most in demand??

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so to those who know, or have heard, or have experienced...what would you say are the most in demand fields of medicine right NOW? i'm not asking for pple to be psychics and predict which will be in demand 5-10 years from now but just right now. specifically, which medical fields? which surgical fields? and which hospital-based fields (rads, anes, path, etc)? would you say are most in demand?

Originally Posted by remote

so to those who know, or have heard, or have experienced...what would you say are the most in demand fields of medicine right NOW? i'm not asking for pple to be psychics and predict which will be in demand 5-10 years from now but just right now. specifically, which medical fields? which surgical fields? and which hospital-based fields (rads, anes, path, etc)? would you say are most in demand?

I think a better question would be which ones aren't in demand. A few of the medical specialties are saturated, especially in certain geographical locations. With most others you won't have too much trouble finding a job.

Originally Posted by remote

so to those who know, or have heard, or have experienced...what would you say are the most in demand fields of medicine right NOW? i'm not asking for pple to be psychics and predict which will be in demand 5-10 years from now but just right now. specifically, which medical fields? which surgical fields? and which hospital-based fields (rads, anes, path, etc)? would you say are most in demand?

Family medicine is the most in demand.

in demand:

family medicine, dermatology, urology, ortho

saturated:

rad onc, radiology, anesthesia, pathology, cardiology, GI

Originally Posted by cowme

in demand:

family medicine, dermatology, urology, ortho

saturated:

rad onc, radiology, anesthesia, pathology, cardiology, GI

I've also read that neurology is saturated at the moment, any truth to this?

Originally Posted by cowme

in demand:

family medicine, dermatology, urology, ortho

saturated:

rad onc, radiology, anesthesia, pathology, cardiology, GI

I don't think GI is saturated; there's still a lot of demand.

I'd add psych to 'in demand.' I'd also add OB/GYN: there are sections of the countries without any OBs, but that's due to a poor practice climate

GI is definitely saturated. Most of the fellows graduating from my prelim program had to settle for jobs in the flyover states that they really didn't want

Originally Posted by cowme

GI is definitely saturated. Most of the fellows graduating from my prelim program had to settle for jobs in the flyover states that they really didn't want

During my first year of med school (two years ago), I had a GI fellow as a preceptor, and according to him, he--and the other fellows in the department--had multiple, attractive job offers and were recruited like crazy (then again, I am in the South)

Well, in 2007, Radiology was among the hottest jobs in medicine. Fast forward to 2009 and radiology residents were doing second fellowships just to get ANY job

A lot can change in 2 years

Family Medicine and/or Derm.

I hear ortho is good too, and probably only gonna get better with all those baby boomers needing new hips and knees.

Originally Posted by cowme

Well, in 2007, Radiology was among the hottest jobs in medicine. Fast forward to 2009 and radiology residents were doing second fellowships just to get ANY job

A lot can change in 2 years

Exactly, do what you love, not what makes money or is in demand.

I've had a lot of older, seasoned doctors recently tell me the safest thing to do is specialize in something that isn't dependent on a hospital. Outpatient surgical fields and things that can be done solely in the clinic (most notably derm) protect you from the whims and demands of hospital administration, and protect you from being replaced by a lower bidder. Failing that, they recommend fields where you control the patients, and have the power to take them with you to a nearby hospital. They've recommended steering clear of specialties that are entirely hospital based, and do not have patients of their own (radiology, anesthesiology, emergency medicine).

Granted, these guys have been from anesthesiology and EM, so there may be some element of a "grass is greener" thing going on, but it does make sense.

Family medicine seems certain to be in demand for a long time to come, but it'll take some major shifts for that demand to lead to enough enticements for competitive American graduates to choose it in significant numbers.

I've strayed from the right now to the future. But who cares about the right now when they don't graduate for a few more years?

Originally Posted by cowme

in demand:

family medicine, dermatology, urology, ortho

saturated:

rad onc, radiology, anesthesia, pathology, cardiology, GI

What makes the fields you mentioned as saturated, saturated vs. unsaturated ones? Are rads/rad oncs/gas doctors not needed as much as say uro/ortho guys?

supply and demand. Too many radiologists, pathologists. Not enough dermatologists, urologists

Psychiatry is very much in demand, particularly in certain locales.

neurosurgeons

What is the general impression for heme/onc?

