Insider Info

Professional frustration and a search for new challenges led Dr. Johnna MacCormick into otolaryngology. It's a highly competitive and specialized field of surgical medicine that treats disorders of the ear, nose and throat.

Otolaryngologists are surgical specialists. They take over cases general physicians or general surgeons cannot treat because they do not have the necessary expertise and skills.

MacCormick can relate to this. She worked as a general physician before she entered otolaryngology. She encountered many of the same diseases her colleagues from otolaryngology would. But her skills and training only went so far.

She would often start treatment, only to watch otolaryngologists take over. That left her a bit frustrated, she says.

"When things got a little bit interesting, they got sent to the specialist," she says. "I wanted to be on the surgical end of things."

So she left general medicine after only two years to spend the next five years in surgical training.

An intensive fellowship in pediatric otolaryngology followed. She is now also an assistant professor of otolaryngology.

She says she's glad she made the switch.

"If you look at job satisfaction in different areas of medicine, I think [otolaryngology] has one of the higher levels of satisfaction," she says. "This is probably because you can cater your practice to your interests."

Dr. Roger Wobig has catered his practice in Portland, Oregon, towards general otolaryngology. And like MacCormick, he has enjoyed his work immensely since he completed his training at Oregon University.

Wobig says he likes otolaryngology because it is such a broad field. "More generally, I like the fact that I treat both children and adults."

There is no question in his mind what makes his work rewarding. "Fortunately, we have the opportunity to make the lives of people better," he says.

Wobig says he entered otolaryngology because the many medical processes that take place in the head and neck region fascinated him.

"I just think it is a fascinating region of the body with a huge variety of medical problems," he says. "I'm just extremely interested in it, and I'm happy to be practicing it."

Dr. Jacques Leclerc has a private practice. Like Wobig, Leclerc went into otolaryngology because it is such a wide field.

"You can work on tonsils, or you can put middle ear ventilating tubes in the eardrum. The field is, however, not limited to surgeries only -- it is wide because for many diseases, there is a treatment like medication or physiotherapy. And any cancer of the neck, any cancer of the base of the skull, or any major head and neck trauma are treated by otolaryngologists."

It is also a field of medicine that is constantly changing. This forces otolaryngologists to keep up. Otherwise, they may not be competent to perform certain treatment.

Consider Leclerc's experience. He started practicing in 1984. "And since that time, there have been at least 15 or 20 new procedures," he says. "So it is something that is always evolving."

There are now over 200 separate procedures, he says. "So there is a wide variety of procedures. As a matter of fact, most [otolaryngologists] don't do all the procedures. They cannot maintain expertise in all aspects of the field," he says.

It all adds up to a work environment that is full of variety and challenges. "Every day is different," says Leclerc.

MacCormick agrees. She divides her week between meeting patients in her office and the operating room.

Her workweek breaks down like this:

She will about spend three and a half days of her week in sessions with her small patients and their parents. This part of the job requires excellent communication skills because she has to be able to communicate with both children and adults.

"You have to be sensitive to the issues of the parent-physician relationship, as well as the patient-physician relationship," she says.

MacCormick then spends the rest of the week, about a day and half, in the operating room. This part of her job creates a whole different range of challenges and tests.

Long and stressful hours in surgery can take a heavy toll. They may also hurt family life.

But this is true for any surgical profession. And otolaryngology is one of the surgical specialties that allow you to balance a family and workload, MacCormick says. "Yet it is interesting, and you can make it want you want," she adds.

"There are very few otolaryngologists who are dissatisfied with their lives."