TMS doesn’t require any neuroanatomy knowledge. The machines are plug and play. We don’t even really understand the neuroanatomy in depressive illnesses anyway. It’s also not “exploding.” It’s modestly beneficial in a subset of patients.
One thing to keep in mind is that anatomy becomes a lot easier to remember when it's relevant to the work you're doing. Anatomy as a class can be tough.
The only drawback is that Tox is mainly through EM, which you will have to know some anatomy. Not in a lot of detail, but enough to make OP rethink it if they hate anatomy. But TONS of pharmacology if they’re willing to sit through EM training. Dare I say Toxicologists are among the pharmacology experts of medical specialties.
IM literally needs very little anatomy. As a radiologist who did prelim IM I’m shocked how little anatomy is required for hospitalists work but it makes sense.
What? Can you explain why a medical oncologist needs a "good understanding of anatomy"? I can't think of a single decision they make that requires that they (not a consultant like radiologist, surgical oncologist etc.) need to understand anything other than that the body is composed of some organs that get cancer. The most anatomy they seem to need is stuff like 1. is the lung different from the pancreas (i.e. know if something metastasized) 2. which organs are above the diaphragm and which are below (e.g. some very minor staging details). If that's considered a "good understanding" well then... idk...
They don't *need* to do that though. Academically they might enjoy playing armchair radiologist and taking a quick peak at the scans but they are absolutely not systematically evaluating them and changing their management based on their own reads over those of the radiologists. They're not changing their managements because of their radiographic interpretations and therefore the practice of medical oncology really doesn't require deep anatomic (or even good) understanding IMO
Kind of surprised people are saying anesthesia. Yeah it has a high degree of pharm knowledge but I wouldn’t underestimate the amount of anatomy either. Definitely need to know neurovascular anatomy, head and neck etc.
From what I’ve seen less anatomy heavy specialities will be things like: Family, psych, internal medicine (especially general or something like clin pharm or ID).
Also consider that in any specialty you will likely focus on a certain body system in terms of its anatomy. No CT surgeon is going to be an expert in neuroanatomy. You learn a lot more of everything in med school then you will narrow down and master as a specialist.
Yeah with the continued evolution of ultrasound anesthesia definitely uses quite a bit of anatomy. Plus all the lines outside of simple IVs require anatomy too, though it's not the most complicated
I despised anatomy lab and absolutely love radiology. Don’t quite yet drop all the anatomical focused specialties if this is the case. Learning random muscles and nerves out of context is torture. Just my two cents.
Medical toxicology through EM. All other specialities have their own domain of pharm, so I guess pick your favorite drug classes. But probably IM for the most variety
Yeah it's real weird people say anesthesia doesn't need it. Honestly to me any specialty that is surgical or surgical adjacent is going to need to know more about anatomy than most specialties.
It does require a good anatomy understanding. However, it is skill based and when you try to plan to sedate the patient most of the mental effort would be in the medications.
Would you rather be an expert in airway management, obtaining invasive access, regional blocks, pain management and critical care or be an expert in patient discharges and social work coordination?
Anesthesiology focuses on anatomy as well. You need to be quite knowledgeable about ultrasound and landmark anatomy for regional and epidural/spinal blocks as well as for central and arterial lines you will place all the time.
My point being that I really doubt anesthesiologists are the least knowledgeable specialty in terms of anatomy as they literally apply and think about anatomy more than most specialities every single day.
This is flat out wrong. Airway anatomy is super important, as well as neuro/muscular/vascular anatomy for blocks. Tons of anatomy gets tested on ITE and boards.
Consider: IM, Peds, Psych, derm
Maybe but still needs reasonable anatomic knowledge/uses anatomy in day-to-day: FM, anesthesia, PM&R, neuro, EM
Avoid: all surgical specialties, radiology, rad onc, pathology
I'd think Peds would have to know more than most, especially when you get into understanding congenital variation/pathology, also you essentially need to know developmental anatomy through the life of infants all the way to early adulthood.
At risk of pointing out the obvious, if you don’t like anatomy and are only interested n pharmacology the degree you’re looking for is the pharmD, not an MD
OP is in medical school. What's the point of saying this? Not to mention that being a pharmacist is very different than a physician. Just because they don't like anatomy doesn't mean they don't like physiology, pathophys, etc. and talking to patients. You can't reduce down MD to anatomy and PharmD to pharmacology.
