im am considering physical medicine and rehabilitation medicine, but am discouraged that the median income is only $130,000 (obviously, this varies in location and other factors). i think this is a good field for me, but can u realistically make make money in this field? i am especially interested in doing a fellowship in sports medicine. from what ive been told, its not that hard to get a residency in physical medicine and rehabiltation. is there a bright future in physical medicine and rehabiltation?

please pardon my meryy display of ATTITUDE this morning, but:

1. Look in a stats text and see the definition of median, and then ask yourself if you can make a living doing PM&R.

One the planet I come from, $130,000 bones can be "lived on" quite comfortably.

i agree with ur opinion that one can live more than comfortably with a $130,000 salary. but compared to the other medical specialties, this figure is towards the low end of the spectrum, comparable with pediatrics and psychiatry. with a high debt coming out medical school, your salary is an important factor to consider. since $130,000 is the median, it is possible to be making $90,000. this is a nice figure compared to other professions, but after 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, and 4 years of residency, this figure seems discouraging.

but, like i mentioned earlier, i am interested in physical medicine and rehab. but this specialty seems like an obscure one that it is only in the up-and-coming stage. i wonder if there will be ample opportunities in this field. will there will be abundant employment opportuntites as a physiatrist? or will the job options be specific to certain parts of the country (i.e. midwest)? baically my concern with physical medicine and rehab seems to stem from the amount of uncertainty and the the "unknown factor" associated with this field.

i am interested in this field, and i feel i would be happy doind this for a living, regardless of the salary. but, what are some of the career options you can have by going into physical medicine and rehab? i have heard you can pursue a fellowship in sports medicine once completing a residency in physical medicine and rehab. how does the job market in sports medicine look right now? i welcome any comments. thanx.

Originally posted by spreesbeers:
<STRONG>i agree with ur opinion that one can live more than comfortably with a $130,000 salary. but compared to the other medical specialties, this figure is towards the low end of the spectrum, comparable with pediatrics and psychiatry. with a high debt coming out medical school, your salary is an important factor to consider. since $130,000 is the median, it is possible to be making $90,000. this is a nice figure compared to other professions, but after 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, and 4 years of residency, this figure seems discouraging.</STRONG>

Those are just figures for starting salaries--the salaries climb dramatically each year out after practice and it's not uncommon for physiatrists who do a lot musculoskeletal medicine, pain management, disability evaluations, and EMG's to make upwards of $200,000. Ditto for those specializing in complex areas of inpatient rehab--trauma, spinal cord injury, and traumatic brain injury.

Keep in mind that PM&R is a lifestyle specialty along the lines of derm, ophtho, and anesthesiology. There is very little call, the malpractice insurance rates are low, and the field lends itself to a more-or-less 9-5 lifestyle. The salaries are lower compared to other lifestyle specialties initially, but rapidly catch-up.

You might try to find a poster known as "Stinky Tofu" on this site -- he's starting his PM&R residency this summer, and I know he's participated in other PM&R related threads in this section -- it would probably be a good idea to do a search for those threads. He could be biased, since he will be doing his residency in PM&R, but I know he thought that it was very much an up-and-coming field, and that if you do a fellowship, the income can be extremely rewarding.

lilycat is right - a search for threads on PM&R would be rewarding for you. As I recall, Stinky Tofu said that with Pain management fellowships, you can make in excess of $400K. Pretty easy to live on in my book! :D

hey stinky tofu,
ill post my questions in this thread.

i saw ur post that said that UTHSCSA has a good residency program. where is this program? thanx.

UTHSCSA stands for University of Texas Health Science Center of San Antonio. They are the only program that will pay for your airfare, hotel room, and treat you out to dinner the night before. This was the main reason I interviewed there since they would pay for me to get into and out of Texas -- this made travelling a bit cheaper to my other interviews. I'm glad I went to the interview and was very impressed by the program.

i am an IMG, and i want to pursue a career in physiatry. i currently attend ross university, in the caribbean. i have heard that physical medicine and rehabilitation is an IMG accessible field. how difficult would it be for an IMG to get a top 20 residency in this field? what about just a good residency? does anyone know of any quality residency programs which are IMG friendly?

i have heard that only 1% of the US grads pursue this field. accordingly, residency directors look at an applicant's whole package. To me, this suggests that mediocre USMLE scores can be overlooked if one has good clinical grades, shown interest via doing a PM&R rotation, letters of recommendation, and personal statement. is this accurate?

how important are basic science grades? my basic science cumulative gpa is only a 2.5.

what kind of USMLE scores are needed to have a chance at a top residency program in this field, on average? to get into a good program in PM&R, i am guessing that a score of 200 or higher is sufficent. what do you think? the reason i am asking is that i have heard that in dermatology, you should not bother applying if you have less than a 230 on part I. i would like to have a cutoff score in mind to apply for a residency in this PM&R.

US medical school eductaion is far superior to that of any Caribbean school. but due to the low volume of PM&R applicants relative to other specialties, i was curious to know if all apllicants are viewed equally and on an individual basis, regardless if they are a U.S. grad or an IMG?

i would like anyone who has knowledge of the application process in PM&R to shed some light to the questions i have posed. thank your for your time and assistance.

There weren't any IMGs at the higher ranked programs that I interviewed at. Even with 1% of US Medical students applying, that would mean roughly about 150-200 students (I'm going by your numbers, I have no idea what the actual numbers are). On average there are maybe 5-10 seats at each program in PM&R. Thus, the top programs and CA programs are usually filled by AMGs. I would advise you to try to go to the websites of the schools and look at the current residents. I think UTHSCSA is a good program and there were a few FMGs there. If you want to get into a good program as an IMG, you probably want to do a little better than just passing. Personally, I would've gone into another field rather than go to a crappy program.

Your GPA is rather low, I would recommend doing a sub-i at the program you are interested in and try to do well on the USMLE. Good luck.

Originally posted by Stinky Tofu:
<STRONG>Personally, I would've gone into another field rather than go to a crappy program.
</STRONG>


stinkytofu, what programs do you consider "crappy"? what do you think would classify a program as "crappy"?

as an IMG, i will not have a chance at the top programs in PM&R. with my low basic science gpa, i will probably end up in a mediocre/low level residency.

why would you have gone to another field than go into a so-called crappy PM&R program? obviously, i will decide to specialize in the field that will ultimately make me happy, even if i am in a so-called "crappy residency", but i would like to hear your thoughts on the subject. thank you.

stinkytofu, here's some follow-up questions.

can one still be successful coming out of a "crappy" PM&R residency?

will going to a "crappy residency" affect one's starting salary on the job market?

will going to such a residency hurt one's ability to go for a fellowship once residency training is finished?

can someone please answer my last 2 posts? please see above. much thanks.

I think the answers are intuitive. Things will be more difficult, but not impossible. Connections also play a role and try to go to a residency with some elective time. This way you can do some electives there before you apply for fellowship.

Spreesbeers,

Seems like your very interested in the PM&R field. Just wanted to inform you on a good information source. You can get more information on PM&R from the American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at http://www.aapmr.org/
They can also send you a free med student packet within a week, that has everything you need to know on PM&R from residency match info, what a typical day is like as a resident, trends in the specialty etc. I really recommend it if your interested in the field.

To request a medical student packet, provide your name and mailing address to Dawn Levreau at dlevreau@aapmr.org or (312) 464-9700.?

Is anyone here familiar with industrial medicine?