When we hear medical field, we only think of Surgeons, dentists, doctors, etc. But there are so many career options for students of biology.
Further, some students miss the point of whether they are suitable for a career in medicine. While others get overwhelmed by either the amount of studies required or the expenses involved in a career in medical field.
This blog aims to clear the air and help students explore a career in medicine who have genuine interest and abilities to perform well in different medical professions.
First let us see the different types of doctors that you can become through your MBBS education. There are more than 20 specializations in the biomedicine career.
| Anaesthesiologist | Oncologist |
| Cardiologist | Ophthalmologist |
| Dermatology | Orthodontics |
| Dentist | Orthopaedic |
| Endocrinologist | Pathology |
| ENT | Paediatrics |
| Gastroenterologist | Psychiatric |
| General Medicine | Pulmonologist |
| Gynaecologist | Surgeon |
| Nephrology | Urology |
| Neurosurgeon | Veterinary and so on.. |
These are the most common doctors that we see in our everyday life. However, there are some other very exciting MD programs after MBBS that not many are aware of, such as Anatomy, Aerospace Medicine, Biochemistry, Forensic Medicine, Geriatrics, Plastic & Cosmetic Surgery, Immunohematology, Medical Genetics, Physiology, etc.
Besides an MBBS degree, there are other ways to become a doctor too. Doctors in other fields of medicine would come under “Allied Medical Science Careers”. These are defined as AYUSH Courses – Ayurvedic, Naturopathy and Yoga, Unani, Siddhi, and Homeopathy.
An Ayurvedic Doctor can diagnose patients, give them ayurvedic medication, and perform certain surgeries too (only approved as per Ayurveda and recognized by the Indian Medicine Association). This field has further 6 or more specializations.
A Naturopathic Doctor emphasizes prevention and the self-healing process through the use of healthy living and natural therapies, like Magnetotherapy, Nutrition, Chiropractice, or Yoga science.
A Siddha Practitioner emphasizes on prevention and treatment of various clinical conditions through the use of natural alchemic or herbal therapies including various medications made naturally from plants and animal sources.
Similarly, a Homoeopathic Doctor can prescribe only homoeopathic medication, while a Unani Doctor can prescribe only Unani medicines. They cannot prescribe any modern-day medicine nor can perform allopathic surgeries.
Admissions for MBBS and AYUSH courses happen through NEET UG Entrance. To know more about the NEET admission process, read our previous article here.
Career fitment means whether your interests, capabilities, and work style preferences match with the given job profile. This is important as it indicates how successful you can be in your career in medicine and surgery and also how happy & satisfied you will be in it. In this article, we are considering a career fitment based on the following four factors.
A good doctor trying to excel in a career in medicine would require good logical reasoning abilities to understand ideas not expressed in words and combine pieces of information from various reports for correct diagnosis. Further, an understanding of how the human body works and the skills to work with different surgical tools is a desirable skill, thus highlighting the importance of Mechanical aptitude. Some specialised biomedicine careers like Cosmetic surgery may benefit from the doctor’s ability to be aesthetically sound and for Psychiatrists, good communication and social skills may help with faster rapport building with the Client.
To know more about Holland’s Code and how they map to different careers, Read Here. A doctor needs to work with lots of information and quite a lot of thinking for patient diagnosis, thus involving decision-making and problem-solving, which describes the interest areas of investigative occupations. Further, since realistic occupations often involve physical activities, a doctor with realistic interests will work better at getting things done using various tools and equipment.
Get to know more about the history and theory of MBTI Personality types. You just need to Read Here. The protectors or an ISFJ personality would be good listener, highly observational, well organized and are trustworthy because they value human values. Thus making them a good personality type to become a doctor and excel in a career in medicine. However we would also like to highlight that there is no strict adherence promoted in this fitment analysis. So other personality types like Caregiver, Thinker, Director, and Commander can also be successful in their work as doctors and ace a career in medicine and surgery.
The profession of a doctor or a career in medical science comes with lots of respect from their patients and the society. The study of medicine career options is a long journey. So having the right motivations, help a student walk this difficult road. This profession provides the perfect balance of respect yet a challenging work environment and freedom to work in a personal capacity. However, if you are interested in the Academia and Research side of medicine, then your motivations would not be a challenging work environment but ‘Stability’ and ‘Control’.
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