Originally Posted by Oxygen206

What is the general impression for heme/onc?

http://www.asco.org/ascov2/Press+Cen...dicted+By+2020

http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/25/12/1468.full

Originally Posted by DrVanNostran

http://www.asco.org/ascov2/Press+Cen...dicted+By+2020

http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/25/12/1468.full

Most excellent! Thanks!

I hope I still have an interest in it in 4 years from now...

Is the increase in derm demand due to an increasingly aging population presenting with skin cancers, low amount of dermatologists being churned out from residency programs, or a combination of both?

Originally Posted by cowme

in demand:

family medicine, dermatology, urology, ortho

saturated:

rad onc, radiology, anesthesia, pathology, cardiology, GI

Where there is demand, there is usually offer. I agree with the "saturated" list and the "family medicine" being in demand. Derm and ortho will probably be in demand in a few years, though.

So everyone agrees that primary care is in demand and pathology/radiology is tough. So what if you compare anesthesia versus neurology for the next 10 years or so? Let's say you want to find a job in specific cities like suburbs of san francisco or hawaii, which specialty would be safer and which would be ultimately more lucrative?
i just read on sdn that alaska is very lucrative for any specialty. so i went on gaswork and found that the anesthesia jobs in alaska do not seem to pay much. jobs in some other states pay more. at the same time there are no job advertised in hawaii at all, not even for low pay. Thoughts?

Originally Posted by Ballints

So everyone agrees that primary care is in demand and pathology/radiology is tough. So what if you compare anesthesia versus neurology for the next 10 years or so? Let's say you want to find a job in specific cities like suburbs of san francisco or hawaii, which specialty would be safer and which would be ultimately more lucrative?
i just read on sdn that alaska is very lucrative for any specialty. so i went on gaswork and found that the anesthesia jobs in alaska do not seem to pay much. jobs in some other states pay more. at the same time there are no job advertised in hawaii at all, not even for low pay. Thoughts?

I don't think anesthesia is going to be the cash cow you might think it is. There will be lots of midlevel providers for the basic care, and the MDAs will be either managing or doing difficult cases (less demand). I don't see how anyhow could predict the market 10 years from now.

My philosophy is to: #1 do what your interested in, followed by #2, make sure you have skills and are productive. The things that get cut won't likely be highly skilled or valuable services, it will be things easier to train in (midlevels) or those that don't contribute much.

Focusing on $ is almost a sure path to dissatisfaction.

Originally Posted by cowme

in demand:

family medicine, dermatology, urology, ortho

saturated:

rad onc, radiology, anesthesia, pathology, cardiology, GI

Where did you hear that Rad/ Onc is a saturated field these days? Presently, I know it's a very competitive residency to match into...

Originally Posted by cgk

Where did you hear that Rad/ Onc is a saturated field these days? Presently, I know it's a very competitive residency to match into...

From the rad Inc residents I know who had to take jobs in places they didn't want to be

Originally Posted by cowme

From the rad Inc residents I know who had to take jobs in places they didn't want to be

This is the truth. A lot of RadOncs don't seem to retire as early as many other physicians since the workload isn't as cumbersome in comparison to other fields. I had to make a decision between radiation oncology and internal medicine/hemeonc for residency and I chose the latter since I have very specific goals in terms of location and family.

RadOnc is a pretty amazing field, but the great academic jobs are tough to get and the great locations for private practice are pretty saturated right now. This sentiment was echoed across the interview trail and at away rotations.

Originally Posted by dr zaius

Is the increase in derm demand due to an increasingly aging population presenting with skin cancers, low amount of dermatologists being churned out from residency programs, or a combination of both?

The increase in demand for oncologists is largely due to the aging population and a better understanding of therapeutics and maintaining longevity. Also surgical and radiation procedures are becoming much more advanced.

I think the demand for dermatologists is mainly due to the small amount of graduates every year with such a large population. I don't have any figures or numbers for this, just speculation.

what about urology? how's the job market these days for graduating residents?

Originally Posted by gooze

what about urology? how's the job market these days for graduating residents?

unbelievable.

I think it's the best gig in medicine.

Originally Posted by cowme

unbelievable.

I think it's the best gig in medicine.

That might be stretching it, but yea, uro is doing really well right now.

I'll throw in peds surg as one of the most in demand, at least around here. Our children's hospital loses money on the peds surg department because they have to pay out more in salary to keep the surgeons than the dept brings in.

Originally Posted by cowme

unbelievable.

