialty dealing with the male and female urinary tract, including the kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra. It differs from nephrology which deals only with the kidney
- Urology is a subspecialty of both general surgery and obstetrics/gynecology
- The practice of urology includes everything from robotic surgery to prostate cancer treatment to urinary tract infections
Anesthesiology
Anesthesiology is a medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease. Anesthesiologists are physicians who administer anesthesia to patients before, during and after surgery. They also monitor and manage pain in patients suffering from chronic or acute pain conditions.
Anesthesiologists can be found working in hospitals as well as other healthcare facilities such as ambulatory surgical centers, critical care units, labor and delivery rooms or intensive care units (ICUs).
Orthopedics
Orthopedics is the medical specialty that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the musculoskeletal system, which includes bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles, nerves and skin. Orthopedic surgeons work with people from birth to adulthood to provide acute care for injuries as well as surgical and non-surgical treatments for degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.
Neurology
Neurology is the study of the nervous system. It’s a subspecialty of medicine, which means that its practitioners are physicians who have completed medical school and residency training in other disciplines (e.g., internal medicine). Neurologists specialize in diagnosing and treating disorders of the central and peripheral nervous systems—the brain and spinal cord, along with nerves outside these areas.
Neurological conditions include Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Among these are some of the most common chronic diseases affecting older adults as well as children under age 18 years old; they account for more than half of all deaths from childhood cancer (brain tumors), according to the American Academy of Neurology.
Gastroenterology
Gastroenterology is a medical specialty that deals with the treatment of disorders of the digestive system. Gastroenterologists are also known as GI doctors, or gastro doctors for short.
They treat conditions such as:
- Heartburn (also called acid reflux)
- Constipation or diarrhea (also called IBS)
- Ulcers in the stomach and small intestine (called peptic ulcer disease)
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the branch of medicine that deals with mental illness. Psychiatrists are medical doctors who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. They are trained to diagnose and treat a range of mental health conditions including schizophrenia, personality disorders and depression.
Many psychiatrists also work in other areas, such as forensic psychiatry which involves assessing people’s mental state at the time they commit crimes. Others may focus on addiction or child psychiatry where they help children who have experienced trauma or abuse.
Emergency Medicine
Emergency Medicine is a specialty that deals with the treatment of acute medical conditions. It is a subspecialty of internal medicine and also includes other health care practitioners, including emergency physicians, emergency nurses and paramedics. Emergency Medicine as a specialty is 24 hours per day/7 days per week and deals with patients who present with urgent situations that require immediate attention to avoid further complications or death.
Not all medical specialties are equally hard to master.
There are many medical specialties, but not all of them are equally hard to master. Some of these specialties require years of training and even more years of experience before you can become a fully-fledged expert in your field. Others require less training and experience, but they’re still difficult because they involve working with patients who have complicated or rare conditions that don’t come up in every day practice.
In order to figure out which medical specialties are easy to master and which ones aren’t so easy, it’s important to look at the following factors:
- How long it takes someone to become an expert in their field (and what that means)
- What kind of work they’ll be doing on a daily basis
- How much money they make
Conclusion
The hardest specialties are the ones that require years of residency training and involve a lot of hands-on work with patients. The easiest specialties tend to be the ones that require less direct contact with human beings and are more focused on research or machines.
For example, anesthesiologists spend most of their time in operating rooms putting people under anesthesia before surgery; neurologists diagnose disorders like Parkinson’s disease; dermatologists treat skin diseases such as psoriasis or melanoma; and psychiatrists diagnose mental illness like depression or anxiety disorders.
The easiest specialties don’t necessarily mean that they are “best” for everyone (because some people might prefer to work directly with patients) but rather which ones have less overall stress associated with them because they don’t require as much direct contact on a daily basis compared to other medical fields like emergency medicine where doctors may see dozens if not hundreds of patients every day who need urgent care at all hours while being on call 24/7 around the clock.”
