Okay, for some of you, I bet you are wondering what an Allopathic Physician is, exactly. No, it’s not a “specialty” doctor as you may be wondering, from its fancy name. It’s actually just a type of general doctor. Essentially, this means they are your typical medical doctor, but a preference or focus to treat patients using counteractive methods.
What makes an Allopathic Physician different from your doctor though? Probably nothing, if you live in the U.S. Their title “allopathic” stems from their method of “healing”. An Allopathic Physician is a particular doctor who uses “counteractive” methods to treat injury and disease. We can take the example of one particular patient who suffers from an infection of some sort (eye,ear,sinus,etc…). An Allopathic Physician will use a counteractive method to heal the patient, most likely prescribing an antibiotic. This “counters” or neutralizes the problem. They would most likely shy away from non-allopathic methods of healing such as naturopathic and holistic medicine.
With this in mind, Allopathic Physicians’ can have a variety of sub-specialties just like any other medical doctor. Here is a list of some of them:
- Anesthesiologist – This specialty focuses on the administration of anesthetic.
- Cardiologist- Coming from the Greek word meaning “heart”, this specialty focuses on heart disorders.
- Dermatologist – This specialty always warns of the sun, they focus on skin disorders.
- Gastroenterologist – Perhaps as the name suggest, this one specializes in the digestive system.
- Gerontologist – This one you won’t hear of very often, they specialize in the care and health of the elderly.
- Gynecologist – A focus on the female reproductive system, guys won’t have this doctor!
- Neurologist – The brain and nervous system are this doctors primary focus.
- Obstetrician – This MD delivers babies and specializes in caring for them.
- Oncologist – They focus in the treatment of cancer.
- Orthopedist – A heavy focus on skeletal bone problems.
- Pathologist – Tissue Disease is this doctors primary focus.
- Pediatrician – Usually treating children to young adults up to age 21, this is their primary focus.
- Pulmonologist – specializing in the treatment of respiratory disorders
- Surgeon – Skilled with the knife (we hope at least) and various tools, this doctor performs operations.
- Urologist – Got urinary issues? This is the one you should see.
What does an Allopathic Physician make for a salary? Well this varies depending on specialty experience, and other factors but I can say that according to the most current collected statistics, a cool range from $100,000 – $300,000.
What kind of education do you need to become an Allopathic Physician? Well, your primary goal is to get into medical school. This means that you need to achieve a four year degree of some kind, with good grades. Ideally, a major in micro biology would be the best, but you can really major in anything, as long as you can pass the MCAT (Convincing your prospective medical school that your “dance major” is relevant might be difficult though). Keep in mind, you will need volunteer/community service for your medical school interviews! Gotta find time to squeeze that in there.
After you get into medical school, then you can worry about a specialty if you so desire. You need to do well to be offered the option to specialize. So you complete your four years of medical school, your residency, then you must complete a typical three additional years of residency in your specialty of choice. Have you lost interest in this career yet? No?! This might be the one for you then!