I think it's the best gig in medicine.

Could you define best gig in medicine?

Or are you basically saying makes lots of money in little time? I'm curious how you define that.

Originally Posted by cowme

unbelievable.

I think it's the best gig in medicine.

can you elaborate on this? do you call it the best gig b/c of its current job market or is there more to it? also, how do you know that it's unbelievable? talking to current residents or from other sources? just curious.

Among the top paying fields in medicine. Insanely high demand. Very good lifestyle (outside of academics, obviously). Pretty much zero risk of ever losing "turf" to other fields.

Surprised nobody mentioned Geriatrics and Rehabilitation medicine. Mexico is in such a dire urgent need of Geriatricians (there's less than 400 of em in a country of 112 million with over 25 million over age 60), the government 2 years ago now created Geriatrics as a direct route specialty and is opening Geriatric hospitals everywhere like crazy.

The specialty people used to like to make fun of is now hot, hot, hot. While Pediatricians are having a hard time getting work in many areas and Gen Surgeons are earning chum change for programmed surgery in the private sector, geriatricians are highly sought after and have no difficulty finding work even in the big cities.

Rehabilitation medicine is still not so hot because very few hospitals are equipped for the specialty (and the few that are are usually DIF clinics with low wages), but as the elderly population grows, the need for rehabilitation for stroke survivors increases and the specialty will probably boom.

Gen Surgery is highly competitive in Mexico to match into but the specialty is rather saturated even in rural areas. I've even heard of surgeons rather work as PCP's because the job market isn't that hot anymore.

All this stuff changes so quick -- just avoid nuclear medicine and you will be on the right track

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20956628

Originally Posted by neo87

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20956628

That estimate assumes that the indications for radiation therapy will be the same in 2020 as they are now, which begs the question: how likely is it that radiation therapy will be phased out in favor of medical or (less likely) surgical therapy?

I don't know much about rad onc, but I know there's a lot of crazy chimeral T-cell and nano-particle sh*t in the pipeline that could change the face of cancer therapy, if they actually pan out. Just curious what med & rad oncologists' thoughts are on the potential impact that big innovations could have on future demand.

I hope some of that stuff pans out, and some of it probably will over the next 20 years or so. Cancer patients are treated (mostly) according to level 1 evidence, so it will take a while for any of those things.

In terms of radiation being phased out -- radiation is a local treatment, similar to surgery (vs chemo which is a systemic tx generally) so I would think advances in surgery / IR would be more likely to negatively impact demand over our career. Most likely is a change in treatment patterns in oncology (think early stage prostate ca mgmt) that would hit rad onc and surgeons both pretty hard.

Overall, not super concerned.

Originally Posted by High Roller

Family Medicine and/or Derm.

I hear ortho is good too, and probably only gonna get better with all those baby boomers needing new hips and knees.

Agreed about ortho. Neurosurgery is also high job security due to low supply with little indication of significantly increases in rate of supply in the face of increasing demand thanks to baby boomers, increasing detection rates, and new therapies.

Originally Posted by JackShephard MD

Exactly, do what you love, not what makes money or is in demand.

Agreed. I don't see how demand should play a factor unless maybe you have to specialties that you like equally and one is relatively more saturated.

so im interested in neurology stuff but all the easy money/good life stories ive heard about radiology swayed me in that direction. now im hearing from this thread that radiology is a bad field to go into??? what do i do???

Originally Posted by mcatsucksss

so im interested in neurology stuff but all the easy money/good life stories ive heard about radiology swayed me in that direction. now im hearing from this thread that radiology is a bad field to go into??? what do i do???

Investment banker.

Originally Posted by mcatsucksss

so im interested in neurology stuff but all the easy money/good life stories ive heard about radiology swayed me in that direction. now im hearing from this thread that radiology is a bad field to go into??? what do i do???

the good money/lifestyle combo hasn't existed since 2005 in rads. Pick one today. By the time you finish residency, it may neither.

Originally Posted by mcatsucksss

so im interested in neurology stuff but all the easy money/good life stories ive heard about radiology swayed me in that direction. now im hearing from this thread that radiology is a bad field to go into??? what do i do???

Neurology?

Originally Posted by mcatsucksss

so im interested in neurology stuff but all the easy money/good life stories ive heard about radiology swayed me in that direction. now im hearing from this thread that radiology is a bad field to go into??? what do i do???

Do the one you like.