Which speciality is right for me

Careers consultant Laura Brammar explores how to understand your own motivations and preferences, to help you make the important decision of what specialty to pursue. When it comes to making a decision about which medical specialism to pursue, there really is no crystal ball that can instantly tell you which choice is right for you. Sometimes we treat certain sources of information or advice, such as the opinion of a trusted colleague or the results of a personality questionnaire, as though they are like magic wands, in some way capable of providing us with a definitive answer which will put us out of our decision-making misery!

In reality, it is often far more helpful to remember that these are as useful tools to help you with the personal process of discovering which speciality feels most appropriate to you.

Below is an outline of a simple process which can help clarify your choice of specialty, and aid your understanding of the reasons behind that choice. Choosing which specialty training route to pursue is a significant decision.

Nevertheless, always remember that it will not be the only important choice you need to make about your medical career. There will be future important choices, such as your sub-specialisation, and by understanding the process now, you will be making an investment for similar decisions in the future.

Like making a clinical diagnosis, making a career decision is best approached as a sequence of stages, rather than just by a gut reaction or instinct alone. That is not to say you should discount your hunches or instincts, but rather that you should be able to analyse them in context and from a range of perspectives. By moving through the following four stages you will be able to reflect on your choice comprehensively, and therefore move more smoothly into the next stage of your medical training:.

For any career decision, there are likely to be a host of influencing factors that can make the choice difficult. These influencing factors can both inform our decisions and sometimes distract us from what we really want from our work, and what we feel most suited to. Influencing factors can range from aspects of the job itself, such as the level of clinical autonomy or the clinical environment, to more personal factors, such as a need for flexibility or preferred length of training.

It can be helpful to spend some time reflecting on what might be the vocational and personal factors which are influencing your decision. This activity is not about criticising or praising any influencing factors, but rather identifying what is important to you. It can also be very useful to have an honest self-audit of what you see as your skills, interests and preferences. Remember, you may be skilled at many things, but only enjoy a few. How might you answer the following? One approach to help us understand the idea of personality preferences, and the way we differ from other people, is the Jungian-based instrument, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Many doctors will already be familiar with this tool, which can be used to identify four prime ways in which people are different Houghton, , BMJ Careers. These ways are. Well, the argument is that if you improve your understanding of your personality preferences, you are more likely to appreciate why you make the choices that you do.

Furthermore, you will be more satisfied and fulfilled in the work that you do, or the specialty that you choose. Much has been written about how personality differences between doctors can have implications for their specialty choice Gilligan et al, , Clack et al, and how certain personality preferences are perhaps cultivated and rewarded within a changing NHS system Houghton, Here though is a brief summary of how the four dimensions of personality highlighted by the MBTI tool can provide an insight into the types of activities and, to a lesser extent, specialties which you may prefer:.

Clearly, it would be unwise to suggest that only certain specialties require or appeal to certain personality types. Like any other profession, medicine needs all types of personalities, although some specialties may tend to attract some types more than others. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application and does not store any personally identifiable information.

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The cookie is set by embedded Microsoft scripts. The Ultimate Hands-on Physician. I got IM which helped confirm my gut feeling i think the key is taking ur time to answer each question carefully so thanks it helped. Did not take the test.

Graduated,family practice one year solo well rounded. Hows that i like to know. My experince is that im not a good communicater which im learning my way but i had such interest in how people work there minds and daily days which got me to have a interest in kids health and science. One of my great skills is working with my hands my mom was a skillful person which i became really skillful too working with my hands seem more interesting than my brain lol but still love learning.

I wanna do Psych but it told me I should do IM. But I think I could never get over Surgery after all. I got Family Medicine and that sounds ab right for me. I got surgery but I am really passionate about psychiatry. I believe that i should just follow my heart and no this quiz.

Very interesting and fun quiz to take. I have looked everywhere and have not been able to find one. Obviously, you recognize you recognize the importance of such a test given that you created to quiz being offered here. I think I would have been happy with just about any specialty. I took the quiz a few times because sometimes more than one answer made sense. I got mostly IM and EM. I truthfully wanted an inpatient and outpatient practice — the ability to manage critically ill patients then follow them in the office.

I love procedures but not enough to only do them. I thought ideally pulm-cc was the perfect option but I did not understand the politics of corporate medicine or greed of private practice. Remarkably inaccurate. Never in a million years. Neil R Nickelsen D. I think its ok…i am Medical specialist actually and the resoult it was that exactly….

And cutting up people…. I think so too. When I was in first grade I knew I wanted to be a doctor or an astronaut. I think i want to do cardiothoracic. Just to be able to hold a heart would be amazing. I want to really be a pediatric surgeon though am still 14 I have a desire and passion to treat children. You guys are suggesting Family Medicine no way am not doing that. Great website. Wow Pediatrics again I think ur really for me but were is de surgeon afta de Pediatrics thanks a lot quiz.

Cool website. Your passion in whatever u do will help u become successful and great. So whatever u do make sure the passion and desire is there. No matter how I try to tweak my answers, I always get emergency medicine or internal medicine. So I think getting into cardiology will probably suit me. You can search specialties in fields there so many that include biology,chemistry,engineer,doctor family,surgeon,EMT,Cardio,physical, and you could make it in practice at home for example if you want to be a surgeon you can sew a banana you know imagine doing the practices or making yourself.

Hope it helps!! I just got my cosmetologist license in school which is great it was my second option of job which i love too the funny thing is that my biggest breaking thing is that im not a good talker and still got fields im interest too. Is family medicine the default? Or have we all fallen for yet another April fools prank? Am retiring. It is difficult to look at the big picture. Now at 70 years of age, it is important to recognize to look back.