Interested in Endocrinology....

[Filter]

Hey all,

Im applying to IM this year, and although I'm certainly not sure of my fellowship choice, I really enjoyed the endo rotation I did this year. Any idea of how hard it is to secure an endo spot? The fellows I rotated with told me that recently it had become much more difficult to land a spot due to the new "lifestyle" emphasis among IM grads. Does anyone out there know if this is true? Also, I know that Endo is not exactly a well paying specialty....anyone have any idea as to the employment enviornment in the job market? Can you still easily get a job being a pure endocrine guy, or will u have to do primary care as well?

I appreciate any help/information/advice.....or sarcastic comments.

Thanks!

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[pufftissue]

Hey all,

Im applying to IM this year, and although I'm certainly not sure of my fellowship choice, I really enjoyed the endo rotation I did this year. Any idea of how hard it is to secure an endo spot? The fellows I rotated with told me that recently it had become much more difficult to land a spot due to the new "lifestyle" emphasis among IM grads. Does anyone out there know if this is true? Also, I know that Endo is not exactly a well paying specialty....anyone have any idea as to the employment enviornment in the job market? Can you still easily get a job being a pure endocrine guy, or will u have to do primary care as well?

I appreciate any help/information/advice.....or sarcastic comments.

Thanks!

I am not the most informed about endo, but all thatyou say is true: endo is still considered pretty wide open, but it's closing somewhat. Gone are the days where you can just walk into a spot. You can make an argument for any specialty, but the one for endo is that everyone's getting fatter and DM will explode through the roof, thus ensuring the specialty's continued survival. Alternatively, if DM explodes, med schools may just emphasize how to manage DM better, thereby eliminating the influx of patients truly needing a specialist. Unrelated, endo has a great lifestyle. The on-call beeper is more like a symbol rather than a true on-call beeper. You might have to come into the hospital like once in your fellowship? If even that much. The problem with endo is that you go through all that schooling and 1. You may not escape primary care 2. You may not make much more than a general internist. I've been told by endocrinologists that they often must do some general primary care to make it, and their salary doesn't improve by all that much vs the other subspecialties. There's just no cashcow in endo right now. And endo is pretty complicated.
That's why I have decied against endo. I am still a strong proponent of following your heart 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. And then worrying about things like location, pay, lifestyle, etc. Because if you are doing what you like, the pay, the location, the lifestyle, they all seem more bearable. And plus, you'll probably be a better specialist.

But yeah, endo is still there for the taking as of 2004. I bet in 3 years it's going to start getting a lot tougher. Nevertheless, the one timeless truth is that no one can predict the market. Following your heart is the one right thing that is said on these boards.

 

[Filter]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. The salary issue has definitely been brought up to me before.... but I think I'll likely go for it, since procedures and income aren't as important to me as enjoying what I do (as you said).

Of course, I still have to see if I enjoy the field after my intern year, and I have always been drawn to cardiology as well and might want to fight it out for a fellowship in that field. ( I did an elective in cardio as well, but although I found it interesting... the lifestyle and constant pressure seemed a little daunting). If anyone has any more first hand info about endocrine, especially about the practical aspects once you graduate I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for the response!

 

[pikachu]

I rotated in an outpatient practice with a general internist who was also board certified in endocrinology. The IM side of her practice was booming but she didn't get that many endocrine patients (2-3 per week). I also rotated on an inpatient service with an academic endocrinologist who seemed to enjoy his position very much. He did have to run an inpatient general medicine service for 1-2 months out of the year since he was on the Medicine faculty (at my institution, all the medicine faculty including subspecialists have to run floor services) but it seemed like he had a lot of dedicated time for research and a large number of interesting patients. Not to mention an excellent call schedule. b

In terms of the competitiveness, if you don't apply, you DEFINITELY won't get in, so why waste the mental energy in feeding your am-I-good-enough-to get- into-this-specialty neuroses?