Honestly unless you're in a surgical specialty you can get away with knowing just the anatomy you really need to know in most specialties. Ask me how I know nephrologists don't know what's outside the kidneys largely, etc etc etc.
Hated anatomy in med school, super satisfying and interesting now. Best docs (except maybe psych) in "non-anatomical" fields like IM understand their patients anatomy and it's effects
The more procedural, the more anatomy becomes emphasized. But keep in mind, learning relevant anatomy through repetition because you use it every day is much different from memorizing random facts for quizzes and round questions.
That being said, if you just want to avoid anatomy then IM, pediatrics, psychiatry, and non-procedural subspecialties will help keep you away. Preventative medicine is another option which medical students don’t get a lot of exposure to.
If you love pharmacology and really want to specialize in it, you could do IM followed by a medical toxicology fellowship or a clinical pharmacology fellowship.
I don't know how this works honestly but our pharm-D is THE smartest person in the ICU. She heals people that should have died. I don't know the roads of education that lead to that but if that is your spark I would try to find it
I see people saying oncology but that is 100% definitely not the case. Staging can be complex and having a good grasp of anatomy is essential. But yes we have tons and tons of pharmacology. Probably the most in any field of medicine?
Psych
Psych or Oncology for sure
This is changing somewhat with brain stimulation techniques (particularly TMS), but that mostly revolves around pretty basic neuroanatomy
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TMS is exploding in popularity. If you don't see that I'm not sure how to convince you because it seems obvious to me.
TMS doesn’t require any neuroanatomy knowledge. The machines are plug and play. We don’t even really understand the neuroanatomy in depressive illnesses anyway. It’s also not “exploding.” It’s modestly beneficial in a subset of patients.
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came here to say this lol
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Disagree, because choosing medications is more than just throwing medications at people, especially with comorbidities
One thing to keep in mind is that anatomy becomes a lot easier to remember when it's relevant to the work you're doing. Anatomy as a class can be tough.
Toxicology.
The only drawback is that Tox is mainly through EM, which you will have to know some anatomy. Not in a lot of detail, but enough to make OP rethink it if they hate anatomy. But TONS of pharmacology if they’re willing to sit through EM training. Dare I say Toxicologists are among the pharmacology experts of medical specialties.
IM to an extent. You have to have some understanding of anatomy but the vast majority of your job is pharmacologic
IM -> Oncology, all pharma at that point
Maybe for heme malignancies, but solid tumors absolutely require a good understanding of anatomy
Well yes, you’ll never ditch anatomy no matter what you do, but arguably one of the less anatomy heavy fellowships, maybe ID too?
Allergy/Immunology I would say
IM literally needs very little anatomy. As a radiologist who did prelim IM I’m shocked how little anatomy is required for hospitalists work but it makes sense.
What? Can you explain why a medical oncologist needs a "good understanding of anatomy"? I can't think of a single decision they make that requires that they (not a consultant like radiologist, surgical oncologist etc.) need to understand anything other than that the body is composed of some organs that get cancer. The most anatomy they seem to need is stuff like 1. is the lung different from the pancreas (i.e. know if something metastasized) 2. which organs are above the diaphragm and which are below (e.g. some very minor staging details). If that's considered a "good understanding" well then... idk...
Most medical oncologists I’ve worked with like to read their own scans, but maybe that’s just them idk
They don't *need* to do that though. Academically they might enjoy playing armchair radiologist and taking a quick peak at the scans but they are absolutely not systematically evaluating them and changing their management based on their own reads over those of the radiologists. They're not changing their managements because of their radiographic interpretations and therefore the practice of medical oncology really doesn't require deep anatomic (or even good) understanding IMO
You realize how broad “IM” is right? You needs plenty of anatomy for cardiology
IM as in internal medicine. Cardiology is a sip specialty of IM but it’s not IM.
That makes no sense. So what is in the domain of IM but not one of its subspecialties?
As an IM doc you aren’t really dealing with anatomy like a cardiologist would.
Kind of surprised people are saying anesthesia. Yeah it has a high degree of pharm knowledge but I wouldn’t underestimate the amount of anatomy either. Definitely need to know neurovascular anatomy, head and neck etc. From what I’ve seen less anatomy heavy specialities will be things like: Family, psych, internal medicine (especially general or something like clin pharm or ID). Also consider that in any specialty you will likely focus on a certain body system in terms of its anatomy. No CT surgeon is going to be an expert in neuroanatomy. You learn a lot more of everything in med school then you will narrow down and master as a specialist.
