Academia vs. Private Practice vs. Employed

[Dillatar]

Hey everyone. I have been shadowing a radiation oncologist this summer. She has had quite a career, starting in academia, moving to private practice, and now employed by our local VA. The experiences she has shared are very interesting.

One thing I wanted to ask about was how practice differs in these different settings. For example, she feels that when in academia you get to see a lot of different and exotic cases but there is a tendency to over treat. In private practice she had to deal with her hospital supporting a neurosurgeon who wanted to prescribe radiation therapy because of an increased bottom line. Now that she is at the VA, she feels she has a lot of freedom to practice the way she wants to, but her salary is very
low.

Are these scenarios consistent with what you have experienced or heard?

What is your ideal career situation?

Also, is there a trend to restrict practice as salary gets higher or to have more freedom in your practice as salary gets lower?

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[Gfunk6]

It's complicated.

Unfortunately you cannot neatly categorize practices into three groups: academic, true private practice (parterns own the equipment and facilities), and private hosptial. The reality is that there are many gradations between these distinct types.

There is similarly no easy coorelation between practice type and salary.

Ultimately, the job search is about finding the right job for your specific situation. The only way to do this is apply to a bunch of places and see what they have to offer.

 

[medgator]

It's complicated.

Unfortunately you cannot neatly categorize practices into three groups: academic, true private practice (parterns own the equipment and facilities), and private hosptial. The reality is that there are many gradations between these distinct types.

There is similarly no easy coorelation between practice type and salary.

Ultimately, the job search is about finding the right job for your specific situation. The only way to do this is apply to a bunch of places and see what they have to offer.

Gfunk is spot on. There are some large powerhouse private practices that enroll a lot of patients in RTOG protocols and have subspecialized practitioners while you will come across some smaller academic places that feel a lot like private practice.

 

[Dillatar]

great input.

 

[qwert]

large powerhouse private practices that enroll a lot of patients in RTOG protocols

Just out of curiosity, what private practice is that? Never heard of such thing.

 

[Gfunk6]

Seattle Prostate Institute and Arizona Oncology Associates are two private practice groups that are very active in clinical research.

 

[medgator]

Just out of curiosity, what private practice is that? Never heard of such thing.

Seattle Prostate Institute and Arizona Oncology Associates are two private practice groups that are very active in clinical research.

yep. And I'm not sure if it's still true, but at one point, that AZ practice had the largest enrollment of patients to RTOG.

 

[TarHeelRadOnc]

Just out of curiosity, what private practice is that? Never heard of such thing.

My practice in NC was the third highest clinical trial accruer in the country among non-academic practices, and the highest per physician. We won an ASCO clinical trials participation award at ASCO 2010.

We have RTOG 0232, 0534, 0815, 0413, 0614, and NCCTG phase III SRS +/- WBRT open and have another OSI-sponsored trial of HN IMRT+CDDP+Tarceva open... and we accrue to RTOG at a rate similar to or higher than any of the academic centers in the state. In addition, we recently completed and published an investigator-initiated phase II trial in head and neck cancer led by one of our partners and are working towards opening an investigator-initiated phase II trial of SBRT for oligometastatic NSCLC.

There are definitely practices like ours out there... granted, we are in the minority... but, I feel that this type of practice combines the best parts of academics and private practice, provided you are not interested in basic science research.

 

[qwert]

Thanks for the info.
Such combination is a great deal, IMO.