When Should I Go Into OEM?

It is important to realize that OEM is an incredibly diverse specialty, with people entering OEM from highly variable levels of training and experience, from medical students that go straight into OEM to surgical subspecialists that transition to OEM after years of surgical practice.

For medical students who have the good fortune to be aware of OEM, there is a great opportunity to go directly into OEM after medical school. Currently, for most OEM residency programs, this would entail first completing an internship, which can be done in any specialty, then going into OEM training for the PGY-2 and PGY-3 years.

Due to the under-the-radar nature of OEM, however, most physicians don’t find out about it until they are already in training or practice in another specialty. Recent surveys indicate that even among current and recently graduated OEM residents, only about 20% knew about the specialty before they completed medical school.  For this reason, a large percentage of OEM specialists switch over after starting in a different specialty. With high burnout rates in many specialties, OEM offers a great option for switching over, no matter how long you’ve been practicing in something else. The experience you bring from another field of medicine is often viewed as quite valuable and may even be sought after for certain OEM jobs.

The bottom line is that whether you are in your first year in medical school or you have been practicing medicine for 30 years, OEM is an option worth considering. For more information about why you should take a closer look at OEM, check out the page here.