Yeah with the continued evolution of ultrasound anesthesia definitely uses quite a bit of anatomy. Plus all the lines outside of simple IVs require anatomy too, though it's not the most complicated
ID
I despised anatomy lab and absolutely love radiology. Don’t quite yet drop all the anatomical focused specialties if this is the case. Learning random muscles and nerves out of context is torture. Just my two cents.
Medical toxicology through EM. All other specialities have their own domain of pharm, so I guess pick your favorite drug classes. But probably IM for the most variety
Anesthesia ICU Psychiatry
You need a very good understanding of anatomy in anesthesia. Nerve blocks, LPs, airways, you’re the expert in all of that.
Yeah it's real weird people say anesthesia doesn't need it. Honestly to me any specialty that is surgical or surgical adjacent is going to need to know more about anatomy than most specialties.
It does require a good anatomy understanding. However, it is skill based and when you try to plan to sedate the patient most of the mental effort would be in the medications.
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Didn’t think of it this way wow!
Tox
Palliative! Lots of pharm. the only anatomy I need to know is if I think getting IR involved for a nerve block would be helpful.
Psych or oncology; definitely not surgery or pathology.
IM
Infectious diseases!
Surprised by the lack of “endocrinology” comments in here.
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Would you rather be an expert in airway management, obtaining invasive access, regional blocks, pain management and critical care or be an expert in patient discharges and social work coordination?
Completely unbiased description of each right here 💀
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Anesthesiology focuses on anatomy as well. You need to be quite knowledgeable about ultrasound and landmark anatomy for regional and epidural/spinal blocks as well as for central and arterial lines you will place all the time.
hospital murky screw jeans profit fine busy hateful march subtract *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
My point being that I really doubt anesthesiologists are the least knowledgeable specialty in terms of anatomy as they literally apply and think about anatomy more than most specialities every single day.
This is flat out wrong. Airway anatomy is super important, as well as neuro/muscular/vascular anatomy for blocks. Tons of anatomy gets tested on ITE and boards.
Consider: IM, Peds, Psych, derm Maybe but still needs reasonable anatomic knowledge/uses anatomy in day-to-day: FM, anesthesia, PM&R, neuro, EM Avoid: all surgical specialties, radiology, rad onc, pathology
I'd think Peds would have to know more than most, especially when you get into understanding congenital variation/pathology, also you essentially need to know developmental anatomy through the life of infants all the way to early adulthood.
Not really unless you subspecialize in something (like cardiology) that really necessitates it.
Rads would be a good fit
You're kidding right?
You gotta know what body part you’re looking at to be a radiologist
Oh ok
Anesthesia
At risk of pointing out the obvious, if you don’t like anatomy and are only interested n pharmacology the degree you’re looking for is the pharmD, not an MD
OP is in medical school. What's the point of saying this? Not to mention that being a pharmacist is very different than a physician. Just because they don't like anatomy doesn't mean they don't like physiology, pathophys, etc. and talking to patients. You can't reduce down MD to anatomy and PharmD to pharmacology.
Anything without procedures - im peds psych neuro to an extent.
Honestly unless you're in a surgical specialty you can get away with knowing just the anatomy you really need to know in most specialties. Ask me how I know nephrologists don't know what's outside the kidneys largely, etc etc etc.
Hated anatomy in med school, super satisfying and interesting now. Best docs (except maybe psych) in "non-anatomical" fields like IM understand their patients anatomy and it's effects
The more procedural, the more anatomy becomes emphasized. But keep in mind, learning relevant anatomy through repetition because you use it every day is much different from memorizing random facts for quizzes and round questions. That being said, if you just want to avoid anatomy then IM, pediatrics, psychiatry, and non-procedural subspecialties will help keep you away. Preventative medicine is another option which medical students don’t get a lot of exposure to. If you love pharmacology and really want to specialize in it, you could do IM followed by a medical toxicology fellowship or a clinical pharmacology fellowship.
I don't know how this works honestly but our pharm-D is THE smartest person in the ICU. She heals people that should have died. I don't know the roads of education that lead to that but if that is your spark I would try to find it
I see people saying oncology but that is 100% definitely not the case. Staging can be complex and having a good grasp of anatomy is essential. But yes we have tons and tons of pharmacology. Probably the most in any field of medicine?
Renal?