This may be a little late given the recent success of the CAP in shooting down that one bill, but how about starting an anti-doomsday thread to help out panicky third-year medical students and paranoid residents? Yes, you hear variable things about the pathology job market. Yes, new threats to current practice come up from time to time. I was just thinking about some of the issues (mostly anecdotal) that other specialties have, and I thought I'd start listing them. Maybe we can get a comprehensive list of why noone should go into any medical specialty : ). The point is that every specialty has issues, but if you are a competent MD and enjoy your work, you will have a rewarding and lucrative career. Practicing medicine is not quite the eutopia it once was, but people will still get sick, lots of money will be spent in their care, and the the people who train for 13 years to learn how to take care of them will always be well compensated.
Radiology: A cash cow. Wide open job market. A great time to be in this field. Also a few pen strokes away from the apocalypse if some legislators decided that sure, it is acceptable for radiologists outside the US to sign out films. As freaked out as some of the posters get on our thread, check out how worried some of those folks get about this issue. This will likely never happen, but the thought sure is scary if you are in the field. Or if clinicians read their own films. The neurologists would love the 200 bucks they could charge for reading their own MRI for 20 minutes.
OB/GYN: I know a 45-year old guy in private practice in NC who just sold out and started a pathology residency because the malpractice issues made it difficult to make money and impossible to enjoy the practice.
Anesthesiology: Nurse anesthetists. Make a fraction of the money, and are just as capable as an MD to sit there reading magazines and watching monitors during a 9 hour composite resection. Plus the big shortage that has driven up salaries of late will not last forever.
Psychiatry: MAs/PhDs gaining permission to write prescriptions. Psychologists with prescription pads will charge far less than MDs with prescription pads to listen to people's sad stories and give them zoloft. Because you really dont need to know how to give a thorough prostate exam or triage an acute abdomen to do this, at least in the eyes of an HMO.
Just a few of the things I would be worried about if I were in some of these other fields. Anyone think of some others?
Radiology: A cash cow. Wide open job market. A great time to be in this field. Also a few pen strokes away from the apocalypse if some legislators decided that sure, it is acceptable for radiologists outside the US to sign out films. As freaked out as some of the posters get on our thread, check out how worried some of those folks get about this issue. This will likely never happen, but the thought sure is scary if you are in the field. Or if clinicians read their own films. The neurologists would love the 200 bucks they could charge for reading their own MRI for 20 minutes.
OB/GYN: I know a 45-year old guy in private practice in NC who just sold out and started a pathology residency because the malpractice issues made it difficult to make money and impossible to enjoy the practice.
Anesthesiology: Nurse anesthetists. Make a fraction of the money, and are just as capable as an MD to sit there reading magazines and watching monitors during a 9 hour composite resection. Plus the big shortage that has driven up salaries of late will not last forever.
Psychiatry: MAs/PhDs gaining permission to write prescriptions. Psychologists with prescription pads will charge far less than MDs with prescription pads to listen to people's sad stories and give them zoloft. Because you really dont need to know how to give a thorough prostate exam or triage an acute abdomen to do this, at least in the eyes of an HMO.
Just a few of the things I would be worried about if I were in some of these other fields. Anyone think of some others?
