Ok, so I have less than a year to decide my specialty since I have to set up my aways for the military a year in advance.

I was sold on OB until I learned what a tail was EEEK by the way - and my other love is infectious disease. However, in order to do what I would want to do - I'd need to do academic medicine, as well as be employed by the state. Workable, but also narrow employment options.

Are there any other specialties out there that are super family friendly? I do not want to work with children, and I woudl prefer to specialize rather than be a family medicine doctor. My comfort level revolves around having a field I am an "expert" on rather than having to know everything in the world. I honestly don't think I'm smart enough for that (much kudos to you family docs out there - you have a hard job). Open to any ideas. Obviously, I don't have a step score yet, but I have a strategy, and I am hoping to do well.

I just want to stay open-minded. I'm frankly terrified by all the posts from OBs on Mommd, and holy moly did I frighten my husband when I described how bad the tail was after a mere 7 years of practice (one docs description of her situation).

Hmm-I can really only speak for primary care for sure since it is what I do, SUPER family friendly, and I do OB....that was how I got my love of OB without the headaches...if you are looking for IM type specialties-I have heard derm, optho, and radiology are more friendly in terms of hours....not 100% sure though...community practice in anything is usually more family friendly than academic practice...

If I could do it over again I would do Dermatology! I am a family physician and I still don't find that to be very family friendly.

Tail malpractice is not limited to our OBGYN colleagues. It is a factor many doctors will have to deal with.

Anytime you have a "claims-made" policy (verses the more rare "occurance-type" malpractice policy, a tail may be involved. It's often negotiable, but it's certainly not limited to OB practice.

Pick something you like. And good luck!

Popcorn - I know, but I've only heard of OB/GYN's having to pay a figure like the 150,000 a doc posting on here was talking about after practicing for seven years! That's like paying for medical school twice!

Thanks for the suggestions/info! I'm just going to stay open-minded this year and study for Step 1 like crazy in order to keep all doors open!

I am in psychiatry, and it is very easy to make it family friendly. I am finishing my residency in just a couple of weeks, so I don't have first-hand knowledge about practice, but lots of people make it work.

It is a specialty, and you don't have to have great board scores (although it always helps). Right now, most residencies have a frontloaded call, so you are done after the first two years. I guess that this will be changing with the 16 hour rule though.

Once you finish, there are a lot of jobs with relatively little call. It is also pretty easy to start your own practice since there is so little overhead, and most psychiatrists (at least around here) don't take insurance.

Anyway, I love my field. There are so many different aspects to it if you are interested. You could do anything from 4 times a week psychoanalysis to treating very psychotic people on an inpatient ward to doing assessments for NGRI (not guilty by reason of insanity) cases to functional brain imaging studies.

Right now, I am taking some time off to spend with my children. I will be working in a psych ER 8 hours a week and at a community mental health center 8 hours a week. My malpractice insurance with a prepaid tail is about $5k/yr with no prior claims and working PT.

There is also a shortage of psychiatrists, so it is fairly easy to get a job wherever you want to live.

I'm an FP and it's pretty flexible, I think. Sounds to me like a medicine subspecialty might be more your speed... I would imagine that you could find the right job in something like endo, rheum, allergy, etc. ID is a med subspecialty, as well, of course. Perhaps you should aim for IM, and then once you start residency you can pick your specialty once you get a more "in depth" look at the options.

Thanks for all the responses - would love to see people revisit this thread as time goes to offer any insight they have.

It's definitely between ID and OB/GYN still right now. With really really good reasons for both areas. And actual day-to-day, rotating experience (through cool programs my school does allowing this in second-year) in both.

Sigh, why couldn't I just have liked one! I"m going to keep thinking, and I'm actively conversing with my husband about what I like and don't like also - we function as a team, and I think having a sounding board that I trust like him too will help me when I have to really get down to picking one or the other. I actually dragged him to an OB club meeting at my school today to hear our speaker, because I am trying to make sure I make the best decision for both of us, and I want him knowledgeable.

Anyway - thank you guys so much for all your input!

Other more family friendly specialties not yet mentioned:

PM&R (plus potential for a procedure-heavy practice)
Pathology
Genetics
Outpatient peds (depending on the group)
Preventive medicine
Radiology (also could be procedure-heavy)
Radiation oncology?

What exactly does a radiation oncologist do for day-to-day? I'm still not clear on that despite trying to find out via the Internet?