Choosing a medical specialty is a big decision, and it's important to consider all aspects of the job, including the work-life balance, salary, and overall satisfaction. According to the Medscape report, the happiest specialties at work were dermatology in number one, ophthalmology in number two, allergy and immunology in number three, followed by a tripartite link between orthopedic surgery, psychiatry and pulmonary medicine. Pathology, dermatology, and family medicine are often considered relatively less stressful than other medical specialties. Family medicine is the primary care specialty in Canada that focuses on caring for the community as a whole.
It's one of the most satisfying specialties, especially if you like to interact with people. This specialty, like family medicine, offers a fixed number of consultation hours and the opportunity to interact and build long-term relationships with your patients. It is one of the least exhausting medical specialties offering decent working hours with relatively less work stress. Psychiatry as a medical specialty not only pays well, but also offers a shorter working week than other specialties and is perfect for those who have an outgoing personality and like to help people.
Being satisfied in your career is a crucial aspect to consider when exploring your medical specialty options. This medical specialty field gives you good control over your working hours and is not considered too stressful. At the other end of the spectrum, medical specialties stand out to a large extent, and general medicine, cardiology and geriatrics have the worst satisfaction and workload ratings across the board. And when the gaps between the highest and lowest average salaries in the medical specialty are the size of a full salary, it makes sense to keep an eye on what you can earn if you are diving fully into your career.
When it comes to work-life balance, 30% of physicians report that they feel conflicting or very conflicting balancing childcare and time with family along with their medical duties. By having the right information about medical specialties and subspecialties, students who are still deciding in their medical field can choose medical specialties with the best lifestyle and make the right choice for the career path they want.
