Medical Specialty Decision and Training Pathway

Introduction

• Speaker: Oli
• Focus: Shorter, single-topic videos
• Main question addressed: What medical specialty to pursue?

Medical Training Overview

• Lengthy process: Minimum of 10 years
  • 5 years of medical school
  • 2 years of foundation training (F1 and F2)
  • Additional specialization years (3 for GP, more for others)
• Specialty choice is crucial due to time investment

Current Position in Medical Education

• 2nd year of Graduate Entry Medicine
• Starting clinical phase
• Equivalent to 3rd year of a 5-year undergraduate course

Interest in Surgery

• Initial degree in Molecular Biology (not focused on human biology)
• Fascination with anatomy and hands-on surgical work
• Taught with plastinated specimens at Warwick
• Enjoys reading surgical textbooks and exploring anatomy resources

Consideration for Surgical Specialty

• Long training pathway: 8 years post-foundation
• Highly demanding: Time and life-consuming
• Strategy: Prepare as if aiming for competitive specialties like neurosurgery and cardiothoracics
  • Build a surgical logbook
  • Attend conferences
  • Join surgical societies
  • Engage in shadowing and publishing relevant research

Personal Interest in Neurology and Neurosurgery

• Loved neurology block despite its difficulty
• Influenced by Henry Marsh’s book "Do No Harm"
• Neurosurgery combines interest in neurobiology and surgery

Other Potential Interests

• Endocrine surgery (current placement)
• Trauma and orthopedics (upcoming)
• Pediatrics: Interesting but no experience yet
• Obstetrics and Gynecology: Mix of medicine and surgery

Conclusion

• Maintaining an open mind about eventual specialty choice
• Interested in audience thoughts and experiences

Call to Action

• Encouragement to interact: Comments, likes, and subscriptions
• Social media follow: Twitter and Instagram (@postgradmedic)
• Website for more content: postgradmedic.com