Careers in Medicine

These resources provide guidence to medical students investigating medical specialties and sub-specialties. Please contact your Library Advisor or the Reference Desk for help or more information.

• AAMC Careers in Medicine
• Related Web Sites
• Books and Videos
• Selected Articles

Please send any comments concerning this page to Cindy Stewart.

​AAMC Careers in Medicine

Careers in Medicine
A career planning program designed by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) to help medical students identify personal characteristics and preferences appropriate to individual medical specialties as well as suitable residency programs.

​Related Web Sites

The Pathway Program 
The Pathway Evaluation Program for Medical Professionals is a career-planning program designed to help medical students make informed specialty decisions. To this end, the Specialty Profiles included in this program were revised in 2003 to provide students with current information about 42 specialties. Information is based on aggregate data compiled from surveys completed by 2,407 practicing physicians.

Strolling Through the Match: The Medical Student's Guide to Residency Selection
American Academy of Family Physicians
Matthews-Fuller RA840 S77 2003

Vanderbilt's Careers in Medicine Program

Medical Specialty Aptitude Test 
This site, sponsored by the University of Virginia, is designed to help medical students choose a medical specialty. You will be asked to rate your interpersonal tendencies. These results are then compared to the tendencies of physicians in each specialty. The higher your score for a given specialty, the more similar you are to the physicians in that specialty. This test should take approximately 15 minutes.

Fellowships and Residency Electronic Interactive Database (FREIDA)
American Medical Association FREIDA Online is a database of approximately 7,800 graduate medical education programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, as well as over 200 combined specialty programs. Besides searching for specialty and subspecialty programs, it is also searchable by training institutions, medical schools, aggregate training statistics, and workforce information on recent graduates.

Graduate Medical Education Directory
Chicago, IL : American Medical Association 2004-2005
Dana Ref. R840 .D56
Matthews-Fuller Ref. R840 .D56
Available online: http://intranet.hitchcock.org/GME/GreenBook.htm
Provides basic descriptive information on accredited graduate medical education programs in the United States.

Social Medicine and Health Inequities
Brigham and Women's Hospital

The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP)

Resident Web
This site is a "one-stop resource" on the Web for all physicians-in-training. It contains a myriad of information such as discussion groups, bits of wisdom, journal links and job postings.

CareerMD.com
CareerMD.com is the Internet's most current, comprehensive and centralized source of information on physician training and employment opportunities. Updated daily by program directors and employers, CareerMD's searchable databases make it easy to locate, research and compare opportunities in every state and every specialty.

Choosing a Medical Specialty
AMA information site providing links to relevant resources and personal stories of physicians in various specialties.

Online Guide to Choosing a Surgical Residency
American College of Surgeons

So You Want to Be a Surgeon
American College of Surgeons

Resident and Fellows Section
American Medical Association

"Roadmap to Residency: From Application to the Match and Beyond," AAMC
Produced by the AAMC, with input from the AMA and other organizations, the handbook includes a description of candidacy requirements, factors involved in specialty choice, and possible criteria for residency selection.

​Books and Videos

How to Choose a Medical Specialty
Anita D. Taylor.
Imprint Philadelphia, Pa. : Saunders, c2003.
Edition 4th ed.
Dana Reserve R729.5.S6 T38 2003
Matthews-Fuller R729.5.S6 T38 2003

Embracing Your Practice: The Pfizer Guide to Careers for Physicians
Personal Copy.
Dana Reserve - 24 Hour Loan Period
Matthews-Fuller Reserve - 24 Hour Loan Period

Forged by the Knife: The Experience of Surgical Residency from the Perspective of a Woman of Color
Greensboro, NC: Open Hand Publishing.
Matthews-Fuller RD28.A1 D39 1999

The Yale Guide to Careers in Medicine and the Health Professions
Robert M. Donaldson.
Dana R690 .Y35 2003

Graduate Medical Education Directory Companion
American Medical Association, c2002-03.
Chicago, Ill. : AMA Press,
Matthews-Fuller Ref. R840 .D562
Provides information for foreign-born medical graduates on the United States, fifth pathway programs, US Armed Services graduate medical education programs, the electronic residency application service, the National Resident Matching Program as well as medical licensure information.

Iserson's Getting into a Residency: A Guide for Medical Students
Kenneth V. Iserson.
Tucson, AZ : Galen Press, c2000.
Edition 5th ed.
Matthews-Fuller RA972 .I74 2000

Opportunities in Physician Careers
Jan Sugar-Webb ; revised by Julie Rigby.
VGM Career Horizons, c2000.
Available online

Life after Medical School:
Thirty-two Doctors Describe how They Shaped Their Medical Careers
Leonard Laster.
Norton, c1996.
Edition 1st ed.
Dana R729.5.S6 L53 1996

The Scalpel and the Silver Bear
Lori Arviso Alvord and Elizabeth Cohen Van Pelt.
New York : Bantam Books, c1999.
Dana RD27.35.A45 A3 1999
Matthews-Fuller RD27.35.A45 A3 1999 c.2

The Soul of the Physician:
Doctors Speaking about Passion, Resilience, and Hope
Linda G. Henry and James D. Henry.
AMA Press, 2002.
Matthews-Fuller R690 .H46 2002

Survivor MD [videorecording]
by Michael Barnes.
WGBH Educational Foundation, c2001.
2 videocassettes (180 min.)
Matthews-Fuller Library
For 14 years, Nova cameras have followed the same group of aspiring doctors: from the early days ... at Harvard Medical School ... [to] establishing a reputation in their chosen medical specialties.

Making of a Doctor [videorecording]
by Michael Barnes.
WGBH Educational Foundation, c1995.
1 videocassette (ca. 120 min.)
Matthews-Fuller Library
Follows a group of Harvard medical students throughout the rigors and rewards of their medical training: anatomy and analgesics, C-sections and cardiac arrests, taking blood and giving physicals, broken bones and broken marriages. Reveals the difficulty of critical academic training and the intensity of the most grueling rite of passage of all, four years of internship.

Ward Ethics : Dilemmas for Medical Students and Doctors in Training
edited by Thomasine K. Kushner and David C. Thomasma.
Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Matthews-Fuller R724 .W33 2001

Physician Socioeconomic Statistics
American Medical Association, Center for Health Policy Research.
Dana Reference R729 .P487 2003
Matthews-Fuller Ref. R729 .P487 2003
Provides statistical results about the current medical practice environment with data collected from an annual survey of over 4000 physicians. Studies include managed, physician earnings trends, work hours, patient volume, and practice costs. Data is broken out for eighteen specialties and geographic areas.

AAMC Data Book
Association of American Medical Colleges.
Dana Ref. R735.A1 A12 Latest Edition 
Matthews-Fuller Ref. R735.A1 A12 Latest Edition 
The Data Book is a collection of statistics from many sources that serves as a convenient source of current and historical data. Published annually, it contains over seventy tables on topics that include medical student indebtedness, health care financing, physician compensation, staffing characteristics in US hospitals, mean housestaff stipends, and NRMP and graduate medical education data. A wealth of useful information in an uncomplicated format.

Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S.
American Medical Association.
Dana Ref. RA410.7.D47 Latest Edition
Matthews-Fuller Ref. RA410.7.D47 Latest Edition 
Vital source of information on physician trends compiled annually for over 650,000 physicians. The resource is separated into three sections: trends, characteristics, and distribution. Data is provided on key professional and individual characteristics of the physician population, medical specialty, and the geographical location of physicians.